Porsche to Close 28% of its Dealerships in China by End of 2026

[chun]

Porsche to Close 28% of its Dealerships in China by End of 2026

The company experienced a 29% drop in sales in China over the first nine months of the year, the largest car market in the world. This decline, along with changes to their models, led to a 7% decrease in global sales, totaling 226,026 units from January to September.


In October, during Porsche’s third-quarter investor call, Chief Financial Officer Lutz Meschke announced that Porsche would significantly reduce its dealership network in China. Operating profits fell by 41% to €974 million for the July-to-September quarter. Revenue also decreased to €9.1 billion from €9.7 billion, although Porsche kept its full-year financial outlook after lowering it in July.

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[Mr.Smith]

Who needs Porsche when you can have a Taycan knock off for $30k and a fake Purosangue?

Chinese Auto manufacturing is the next scam to replace the real estate bubble

 

[Flying ace]

Who needs Porsche when you can have a Taycan knock off for $30k and a fake Purosangue?

Chinese Auto manufacturing is the next scam to replace the real estate bubble

Yep agreed. The Chinese domestic buyers knows it too. Get a Taycan knockoff made by an iPhone knockoff manufacturer!

They keep talking about the Chinese auto industry being a threat in the US. No way this is happening any time soon. They haven't caught up to the Kia Hyundai, and probably won't for decades

 

[chun]

Yep agreed. The Chinese domestic buyers knows it too. Get a Taycan knockoff made by an iPhone knockoff manufacturer!

They keep talking about the Chinese auto industry being a threat in the US. No way this is happening any time soon. They haven't caught up to the Kia Hyundai, and probably won't for decades

You guys are comical, thinking that somehow the chinese auto industry hasn't caught up to Kia ?
USA centric mentality is something else...

 

[Tooney]

Yep agreed. The Chinese domestic buyers knows it too. Get a Taycan knockoff made by an iPhone knockoff manufacturer!

They keep talking about the Chinese auto industry being a threat in the US. No way this is happening any time soon. They haven't caught up to the Kia Hyundai, and probably won't for decades

Similar things were said about Japanese transistor radios, electronics, and cars in the 1960s.

 

[Scandinavian]

Similar things were said about Japanese transistor radios, electronics, and cars in the 1960s.

Do not forget the camera industry, Zeiss, Voigtländer, Hesselblad etc.

 

[Scandinavian]

Yep agreed. The Chinese domestic buyers knows it too. Get a Taycan knockoff made by an iPhone knockoff manufacturer!

They keep talking about the Chinese auto industry being a threat in the US. No way this is happening any time soon. They haven't caught up to the Kia Hyundai, and probably won't for decades

Do not underestimate these guys!

True the cars have major flaws at the moment, in particular the brakes etc. But listen to Ford’s CEO! He can not stop driving his Chinese car!

And also be aware that the Chinese have recruited many chassis, suspension and brake engineers from BMW and Porsche lately. They are aware of their weak spots, but clearly intend to do something about it!

 

[rim23]

One could definitely think about getting a Chinese brand for much lower price than those stubborns from VW Group, BMW, etc given their ability to charge a lot and disability to properly support their products.

 

[BigBob]

Who needs Porsche when you can have a Taycan knock off for $30k and a fake Purosangue?

Chinese Auto manufacturing is the next scam to replace the real estate bubble

I doubt they will be $30k in the US once the orange one gets his paws into international trade.

 

[chun]

I doubt they will be $30k in the US once the orange one gets his paws into international trade.

They will probably not come to the US.

They are hardly exporting any cars to US as it is right now, and they don't seem to suffer much:

Most of the chinese exported cars in 2024, ended up in EU, belive it or not - out of 1.7 mil chinese cars exproted to EU in 2024, 681.000 were EVs:

And they can make them for much cheaper, and it's not even the labor cost:

And these figures are a bit of a lie, as BYD seal offers much more premium: interior, electronics & battery tech than WV ID.3. So if they would produce same lower quality as VW, price would be even smaller.

 

[Mr.Smith]

Do not underestimate these guys!

True the cars have major flaws at the moment, in particular the brakes etc. But listen to Ford’s CEO! He can not stop driving his Chinese car!

And also be aware that the Chinese have recruited many chassis, suspension and brake engineers from BMW and Porsche lately. They are aware of their weak spots, but clearly intend to do something about it!

It will be impossible to complete with Chinese OEMs because they have a high degree of automation compared to legacy Auto makers. Labor cost aside, the build quality is better than people think.

From battery tech to manufacturing of the cars there is a lot of government support.
The Chinese will just buy any market though lower price, better cars.

We have a factory outside of a tier 1 city that part of it is used to build battery casings for car HV batteries.
The auto industry is a bright spot in local manufacturing.

The Chinese market is the biggest car consumer in the world, but the government is pushing for EVs. There is no way any non Chinese OEM can complete in the local Chinese market with EVs so they will all need to leave, as they are slowly doing.
Tesla is more of a Chinese company than a US one. Thats why it does well there and that's temporary.

Very high tariffs are a requirement in any country that has an auto industry. It's only fair

 

[daveo4EV]

there is no secret sauce - there is only time/effort - Porsche is returning to past glory as it's confused by the path forward which is all digital - your competition will match you and exceed you if you let them - retreat and reverence for the past is a short term strategy that has rarely been a good business plan…

the 911 will be the last to be "topped" - it will take at least 15 years to topple it from a determined competitor - but that's not where the volume is - and I don't see a determined competitor in this space going after the 911…

sedans and SUV's will overwhelm Porsche's ability and desire to compete in those segments…but their strategic retreat to past glory is not going to serve them well…they will continue to sell smaller and smaller number of vehicles to a smaller and smaller set of core customers - until that becomes unsustainable- but it will take a while to reach that point…

the EV is an existential threat to most German auto makers…

we'll have the 911 for a while however - it's a niche market immune to greater market trends - like the Apple Watch is really no threat to luxury watches…but Timex on the other hand…

add in some determined govt. bias and local market advantages vs. imports - sprinkle some new approach cost savings without legacy cost structures and no existing labor contracts, supply chain commitments and legacy business practice dealer networks and service expectations - and no out dated business models - and it becomes hard to do the 'new thing' while also having to do the 'old thing'

for me personally Porsche has lost the plot - my Taycan GTS build is north of $200k - ummm yeah - no…they are not selling Taycan's because they have priced them out of being competitive or value - and so far their tech is inferior - and the dealer/service network is clueless (more handicap than advantage)…their mechanical advantages can be matched (the Lucid Saphire is as good if not better than Taycan on handling dynamics) - and their software is way behind - and their cost is premium…the only advantage is "brand" but that can evaporate faster than one would like to believe…

this is going to be hard to watch - but I dropped my block buster membership when I got Netflix…the writing was on the wall - no matter how profitable Blockbuster was at that moment.

 

[daveo4EV]

honestly whenever I talk to a "legacy" auto manufacturer employee - there is is pervasive subtext of "if we can only wait this whole EV thing out and return to 'sanity' we'll be good" - they really feel this is just a fad that will go away…

I talk to EV startup people - and they are like - 'yeah we know EV's are not perfect, but we know what we need to do to fix it, and there are plans and prototypes that move us forward, just wait until you see what's next, we're chipping away at the problem'…relentless incremental improvement is a powerful force…

and reminiscent of one of my favorite Bill Gates quotes…

Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.

― Bill Gates

existing manufactures only see the limitation of the next year - new guys are focused on where they'll be a decade out, 1 year at a time…

in my 50+ years on the planet - and 30+ years in the tech industry - I've seen this dynamic play out 100's if not 1000's of times…

the legacy guys waiting for the new guys to fail so that they can succeed again - well I can't think of a time that's gone well for the legacy guys…as their market shrinks to their core, and then they lose their core…as the new guys eventually match and then overwhelm/overcome the legacy guys…

is VW/Audi/Porsche different? maybe, and that's what they are betting on right now - but I believe history says that's the risky approach…

I really like Porsche - but their bias and limitations are showing and when engaging them directly (and always unofficially) they seem to have some blind spots and are missing the point…

I'm reminded of talking with friends working at blackberry from 2007-2011 - and them focusing on the places Android/iPhone were "weaker"…they were not wrong, but they were looking in the wrong place - they had detailed analysis for each of the tree's they were examining - not realizing what was happening to the entire forest…

I just this week invested in an extended warranty for my 2022 911 TurboS Cab - I think it's going to be with me for a while and don't see any real competition from anyone anytime soon…and that one time payment makes it mostly consequence free for me for the next 7+ years…

it's probably going to be hard for me to purchase another Porsche EV after my Macan Turbo EV - I for see better options - and if things continue on their current trend my Hybrid Cayenne is unlikely to be replaced with a Porsche EV, but it will be replaced with a full EV…

I doubt Porsche will care about little o'me - but they should - I'm one of the trees…

 

[Flying ace]

They will probably not come to the US.

They are hardly exporting any cars to US as it is right now, and they don't seem to suffer much:

Most of the chinese exported cars in 2024, ended up in EU, belive it or not - out of 1.7 mil chinese cars exproted to EU in 2024, 681.000 were EVs:

And they can make them for much cheaper, and it's not even the labor cost:

And these figures are a bit of a lie, as BYD seal offers much more premium: interior, electronics & battery tech than WV ID.3. So if they would produce same lower quality as VW, price would be even smaller.

in effect this has already happened in the US, just not under a known Chinese brand.

Volvo (owned by Geely) is exporting the EX90 (manufactured solely in China) to the US and without any subsidies can sell it at $35-$45k

Is "distribution" basically the dealership network?

 

[Flying ace]

there is no secret sauce - there is only time/effort - Porsche is returning to past glory as it's confused by the path forward which is all digital - your competition will match you and exceed you if you let them - retreat and reverence for the past is a short term strategy that has rarely been a good business plan…

the 911 will be the last to be "topped" - it will take at least 15 years to topple it from a determined competitor - but that's not where the volume in

sedans and SUV's will overwhelm Porsche's ability and desire to compete in those segments…but their strategic retreat to past glory is not going to serve them well…

the EV is an existential threat to most German auto makers…

we'll have the 911 for a while however - it's a niche market immune to greater market trends - like the Apple Watch is really no threat to luxury watches…but Timex on the other hand…

add in some determined govt. bias and local market advantages vs. imports - sprinkle some new approach cost savings without legacy cost structures and no existing labor contracts, supply chain commitments and legacy business practice dealer networks and service expectations - and no out dated business models - and it becomes hard to do the 'new thing' while also having to do the 'old thing'

for me personally Porsche has lost the plot - my Taycan GTS build is north of $200k - ummm yeah - no…they are not selling Taycan's because they have priced them out of being competitive or value - and so far their tech is inferior - and the dealer/service network is clueless (more handicap than advantage)…their mechanical advantages can be matched (the Lucid Saphire is as good if not better than Taycan on handling dynamics) - and their software is way behind - and their cost is premium…the only advantage is "brand" but that can evaporate faster than one would like to believe…

this is going to be hard to watch - but I dropped my block buster membership when I got Netflix…the writing was on the wall - no matter how profitable Blockbuster was at that moment.

Two dinosaurs spotted in the same picture?!?!

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