21st Century Business Herald reporter Peng Suping Shanghai reported that Porsche has increased its "bet" on pure electric models.
On the afternoon of March 18, Beijing time, at the 2022 annual press conference of Porsche Global, Oliver Blume, chairman of porsche's global executive board, said that Porsche's future is electrification, and the goal is to reach half of the sales volume of electrified models, including plug-in hybrid or pure electric models, by 2030, the sales volume of pure electric models will exceed 80%.
Porsche has been announcing the electrification transition for a long time, but in the medium-term planning, this time the expression has been slightly adjusted - the strategic position of pure electric models in the future has been significantly improved. Previously, Porsche's plan was that by 2030, electrified models, including plug-in hybrid or pure electric models, would account for more than 80% of sales, and now only pure electric models.
In the past fiscal year 2021, Porsche, the "giant" of supercars, has set a new high in terms of operating performance. In 2021, Porsche's operating income climbed to 33.1 billion euros, an increase of 15% year-on-year, and sales profit of 5.3 billion euros, an increase of 27% year-on-year, resulting in a return on sales of 16.0% in the 2021 fiscal year, an increase of 1.4 percentage points.
Low carbon and emission reduction are the trend of the times, and facing the future, the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer has also given its own choice.
Pure electricity will dominate
Porsche is already planning for the electrification transition. In addition to the sales of pure electric models accounting for more than 80% in 2030, Porsche also announced for the first time that it will present all 718 sports cars in pure electric form around 2025.
"Our goal is very clear, which is to make the 718 the best pure electric sports car in the B-segment car market." Obermu said the new generation of 718 will adhere to the principle of universal components and will still be produced on the assembly line of the coupé in Zuffenhausen in the future.
This will contribute to the realization of more than 80% of pure electric model sales by 2030. The 718 is an entry-level sports car under Porsche, and according to the information on porsche China's official website, the starting price of the 718Cayman model is 545,000 yuan, and the electrification of entry-level products will greatly help Porsche's overall transformation.
In fact, in addition to the 718 sports car, Porsche has previously announced that the next generation of Macan will be fully electrified, becoming Porsche's second electric model after the Taycan.
The Macan is a mid-size SUV and porsche's highest-selling model, delivering 88,362 units worldwide over the past year.
However, the launch date of the pure electric version of Macan may be later than market expectations. Many media reports said that it is expected that the pure electric version of Macan will be officially released next year, but Aobomu said at the press conference that "two models", namely the pure electric version of the 718 and the Macan, will meet with everyone around 2025.
The reason for the delay in the launch of the pure electric version of The Macan may be related to Porsche's insistence on independent development. According to the original plan, the pure electric version of Macan will be built on the Volkswagen Group's PPE platform, but Porsche later abandoned the cooperation.
21st Century Business Herald has previously reported that in 2020, Porsche has planned to join hands with Volkswagen's Audi, Bentley and other brands to eat the overcapacity of Volkswagen's Hanover commercial vehicle factory, and based on this, it will develop and complete the next generation of luxury electric vehicle platforms around 2025.
But within a year, Porsche moved its planned production base for the electric Macan from Hanover to its leipzig plant because porsche did not want its own model production plans to be constrained by Audi and Bentley.
However, Obermu also stressed that the battery of the pure electric version of the 718 will cooperate with Northvolt, a Swedish battery manufacturer and long-term partner of the Volkswagen Group, and Northvolt will not only provide batteries for Porsche, but also battery modules and battery systems.
It is clear that pure electricity has dominated Porsche's choice of technology path. In order to achieve the set goals, Porsche is also investing in the construction of high-end charging stations with partners, as well as Porsche's own charging infrastructure.
Porsche has also invested heavily in core technology areas such as battery systems and battery module production. Porsche said the newly formed Cellforce company is focusing on the development and production of high-performance batteries, and is expected to achieve mass production in 2024. In addition, Porsche has also invested in its own research and development in this regard, and Obermou said that it now hopes to provide battery modules for 1,000 electric vehicles, and then see how to expand production capacity.
The internal combustion engine will not be abandoned
It should be pointed out that Porsche, which is actively transforming in terms of electrification, will not abandon the internal combustion engine model now. In fact, in Porsche's short- and medium-term planning, plug-in hybrid models, like pure electric models, belong to the same category of electrification.
Obomu said that Porsche plans to launch a plug-in hybrid model of the 911, hoping that it can get closer to porsche's hybrid model in the event in a very dynamic way.
In addition, for the Cayenne and Panamera, which have already launched plug-in hybrid models, Porsche wants to increase its electric range to 80 km. "Of course, we will also consider pure electrification of Cayenne and Panamera, which is a natural step to reach the 2030 target."
Obermu stressed that Porsche will adhere to the "three-track parallel" strategy and remain open to various technical routes.
From Porsche's point of view, the traditional fuels of Macan and Cayenne are still hot sellers, the 911 is a totem-like model, Porsche does not need to be radically electrified, just the electrification of Macan, is already a "very huge step".
It is worth mentioning that for traditional internal combustion engine-driven models, Porsche is also looking for low-carbon emission reduction solutions.
"Considering porsche vehicles already on the road, we believe that the development of synthetic fuels would be an ideal complement to electrification and could not be more appropriate. These synthetic fuels can power internal combustion engine vehicles in a near-carbon neutral manner. Not only that, but we believe that Porsche's involvement and investment in this area will make a pioneering contribution to the maritime and aviation sectors. Obermou introduced.
At the end of 2020, Porsche has announced plans to build a pilot plant for synthetic fuels in Chile in conjunction with several international partners. Today, the construction of the plant has been carried out for nearly half a year, and production is expected to start this year.
Lutz Meschke, vice chairman and member of Porsche's global executive board and responsible for finance and information technology, said that Chile has an advantage in wind power, with more than 270 days a year, so Porsche will build the plant in Chile rather than immediately in Europe.
According to Porsche's previous plan, by 2030 to achieve carbon neutrality in the entire value chain, which means that from the supplier structure, to research and development and production, to the use of vehicles need to be fully carbon neutral, 20% of non-pure electric vehicle models, synthetic fuel is Porsche's solution. Obermu said Porsche will invest another 1 billion euros to continue to develop new energy sources.
Electrification was a success in the first battle
Behind the acceleration of electrification is porsche's remarkable achievements in new energy vehicles in recent years.
Among the traditional luxury sports car brands, Porsche was the first to announce and implement the electrification transformation. Back in 2015, Porsche released the Panamera E Hybrid, the first luxury model on the market to feature a plug-in hybrid system; in 2019, Porsche released the first pure electric sports car, the Taycan, which is seen as a sign of Porsche's next era and a strong competitor to Tesla, the pioneer of electric vehicles.
At present, Porsche already has more than a dozen pure electric and plug-in hybrid models, including the Taycan, and the total sales of these models have not been officially announced, but it is said that of all the new cars delivered in Europe last year, the proportion of electric models (including plug-in hybrid and pure electric) has been close to 40%.
The pure electric model Taycan, last year's total sales have reached 41296 units, accounting for 13.7% of the total sales of 301915 vehicles. In China, Porsche's largest single market by volume, the Taycan experienced its first full year of sales, delivering 7,315 units and more than double the order volume of the previous year.
The overall sales scale of Taycan seems to be small, but it is not easy to achieve this result, the average price of this car is about 1 million, which is a very high-end product in the electric vehicle market.
Taycan's performance has been recognized by the industry. Feng Qingfeng, senior vice president of Geely Holding Group and CEO of Lotus Group, previously told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter: "Taycan, as an ultra-high-end product priced at more than one million, can sell more than 700 vehicles a month, and such market feedback is very good." And Taycan's product strategy is to hit the next notch, the competitive target is to price at 900,000 products, I believe that after the launch of this market strategy, its market share will continue to enlarge. ”
The sports car brand Lotus acquired by Geely is also undergoing electrification and intelligent transformation, and the price of Lotus family cars will be around one million, basically benchmarking Taycan, and obviously the performance of Taycan has also given Lotus the confidence to transform to a large extent.
As a "bridge" for Porsche's transition from the era of the internal combustion engine to the era of electrification, Taycan has fulfilled its mission well. One detail is that in the Chinese market, 72% of Taycan users are buying a Porsche model for the first time.
In the short term, the Taycan will remain the mainstay of Porsche electrification. At a previous communication meeting, Jens Puttfarcken, president and CEO of Porsche China, said that this year Porsche will introduce two of the most high-end flagship models in the Taycan family, the Taycan Turbo and Taycan Turbo S, to China, and since the launch of the two cars, the two cars have performed well in overseas markets.
In terms of charging network, Porsche currently has no clear plan, but only said that it will gradually layout according to the development of the market. But as a luxury brand, Porsche is very clear about building its own charging network.
Obermou said that the main purpose of the self-built charging network is to reduce the pressure on the current public charging network and make the experience of car owners more convenient. "We are also considering adapting the charging facilities with the existing infrastructure, hoping to provide high-end resting places for everyone to have a cup of coffee."