"It is understood that Mr. Liu's encounter is not unique"
In January, Mr. Liu (pseudonym) from Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, bought a Porsche Cayenne in the name of his own company. Mr. Liu said that the Porsche bought in the millions should have given him a very good driving experience, but it was not the case.
Mr. Liu said that in January this year, he bought a Porsche Cayenne at a local 4s store, and spent a total of 1.35 million yuan on optional equipment, insurance, taxes and fees. When picking up the car, the salesman told him that the steering wheel of the vehicle can only be adjusted manually, not electrically. To achieve electric adjustment, it is necessary to install two accessories, electric steering column and chip, and at present, because of the shortage of chips, Porsche manufacturers temporarily installed a manual steering column.
Mr. Liu said that the sale provided a written agreement at the time, stating that the Porsche manufacturer could not provide the electric steering column adjustment because of the chip shortage, and the chip would be purchased as soon as possible, and the electric steering column would be installed after the procurement was completed. Listening to the sales, Mr. Liu did not care, and signed the car to go home.
Mr. Liu said that by April, the sales suddenly informed him that the electric adjustment function of the steering wheel of the vehicle was uniformly cancelled, and the electric steering column was no longer installed, and the Porsche manufacturer would provide him with a voucher of 15,000 yuan as compensation.
Mr. Liu immediately rushed to the 4s store and said that porsche manufacturers promised to install electric steering columns with written agreements, and now unilaterally breaking the contract is to deceive consumers. But the staff of the 4s store said that this was the decision of the Porsche manufacturer, and they could not do anything about it. Mr. Liu then called Porsche China, and the reply was that it was impossible to install electric steering columns and compensate for the 15,000 yuan voucher.
Mr. Liu told the special search reporter that the steering wheel with the electric adjustment function is convenient and fast to use, and the vehicle can also use the memory function to store the driver's position when getting on and off and driving, so as to obtain the best driving experience. And now Porsche manufacturers unilaterally do not install electric steering columns, their own vehicles can not achieve the electric adjustment of the steering wheel, for a vehicle worth millions of dollars, as a car owner is unacceptable. Mr. Liu's appeal is that Porsche manufacturers will either continue to fulfill their previous commitments and install electric steering columns, or they will return the car and hope that Porsche will publicly apologize.
The special search reporter called the customer service hotline of Porsche (China) Automobile Sales Co., Ltd. (4008205911), and the staff said that they would reflect the relevant problems and give feedback to the reporter in the future.
It is understood that Mr. Liu's encounter is not a unique case, the recent black cat complaint platform received more than 60 Porsche car owners collective complaints within 1 day, the content of the complaint is basically the same as Mr. Liu. "Economic Observer Network" previously reported that there are more than 20,000 new cars involved in the above problems, the models are mainly Cayenne, Paramela, etc., and it takes about 30,000 yuan to install electric steering columns separately in 4S stores. In 2021, Porsche delivered a total of 95,671 new cars in China, achieving an 8% year-on-year increase, and the Chinese market has become the largest single market in the world for seven consecutive years.
As of press time, there has been no reply from Porsche China. In response to Mr. Liu's situation, the reporter also interviewed Lin Bing, a lawyer at Beijing Jingshi (Shenzhen) Law Firm.
Lawyer Lin Bing believes that it is first necessary to see whether the car purchase contract and the written agreement have made an agreement on how to deal with the situation that the manufacturer unilaterally decides to cancel the electric adjustment function, and if there is an agreement, it will be handled according to the agreement, and if there is no agreement or the agreement is not clear, it should be in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Civil Code on breach of contract, perform the previous commitment or make reasonable compensation according to the consumer's loss.
Of course, the biggest controversy is also how the specific amount of compensation is determined. The steering wheel that can be electrically adjusted is a major factor that attracts consumers to buy, and now the electric adjustment leads to the inability to make the vehicle unable to meet the consumer's purchase expectations, so that the consumer's driving experience is affected, the consumer buys a luxury car worth millions, although Mr. Liu's loss is difficult to quantify, but obviously the Porsche side uses a 15,000 yuan voucher as compensation is very unreasonable. Since porsche is a unilateral breach, the consumer should be fully compensated not only for the loss of installing the electric steering column, but also for other losses that are additional to the consumer by delaying the payment.
Porsche manufacturers' decision-making also has a big problem, even if the decision no longer provides electric adjustment function, it should not affect the consumers who have purchased a car before this, Porsche's approach completely deviates from the reasonable expectations of consumers, infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, and is not conducive to maintaining economic order.
At present, the best practice is of course the Porsche side to fulfill the commitment, to Mr. Liu's car equipped with electric steering column, consumers can choose to try to communicate with the Porsche side, if the Porsche side is resolute, then consumers do not have to waste time, considering the large amount involved, it is recommended that consumers collect relevant evidence, directly sue to the court, protect their rights and interests, I believe the court will make a fair judgment.
(Note: The deadline for this article is April 27, 2022, due to the appropriate delay in the review process.) ）