Porsche responds to dealer pressure: "It is undergoing unprecedented change"

Tencent News Prism

2024-05-27 21:40Published on the official account of the "Prism" column of Tencent News in Beijing

Image source: Visual China

Author | Yue Jiachen Zheng Jiani

Edit | Wang Weikai

Produced by | Prism Tencent Xiaoman Studio

"Porsche China and dealers are facing a number of complex issues, with both opportunities and challenges." On the evening of May 27, Porsche China wrote in a "joint statement" provided by the author of "Prism" that the payment was "Porsche China and all authorized dealers".

Recently, Porsche is in deep conflict with some dealers in China. On the evening of May 24, the car blogger "Sang Zhiwei V" posted "Progress of the Porsche Investor Boycott Incident", introducing part of the contradiction, the blogger's certification information is "a member of the expert committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association", and the Weibo has been deleted.

The blog post mentioned that before May Day, dealers sent a letter to Porsche, asking Porsche China to compensate for the recent loss in the sale of new cars, and about 65% of dealers did not pick up the car. In addition, dealers also put forward subsidies, rebates and other requirements.

Since then, some media have reported on the theme of some dealers "forcing the palace" to the Porsche headquarters.

Porsche, as it looks, is suffering from declining sales in the Chinese market, especially for its electric vehicles.

According to the data, in the first quarter of this year, Porsche's global deliveries were 77,640 vehicles, a year-on-year decrease of 4%. In China, Porsche delivered only 16,340 vehicles, down 24 percent year-on-year.

At a time when sales were declining, Porsche dealers had to cut prices.

A terminal store in Porsche South China said that its Macan models are currently being promoted with a maximum discount of up to 160,000 yuan. After the discount, the minimum starting price of this Porsche SUV before the selection is only 448,000 yuan.

Not only in South China, but dealers in many places are cutting prices. A 4S store sales in Porsche North China said that if you buy an electric sports car Taycan now, you can get a discount of up to 320,000 yuan. At present, the starting price of the Taycan is 898,000 yuan, which means that a new Taycan has dropped to around 600,000 yuan. In the first quarter of this year, Taycan sales plummeted 54% year-on-year.

"Selling cars at a loss" has led to conflicts between the two sides, and Porsche China has chosen to reduce inventory from dealers in order to complete the sales task, which has further intensified the conflict between the two sides.

In this case, some Porsche dealers stopped picking up their cars, demanded subsidies from Porsche headquarters, and replaced senior executives.

"We understand and appreciate the recent concerns about our relationship and future development." In a joint statement, Porsche replied, "Porsche China and all authorized dealers have always maintained a long-term and mutually trusting dialogue mechanism. ”

In addition, the dealer's previous revelation also mentioned the problem of "cooperating with the bank to find a way out", saying that some dealers chose to find their own way out when they could not recover the discount for the new car, and cooperated with the bank to adopt a high-interest and high-rebate strategy, and could get a discount rate of nearly 8 points for the new car from the bank.

Porsche China has not responded directly to the above questions. However, a dealer told the author on May 22 that some new car discounts are only available with the option of a 20% down payment and an 80% loan. If a customer chooses to buy a car in full or with a down payment of more than 20%, they will not be able to get a high discount.

"Through thorough discussions, we worked together to find effective ways to actively respond to market changes." According to Porsche China, "These discussions covered many key areas, including but not limited to commercial policy, local customer insights, customer service and electrification transition. ”

In addition, it was previously reported that Porsche headquarters sent an investigation team to investigate the problems of the Chinese market and listened to the report of the Chinese region. In this regard, the author sent a letter to the Porsche global headquarters to inquire, but has not received a reply as of press time.

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