Xiaomi SU7 meritorious! Porsche's sales plummeted by nearly 30%, and dealers collectively "jumped back"

Kung Fu shooting

2024-05-28 11:27Posted in Guangdong automotive creators

On May 27, Porsche issued a statement titled "Sweeping away the floating clouds, gaining insight into the right view, and sticking to the future", declaring that it would tide over the difficulties with the dealers, and it was also to appease the Porsche dealers who had made a lot of noise some time ago. Porsche's global directors rushed over, and it seemed to be the first time in their minds for this proud European ultra-luxury brand.

Porsche's reason for doing this is simple: the luxury brand automaker's sales fell by nearly 25 percent in the first quarter, while gross profit plummeted by 30.1 percent, and the entire operation was already in a precarious state. Porsche, which used to increase prices, has now started to offer a full range of discounts, but it still can't stop the downward trend.

What the hell happened to Porsche? How will its downturn affect the luxury car market? Let Kung Fu Motors take you to take a look.

(1) Dealer jumps back, thanks to Xiaomi SU7?

The trigger for this incident was naturally the sharp drop in sales, and the dealers collectively "jumped back", so that the Porsche headquarters had to send people to appease them. But the more direct reason is the failure of Porsche's electrification.

In 2019, Porsche launched its first all-electric model, the Taycan, and then it was gone. This pure electric "sole seedling" has always been a pain in Porsche's heart, which wants to maintain the brand image without embarrassing sales. As a last resort, Porsche opted for "stocking", which required dealers to sell a certain number of Taycans each year.

But the reality is brutal: the Taycan is not very attractive these days. Take the 2024 Taycan 4 Cross Turismo as an example, the price of this car is as high as 1.008 million yuan, but the maximum power is only 320kW, and the time to complete the 0-100km/h acceleration is 4.7 seconds, which is not enough to see among the performance monsters. At the same time, the range of the new car is only a pitiful 517km, which is also not up to date.

Porsche's task was thrown over, and the dealer could not sell it at all, so he could only choose to sell the car at a loss. This was nothing in the period when Porsche was not worried about selling, after all, there were still "cash cows" such as Cayenne and Macan. With the decline in Porsche's sales, dealers are slowly unable to hold on, and the money they make is not enough for Taycan, who wants to do such a loss-making business?

The last straw that overwhelmed Porsche should be the recently launched Xiaomi SU7. Not only does this car perfectly "copy" the Taycan in terms of appearance, but it also seems to be more flagship than the Porsche in terms of performance. The Xiaomi SU7 accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 2.78 seconds, while the comprehensive range reaches 800 km, and the new car is also equipped with the latest intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving technology.

In such a comparison, it seems that the performance of Xiaomi SU7 is even stronger. The key is that the top configuration of Xiaomi SU7 is only 299,900 yuan, and although the price of Taycan has dived, the starting price is also nearly 500,000 yuan. In this comparison, it seems that Porsche's price-performance ratio is extraordinarily low.

It is definitely an exaggeration to say that Xiaomi SU7 and Porsche Taycan compete for ecological niche, but the emergence of Xiaomi SU7 makes more car owners "unbearable" to place an order for Taycan, which definitely exists.

(2) The essence is lost, and Porsche is confused

Although most of the time stuck in the city, it has to be said that Porsche is indeed a brand born on the track, and extreme performance has always been Porsche's biggest selling point.

The horizontally opposed 4.0-liter six-cylinder engine of the Porsche FLAT is widely regarded as the greatest sports car engine of all time. The boxer-opposed engine is characterised by low drag, low centre of gravity and low vibration, which allows the Porsche to achieve better handling. As for the high maintenance cost and difficult maintenance, these are not the problems that Porsche should consider. As for the magical PDK gearbox, it has also been talked about by fans because it can achieve "infinite ejection".

What's more, in addition to strong performance, Porsche also has quite excellent quality control, which is very different from Maserati, Lamborghini and other ultra-luxury brands in the same class. There is not only the ultimate exploration of technology, but at the same time, in addition to being expensive and there is no additional price, such a Porsche can naturally kill all sides.

But in the age of electrification, all of Porsche's vaunted advantages have disappeared. It is said that Porsche's engine is strong, but it is not as strong as the dual-motor, three-motor, and four-motor electric vehicles; It is said that Porsche's PDK is invincible, but it can't compare to the electric car to directly "kill" the gearbox, absolutely fast, absolutely silky; It is said that Porsche's quality control is good, but electric vehicles can easily be maintained once for 20,000 kilometers, and most of the three electric vehicles are even maintenance-free.

If you think about this, you can understand Porsche's coldness. The lack of attractiveness of the Taycan is just a symptom, and what is even more fatal is the decline in the attractiveness of all models. Although Porsche still has a large audience today, this number is also losing.

(3) Luxury brands, it's time to wake up?

Not only Porsche, but also luxury brands have also produced a lot of electric cars, and brands such as Ferrari and Maserati have also begun the road to electrification. But without exception, almost all of these luxury brand trams are unsalable, either simply becoming passers-by, or slashing prices to take a breather.

Just like the previous evaluation of Volvo EX30 by Kung Fu Automobile, a small SUV dared to sell more than 200,000 yuan in what era, which is indeed too "confident".

Even if they are reluctant, these luxury brands should be aware of this, and the ceiling of the electric era has long been nailed. The ceiling of a mid-size SUV is 300,000, and the ceiling of a mid-size sedan is 250,000.

After all, consumers of new energy vehicles are relatively rational, and of course they also look at the brand, but the blessing of traditional luxury brands is not big in their opinion. This is also the key to the fact that even if the BMW i3 drops to the 200,000 level, the sales are still tepid. After all, in the eyes of consumers, this car is only worth this price, or this price has been counted as a brand premium.

In the new energy era, it cannot be said that everyone is equal, but it may be very difficult to cut leeks at will as before.

What's more, the gameplay is constantly being updated. In the past April, the sales of the M9 surpassed that of the BMW X5 and successfully became the top SUV seller in the 500,000 class. BYD looks up to the U8 sales and continues to rise, sitting on the front line of million-level luxury car sales.

It stands to reason that these are brands that have no "foundation" at all, and they are all brand new models, but they can pull down classic models such as BMW X5 and Maybach in the first time, relying on stronger scientific and technological accumulation. The playability of these new cars is too high, and the BMW X5 and these cars are all set off as "feature machines".

Once this becomes the norm, where do Porsche go from here?

(4) Kung Fu shooting

Porsche's sales plummeted completely reasonably, there is no technical advantage, the brand power will only be constantly consumed, and the result is the frustration of the market. The success of domestic high-end models such as the M9 and the U8 has pushed Porsches into a corner.

To use an analogy, before the rise of the Apple mobile phone, the most expensive mobile phone on the market was Nokia's Rittal. With the blessing of top designers and the use of titanium, sapphire and other materials, Rittal mobile phones were once hyped into luxury goods in the mobile phone industry. But when the Apple mobile phone appeared, the "ceiling" was set, and the Rittal were left with only one symbol, losing their real market influence.

Now that BYD and Huawei are accelerating to become Apple, will Porsche become Rittal?

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