Produced by | Sohu car café
One is the benchmark of the traditional German luxury car camp, and the other is the global electric intelligent car giant. In May of this year, Porsche and Tesla stood in the spotlight at the same time in a strange connection – they were both mired in a sluggish performance.
Porsche's dilemma is mainly in the Chinese market, which was once its largest single global market. In 2023, the Chinese market lost this position, and the 15.01% year-on-year decline in Chinese sales also directly affected its global performance. Recently, the boiling protests of Porsche dealers in China have cast another shadow on it.
Tesla, on the other hand, has suffered a waterloo in almost all of the global market. In the first quarter of this year, Tesla's global deliveries were 387,000 vehicles, down 20% month-on-month and nearly 9% year-on-year. In its 2023 Impact Report, Tesla no longer mentions its goal of delivering 20 million vehicles a year by 2030. At the same time, the dark clouds of layoffs are hovering overhead.
Whether it's Porsche or Tesla, they have been the trendsetters in their respective fields. However, since the beginning of this year, they have shown weakness and sales have declined. In April and May of this year, the contradictions erupted almost simultaneously. At the end of the day, both have made similar mistakes in terms of market, products, etc.
This also shows that in the current turbulent Chinese market and global market, whether it is "old money" or "new money", no car company can enjoy the brand dividends of the past.
Porsche and Tesla are personally interpreting this apocalypse.
Sales were frustrated and actions were deformed
The "collapse" of the two car companies first appeared at the sales level.
According to the data, Porsche's sales in China fell by 24% year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, a record decline. From 2019 to 2021, Porsche's sales in China were still growing and the growth rate was accelerating. However, since the beginning of 2022, its sales volume has shown negative growth; In 2023, it will fall by 15.01% year-on-year, and the sales volume will not be as high as in 2019.
Unlike Porsche, which has shown a downward trend since 2022, the decline in Tesla's sales has come more suddenly. Data shows that in the first quarter of this year, Tesla's global sales were 386,800 units, down 9% year-on-year. From 2019 to 2023, Tesla's global sales have shown double-digit growth, which also makes its decline in the first quarter particularly abrupt.
In the face of poor sales, there was a "bottom-up" protest from Porsche China, which came from dealers. Recently, a number of automotive industry insiders broke the news that a number of Porsche dealers in China launched a collective protest and boycott to threaten Porsche's German headquarters by stopping entering the car, demanding a change of executives and subsidies.
According to media reports, most of the protests by dealers stemmed from the financial pressure they were under. In order to complete the sales task, Porsche China chose to press the dealership. In the context of the decline in terminal sales, dealers can only sell at a loss in order to return funds. At the Porsche China Dealer Conference at the beginning of this year, three Porsche dealers in China, Sunfonda, Battery and Meidong Group, had objections to this year's sales tasks, but they could not be properly resolved.
On May 27, Porsche China and all authorized dealers issued a joint statement saying that they will work together to find effective ways to actively respond to market changes, and discuss many key areas including but not limited to business policies, local customer insights, customer service and electrification transformation.
The release of the joint statement seems to mean a temporary subsidence of a turmoil. But beneath the surface, the surging undercurrents have not stopped.
At the heart of the Porsche dealer protests was the decline in sales. Without changing the existing product strength, there are only three ways to solve this problem, one is to no longer press the warehouse, which may lead to a further decline in sales data and loss of confidence in dealers; the second is to continue to press the warehouse, but give dealers subsidies, which may indirectly lead to the terminal car price "fracture"; The third is to reduce prices in a unified manner and exchange price for volume.
Either way, it will make Porsche's already weak sales in China even worse. Without breaking the spell of sales and price, it will be difficult for Porsche to maintain its dominance in China's luxury car market.
Unlike the "old money" Porsche, the "new money" Tesla has seen a "top-down" adjustment. Again, this change is also closely related to poor sales.
According to media reports, starting in April this year, Tesla will lay off more than 10% of its global workforce, affecting 14,000 people. In an effort to cope with declining sales and the intensification of the global "price war" for electric vehicles.
It is reported that the "lineup" of layoffs includes Tesla's supercharging team, software, services, engineering and other departments. It is worth mentioning that in May this year, Tesla rehired nearly 500 employees of the Supercharger team that were previously laid off.
In terms of products, Tesla's actions are also somewhat deformed, which is reflected in the fluctuating product strategy.
Previously, Reuters quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that Tesla would abandon the launch of a low-cost $25,000 model and shift its focus to the development of robotaxi, a self-driving taxi. Musk immediately publicly denied it, but announced that he would officially release Robotaxi on August 8, which partially confirmed the report on the factual level, and the change was very abrupt.
The outside world believes that Tesla's various changes are closely related to the financial risks caused by the decline in sales. According to the financial report, Tesla's net profit in the first quarter fell 55% year-on-year to $1.13 billion, and the operating profit margin fell further to 5.5% from 8.2% in the fourth quarter of last year.
Porsche's financial figures were also affected by sales. According to the financial report, its vehicle sales in the first quarter were 8.1 billion euros, a year-on-year decrease of 12.7%; Gross profit in the automotive business was 23.4%, down 30.3% from the same period last year.
The halo faded, and the market was forced
It is no accident that Porsche and Tesla lost at the same time. Beneath the surface of declining sales, they have one thing in common - they have all carried the halo of shining all over the world.
Among them, the ultra-luxury brand Porsche has found a comfort zone between ultra-luxury and high-end brands through the exploration of Cayenne and Macan. And Tesla, which was created by "Silicon Valley Iron Man", has been frequently "canonized" in the field of science and technology by virtue of the sense of science and technology created by advanced electric intelligent technology.
The common problem they face is that the advantages brought by brand and product dividends are being dissipated under the rapid changes in the market environment.
For the Porsche brand, today's macro environment and micro products are not friendly.
When Porsche's deliveries in China declined in the third quarter of 2023, Michael Kirsch, President and CEO of Porsche China, mentioned that one of the reasons was the extremely fierce price war in the macro market.
This directly refers to the status quo of consumers chasing cost-effective models in the context of "price war". According to data from the Gasgoo Research Institute, as of April this year, more than 130 models of nearly 40 auto brands in the domestic auto market participated in the "price war".
However, the macro environment is not the core reason for the decline in Porsche's sales. Under the price war, it is not that no one pays for high-end/luxury models.
According to the data of the Passenger Association, the proportion of new energy vehicle sales with new car consumption of more than 400,000 yuan in China has increased from 1.2% in 2017 to 3.4% in 2023. According to the research report of Huatai Securities, the average price of the mainland passenger car market increased from 140,000 yuan to more than 170,000 yuan in 18-23 years, and the price center rose by 30,000 yuan +, and the trend of automobile consumption upgrading was obvious.
The real problem is that Porsche has lost its competitiveness in micro products.
First of all, in terms of cost performance, Porsche's product strength leadership generally lies in design, performance and brand power. In terms of design, the Xiaomi SU7 and Porsche's "heart and soul" prove that it is still classic; In terms of performance, the rise of independent technology and the trend of surging electric power have dissipated its competitiveness.
In terms of brand power, Porsche is stuck in its own positioning. In the new energy era, it has not inherited its former dominance, and in terms of fuel vehicles, the rising terminal discounts are also weakening the social attributes of its brand. As a result, Porsche fell into the positioning trap of reducing sales if it does not reduce prices, and losing its brand power if it reduces prices.
In the case of new energy vehicles, price reductions are already underway. According to media reports, in Shenzhen, Porsche's first new energy model, the Taycan, has a discount of up to 200,000 yuan in some stores. The lowest-priced Porsche Macan model (entry price of 578,000 yuan) has a discount of up to 170,000 yuan in some stores.
The Macan was once Porsche's "impulse artifact". However, according to media reports, according to store statistics, the Macan has the lowest conversion rate among all Porsche models, because there are too many competing products, and its own product power is average in the market.
Behind this, it is not unrelated to the development of domestic high-end new energy vehicles. Many car companies, including NIO, Ideal, BYD, Wenjie, and Zeekr, have launched more than 500,000 models. In terms of brand power in the field of intelligent electric vehicles, independent brands have the ability to compete with Porsche.
The same is true for Tesla, under the efforts of domestic car companies, its former technology label is also being further diluted. In terms of intelligent configuration, including vehicle machine system and auxiliary driving system, independent new energy vehicles have achieved rapid catch-up.
Although the Model 3 and Model Y models are classic enough, and in 2023, the latter's global sales will surpass Toyota Corolla to become the world's "king of large items", but the weakness of the product lineup still makes it difficult for Tesla to find increments.
Previously, Tesla was highly anticipated for the Model 2, an affordable model that is expected to cost $25,000, but for now Musk is clearly focusing on Robotaxi.
Tesla mentioned in its first-quarter earnings report that it wants to "invest in R&D to accelerate our AI, software, and fleet-based profits to achieve further revenue growth." And, demand will continue to be generated by improving the performance and functionality of vehicles, including "by providing AI-based products and features, such as Autopilot, FSD (regulated), and other software, as well as delivering new vehicles, such as the Cybertruck." ”
This seems to mean that Tesla's R&D is mostly focused on artificial intelligence and software, and the planning of new car products is not clear. Even the Robotape, which will be launched on August 8, is completely different from the business model of the Model series. Musk has said that Tesla is not a car company, but an artificial intelligence robot company.
However, the success of this business model remains to be seen, and how to increase the profits brought by car manufacturing is still a top priority for Tesla.
For example, FSD, which Musk has high hopes for, does not seem to be smooth sailing. Previously, it was reported that data from credit card data provider YipitDate showed that only 2% of Tesla owners in the United States who received a one-month free trial of FSD chose to subscribe to the service after the trial period ended. In China, Tesla's second-largest market, FSD is temporarily limited by legal and cost commercialization.
In general, whether it is Porsche or Tesla, the reason for the sluggish sales of both is due to the product. The fundamental reason is that the company's product strategy has changed and failed to keep up with the changes in the external situation. This also proves that whether it is to eat the "old book" of brand power or the "old book" of classic products, it will not work.
There is no doubt that Chinese automobiles, which have been rolled up to the extreme, are the main driving force behind the deconstruction of the authoritarianism of global car brands "old money" and "new money". Across the ocean, China is stirring up the storm and will continue to push for the reshuffle of the global auto market pattern.