For years Porsche Cars North America has reported its sales on a monthly basis, giving us incredible insight into the company’s strong upward trajectory. For 2020, however, the company has reverted to a quarterly reporting structure that could not have come at a worse time. We can infer that Porsche had strong January and February sales, while March understandably erupted, leaving an empty crater that would normally have been filled with cars. But, because this is a quarterly report, any growth in January and February would somewhat obscure the full extent of the March fall.
I don’t really expect anything to get better in Q2 of 2020, so we’ll just move forward with the numbers we have and see what we can extrapolate.
The big glaring thing I can see right now is that Taycan sales are incredibly disappointing. Porsche has just under 200 dealerships in the United States, which means at 221 units moved in three months, dealers are only selling a little over 1 unit per quarter on average. Obviously there are many dealerships which sold none, as I expect most Taycan sales would be conducted by Circle Porsche, Porsche South Bay, and Beverly Hills Porsche. Hopefully this was a fulfillment issue and not an incredible lack of demand. Perhaps as more lower priced Taycan models roll out, more customers will be interested.
Predictably, 911 sales didn’t fall as much as most of Porsche’s lineup, as the 992 is still rolling out and those pre-ordered cars are getting delivered to customers. Similarly, the Macan has always had strong demand, accounting for its only 10.2% dip in the first quarter.
The big takeaway here is that with an economic and health crisis happening all over the world right now, it’s not a priority for many people to buy a new Porsche. If we can offer any advice, please stay inside and stay safe. We’ll weather this nightmare together and come out the other side ready to get than new P-car. How does that sound?
