Porsche’s all-electric Taycan has been selling like proverbial hotcakes. It’s one of the biggest bright points of Porsche’s growth strategy, both here in the U.S. as well as Europe and China. They’re in such high demand, in fact, that Porsche is already sold out of them until at least 2023! In a recent Financial Times report, Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess admitted that the conglomeration of automobile brands has “basically sold out electric vehicles in Europe and in the United States” for the rest of the calendar year. We aren’t even to the half-way point of 2022 yet, and Porsche is already unable to fulfil Taycan orders unless something drastic changes in the near future.
The report goes on to indicate that the EV production capacity within Volkswagen Group, inclusive of Porsche, is tied up trying to fulfil the already lengthy waiting list for existing orders, let alone the constant influx of new ones. As Porsche continues to grapple with the fallout from a microchip shortage which looks likely to carry on several more months, as well as a continued shortage of vehicle wiring harnesses produced in war-torn Ukraine, it falls farther and farther behind on its Taycan orders. This doesn’t bode well for the launch of the Macan EV, which is supposed to be happening sometime in the near future. This artificial stifling of production could be detrimental to the growth in EV adoption in general, and in Porsche’s sales in particular. If delays mean customers must wait until next year to buy a Taycan, it could force them to either stick with the cars they already have, or move to a different brand with something available more readily.
“Customers can, of course, place orders through our retailers for cars of the Volkswagen Group,” a spokesperson for VW told TechRadar. “While delivery times may be longer than we would typically expect, for certain models deliveries can still be expected within 2022. Due to a combination of high demand for our award-winning models, plus the restrictions of components sourced from Ukraine, and the global semiconductor shortage, for some customers car delivery times already indicate a 2023 delivery.”
Here’s hoping Porsche can sort this situation quickly and efficiently, and get Taycan and Macan EV production up to meet demands next year!