DELIVERIES OF PORSCHES HIT NEW PEAK
But the immediate future is a little less certain
Porsche has gone and done it again, setting a new record for cars delivered to customers in 2018. A grand total of 256,255 Porsches arrived with customers in 2018, up from 246,375 in 2017, representing a four per cent rise overall.
The biggest rise, proportionally, was notched up by the new Panamera, registering a hefty 38 per cent increase over 2017 and fully 38,443 deliveries in 2018. Remarkably, the 911 was up 10 per cent to 35,573 units, and that in the final year of the Type-991 model.
“The 911’s capacity to fascinate is stronger than ever,” says Detlev von Platen, Member of the Executive Board responsible for Sales and Marketing at Porsche AG. “We just celebrated the world premiere of the new 911 at the end of the year at the Los Angeles Autoshow, and yet our sports car icon once again inspired more customers in 2018 than in the previous year.”
Of course it was the smash-hit Macan that secured the most deliveries of all, at 86,031 units, well ahead of the Cayenne on 71,458. Combine the two and the net result, as it has been for several years, is that Porsche is predominantly a maker of SUVS. For the record European deliveries were down four per cent, US up four per cent. But China grew by a fairly epic 12 per cent. It’s now by far Porsche’s biggest single national market, with 80,108 units to second placed USA at a mere 57,202.
Unsurprisingly, Porsche blames the Euro downturn on the new WLTP emissions regime. “The switch to the new WLTP test cycle and gasoline particle filters in Europe mean that we faced significant challenges in the fourth quarter of 2018, and these will continue to be felt in the first half of 2019. On top of that, we stopped offering models with diesel engines in February 2018,” Detlev von Platen added.
To what extent WLTP will be a problem going forward isn’t clear. It’s likely implicated in Porsche’s decision to limit the launch of the latest 911 to Carrera S models with the PDK gearbox and continues to limit Porsche’s product offering in multiple markets. Add to that increasing signs of slowing economic growth in the EU, US and even China, the deletion of its diesel models and a huge push towards electrification and it’s clear enough that Porsche is going through something of a revolution.