Porsche May Eventually Stop Selling Cars To The Public

The German sports car maker’s finance and IT boss has suggested that the company already sees a time when its current direct sales model will be defunct

Matt Kimberley

21 Oct 2019

Porsche May Eventually Stop Selling Cars To The Public

Porsche may stop selling cars direct to the public altogether in the foreseeable future, according to its finance and IT boss.

In an interview with Autocar, Lutz Meschke said that while the move is still a long way away, there will likely come a time when you can’t simply walk into a dealer and buy a Porsche of your own.

Hinting strongly that he considers the future to be difficult for the current (traditional) sales model, he said:

“Of course, we have to try to keep direct selling [cars] as long as possible, [but] cities want to reduce traffic, therefore we have to look for solutions which fit our brand.
“Today our customers are willing to buy two, three, four Porsches, but in future, maybe they will buy one or two and for mobility in cities, they will use other services. We have to think about business models that can balance these potential losses.
“If 60 per cent of people will live in major cities, then car sales in those cities will be reduced significantly. With our brand, we are limited. It will be a niche and we will not earn enough money to keep the profitability level at 15 per cent, and that’s the problem. “

Meschke explained that the initial response to a changing sales landscape is its subscription service; a wildly expensive way to put a different Porsche on your driveway according to what kind of driving you’re doing on that day, week, month or year. The finance chief calls the initial Asian and European schemes a “good start” but they won’t grow quickly enough to balance the profits Porsche anticipates losing in sales figures over the next decade or two.

Further investments will be ploughed into what it sees as the right – by which it means cash-generating – urban mobility start-ups that also suit the Porsche brand. It will be fascinating to see the exact forms these take.

Comments

this is honestly sad , because at the rate we’re heading now, this is a likely outcome

The problem is even with the leasing model, most people will go for the SUVs instead of the sports car for long term leases while the sports car would be sitting around gathering dust. This would in turn mean that they’ll have to make far fewer sports cars ultimately defeating the point of a sports car dedicated brand. People really need to change their mindset, this really isn’t helping.

They already sell far more SUVs than sports cars.

Solution:

You could say that this is a pretty high IQ strategy

VAG is definatly heading the completly wrong way

They’re doing what the market wants. That’s the only way to turn a profit

VAG could completely stop selling passenger cars and would still make a fortune, same with Mercedes-Benz. VAG and Daimler are two of the largest German arms exporters, even larger than Rheinmetall or H&K.

What’s next, they’ll stop making cars altogether?

Despite the fact that urban movility is already an issue in large cities, luxury brands might not be affected for these issues. Most of the customers of these brands get these vehicles because of a matter of status rather than getting them as their daily vehicles… So I would say that customer experience might change for larger scale manufacturers that might offer their vehicles in a way that reduces costs, for example, selling the vehicle via internetin order to avoid paying someone to sell their vehicles; luxury brands instead, might improve the way how a customer buys his car, like focusing the buying process into the personalization of the vehicle and making a stronger bond between the buyer and the brand.