Porsche is becoming a threat to Tesla as demand for the Taycan grows
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| Porsche Tycan |
Porsche's first full-production electric vehicle (EV), the Taycan, has garnered substantial interest from prospective buyers, according to Porsche North America president and CEO Klaus Zellmer, cited by CNET.
Although Zellmer didn't offer specific figures, he did state that if every person who placed a pre-order ended up purchasing the EV, the Taycan would be sold out in its first year. For context, Porsche had originally planned to produce roughly 20,000 Taycans per year, however, in November high demand led the automaker to increase production capacity by an undisclosed figure.
Zellmer also provided details about who was pre-ordering the Taycan,
showing that Porsche has a valuable growth opportunity ahead and is a
legitimate challenger to Tesla.
- Porsche is seeing considerable interest from consumers that are new to the company's vehicles, reducing any concerns of self-cannibalization. More than half of the pre-orders for the Taycan have come from consumers that have either never owned or do not currently own a Porsche. Rather than just seeing revenue flow from its core business into its EV segment, the Taycan is opening up a brand new revenue stream.
- Not only is Porsche attracting a new clientele, but many of these consumers are coming from one of the most successful EV firms in the world, Tesla. Typically when Porsche poaches business from other brands, it comes from BMW, Audi, or Mercedes. However, Zellmer identified Tesla customers as being the most interested in the Taycan. This level of interest gives Porsche the inside track toward taking away market share from Tesla, while building a strong brand reputation in the EV space.
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| Club Ciudad Perdida |
If Porsche is able to capitalize on the early interest its
EV has garnered, the automaker could see significant returns. Consumers
are already showing interest in adopting EVs, which could bode well for
automakers that invest in new electric models — 20% of US consumers will
likely buy an EV as their next car, up from only 15% last year, according to
a AAA survey. And as a result, in the first six months of 2018, EV
sales accounted for nearly half of the growth in car sales within four
major auto markets: North America, Europe, China, and Japan.
If Porsche hopes to take full advantage of climbing EV interest, it
will need to introduce more models — and fast, if it wants to meet its goal
of having half of its production electric by 2023. If Porsche doesn't
broaden its electric offerings it'll risk losing consumers to
competitors who have done so, like Mercedes or BMW.
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