Taycan Production Halt?

[W1NGE]

I thought this was standard practice with all dealerships in the UK regardless of the marque. Don’t Official Porsche Centres have to ‘register’ a specified number of new vehicles each year to keep the franchise?

Not sure about that but there are always demonstrators registered which obviously helps the numbers. There now appears to be a glut of new stock and so to make some of this more sellable (pseudo 2nd owner) my hunch is that more than normal are being registered.

I can imagine a certain quota of cars must be sold per year to gain a bigger footing / franchise / larger dealership / additional dealerships. Pre-registration is normally the preserve of Renault, Citroen, Ford, Seat etc.

Sponsored

 

[WuffvonTrips]

Yea, one of the appeals of a Porsche is the custom build. Almost every custom build (not speced by a dealer) is 100% unique. Dealers seem to order from the same template. I've personally been quite surprised how many Turbos I've seen without RAS, PDCC, PTV, or the 150KW 400V DC charging option. I've seen Turbo or Turbo S with no options at all, or a bunch of high margin options like PMCC, plastic cladding or accents, painted wheels, but no performance options.

My impression was that dealer-specced vehicles typically used to have extravagant and outlandish builds, useful to showcase options as demonstrators or in the the showroom, and that such vehicles would have a waiting list of customers as the dealers were reluctant to not keep any examples in stock. But now that supply exceeds demand to the extent that they may have previously unheard of numbers sitting on their books for a long time, I guess they are trying to minimise the amount of their money getting tied up.
Incidentally, until joining this forum and learning about the US market, I didn't have a concept of "custom order"- I thought it unusual/unappealing to buy a new Porsche that someone else had already specced.

 

[kempez]

My impression was that dealer-specced vehicles typically used to have extravagant and outlandish builds, useful to showcase options as demonstrators or in the the showroom, and that such vehicles would have a waiting list of customers as the dealers were reluctant to not keep any examples in stock. But now that supply exceeds demand to the extent that they may have previously unheard of numbers sitting on their books for a long time, I guess they are trying to minimise the amount of their money getting tied up.
Incidentally, until joining this forum and learning about the US market, I didn't have a concept of "custom order"- I thought it unusual/unappealing to buy a new Porsche that someone else had already specced.

Prime example was the RWD Taycan I had as a loaner. It had carbon everywhere, 21" painted black Mission-e wheels, Carmine Red paint, Burmeister stereo, interior lighting and a whole host of other options that are very personal taste and very expensive

It will be interesting to see what happens with this....

 

[Der-Schwabe]

I'm also suspicious of pre-registrations (not something normally associated with the marque) - with 700+ new Taycans available for sale in UK and more demonstrators there is scope to inflate actual sales here.

I have my doubts that this is happening in Germany. The trend suggests that the 350 to 400 mark is where the Taycan sits in terms of monthly sales in Germany (October 2023 416x Taycans were sold, in September 338 units were sold, 475 in August...). If pre-registrations were occurring, would one not also observe this with other models, e.g. the Panamera, to stay in the segment that only sold 89 units in November (and was around the 100 unit mark per month in previous months with the refresh imminent, this was kind of expected)?

I don't see 700+ brand new Taycans in the UK but that is probably me not setting my search arguments right.

 

[W1NGE]

I have my doubts that this is happening in Germany. The trend suggests that the 350 to 400 mark is where the Taycan sits in terms of monthly sales in Germany (October 2023 416x Taycans were sold, in September 338 units were sold, 475 in August...). If pre-registrations were occurring, would one not also observe this with other models, e.g. the Panamera, to stay in the segment that only sold 89 units in November (and was around the 100 unit mark per month in previous months with the refresh imminent, this was kind of expected)?

I don't see 700+ brand new Taycans in the UK but that is probably me not setting my search arguments right.

Panamera has just been updated with a new facelift this month so this wouldn't feature.

My dealer has 25 new 911s including a GT3 RS. All high spec. Not normal. Selling a 6 month old 911 GTS cabriolet demo at £25K off list.

Is the market really in so much turmoil and why?

 

[Der-Schwabe]

Panamera has just been updated with a new facelift this month so this wouldn't feature.

My dealer has 25 new 911s including a GT3 RS. All high spec. Not normal. Selling a 6 month old 911 GTS cabriolet demo at £25K off list.

Is the market really in so much turmoil and why?

I hear you! My point was that the Panamera was coming up to a facelift, would pre-registrations not also have featured for that model (as it was it was in a similar position to the Taycan now with a facelift imminent), if Porsche were bumping up sales figures with pre-registrations? Yet the Panamera’s sales remained ‘flat’ at around 100 per month.

(I don’t have the answer…)

 

[tigerbalm]

Thanks for tips!! No hotel yet but will look into that one as well as the Mercedes museum. I’ve got two kids and they don’t know that they’re going

Or go for the "full" experience and stay at the new Porsche Design hotel in Stuttgart: https://www.radissonhotels.com/en-us/hotels/radisson-blu-at-porsche-design-tower-stuttgart

 

[007]

Or go for the "full" experience and stay at the new Porsche Design hotel in Stuttgart: https://www.radissonhotels.com/en-us/hotels/radisson-blu-at-porsche-design-tower-stuttgart

That’s a great suggestion, but as I booked the hotel yesterday, It’ll have to be for next time. Overall I think I waited too long to book because many hotels with rooms for 4 sold out. I ended getting 1 night in Nürburgring on the way down to see the Christmas market and 2 nights at the V8 Motorworld hotel in Stuttgart.

 

[WuffvonTrips]

Is the market really in so much turmoil and why?

Finance no longer so attractive now that period of atypically low rates has ended?

 

[rs38]

Not an authoritative source but this YouTube Video mentions the alleged halt and goes on to cite the owner’s recent experience of getting his failed heater replaced in the shortest possible time.

(is there any AI driven tool to summarize these idle chatter of youtubers trying to waste our time?)

I heard from my Porsche Dealer 4 weeks ago that they are abolutely prioritising heater repairs of existing Taycans. From those I heard of being replaced lately they also have a very recent production date which you can read with e.g. VCDS.

Btw: carscanner is now able to read DTCs from the thermal mgmt ecu, even the My Porsche app is telling problems...which is either new or a slightly different problem with the heater:

 

[W1NGE]

I hear you! My point was that the Panamera was coming up to a facelift, would pre-registrations not also have featured for that model (as it was it was in a similar position to the Taycan now with a facelift imminent), if Porsche were bumping up sales figures with pre-registrations? Yet the Panamera’s sales remained ‘flat’ at around 100 per month.

(I don’t have the answer…)

It could be but typically you don't see stock Panameras at my local dealership - demonstrator for sure. The platinum run out model has been out there for a while so that would have nailed that particular coffin.

Beyond me why Porsche persevere with the Panamera as I had thought the Taycan would have put that one to bed - not yet I guess but only a matter of time perhaps.

Many reasons for all of this I'm sure and also good fun to speculate!

 

[W1NGE]

Finance no longer so attractive now that period of atypically low rates has ended?

For sure - 10.x% APR won't have helped.

 

[Fantasmos]

They clearly target the Asian market with the new Panamera. The big grill, colors, presentation location, etc. Same as BMW, Mercedes and the other Vag brands. They can’t compete with an EV there so Taycan is EU & US focused.

 

[TAYC4S]

Finance no longer so attractive now that period of atypically low rates has ended?

And also the far deeper forensic inspection done for anyone wanting finance.

 

[Gwaihir]

Not disputing some of the observations some have made but to my mind halting production of the Taycan makes little commercial sense. Looking at this month's sales figures in Germany (just released by the KBA (=equivalent of the DMV)), 379 Taycan were sold in November, so this makes it the 2nd best selling vehicle it it's segment after the Mercedes S Class and the best selling BEV in it's segment with a 24.8% increase from January to November over last year (and it is not new to the market as we all know). It is the 3rd best selling Porsche (almost level pegging with the Cayenne with 380 sold in November), only the 911 & the Macan sold better. Should production indeed be on hold, retooling for the face lift would be the only sensible explanation.

Just my two cents...

What about the VW software moving to China? That could also be a reason. Maybe the facelift will have better functionality?

Sponsored