Porsche to go ahead with electric model launch despite drop in sales

Porsche is set to press ahead with the launch of new electric models in the US despite a drop in sales during the coronavirus crisis.

“We haven’t got a plan to postpone anything in [America], and that’s true for other countries as well,” Oliver Blume, Porsche’s chief executive, told the Financial Times.

Blume said that the current projections for the launch were based on there being no “second wave” of the virus outbreaks.

Porsche will not postpone the launches of electric versions of the Macan sport utility vehicle, Mr Blume claimed.

The company already unveiled its first electric model sports car last year, the Taycan, designed to compete with Tesla’s Model S.

The Taycan 4S has been on sale in Tesla’s home market since the start of the year but, overall, Porsche sales in the US dropped 20% in the first six months of the year.Sales in Europe fell 18% in the same period.

In its most recent earnings report, Porsche’s global sales grew by almost 18% on an annual basis in July, helped by demand for the Taycan and Cayenne models.

Blume said Porsche was “doing everything we can to achieve a two-figure return on sales again in 2020”.

“No other European automotive manufacturer has been able to generate as much profit as Porsche in the first six months of 2020,” he added.