Porsche sales to be 80% electric sports cars in 2030
Sports car brand details best sales performance in 91-year history and outlines rapid electrification push
Porsche has followed its premium VW Group siblings Lamborghini and Bentley in posting record revenues and profits in 2021.
Delivering more than 300,000 cars for the first time in its 91-year history, the sports car manufacturer generated €33.1 billion (£27.96bn) in sales revenue - a 15% increase on pandemic-blighted 2020.
On top of that, the brand's operating profit soared by 27% to hit €5.3 billion (£4.48bn), giving a return on sales of 16.0%.
It delivered a total of 301,915 cars worldwide, an increase of nearly 30,000 units compared to 2020. The Porsche Macan accounted for 88,362 units, followed closely by 83,071 units of the Porsche Cayenne, but demand for the Porsche Taycan EV more than doubled in its second full year on sale, taking sales of the electric four-door to 41,296 units.
The firm notes that the Taycan outsold the Porsche 911 flagship to the tune of nearly 3000 units, but added that the 911's 38,464 was a record for the 58-year-old sports coupé.
Overall, electrified models (including the Taycan and plug-in hybrid versions of the Porsche Panamera and Cayenne) accounted for nearly 40% of Porsche's global sales, and it plans to boost that proportion to 50% in 2025.
More significantly, in 2030 Porsche anticipates that pure-electric cars will make up more than 80% of its overall sales. A new Porsche Macan EV is due next year atop the new PPE platform Porsche has co-developed with Audi and the firm has now confirmed that it intends for its 718 sports cars to go all-electric by the middle of the decade.
Last year's radical Porsche Mission R concept gave clues as to what to expect from an all-electric 718 Cayman, though the eventual production version will be less overtly track-focused and pack less power in line with its road-biased billing.
Porsche's record financial figures were announced in the wake of the official confirmation that its parent company, the VW Group, is progressing with plans for a flotation of the sports car manufacturer as a means of funding its ambitious electrification objectives.
CFO Lutz Reschke said: "We have challenging months ahead of us, both economically and politically, but we are nevertheless sticking to our strategic goal, which has been firmly anchored for years, of ensuring an operating return on sales of at least 15 percent in the long term.
“Our task force has already taken initial measures to safeguard our earnings. In this way, we want to ensure that we can continue to meet our high earnings targets. The extent to which this succeeds also depends on external challenges that we cannot influence.
“Strategically, operationally and financially, Porsche is in an excellent position. We are therefore looking to the future with confidence – and welcome the consideration of an IPO of Porsche AG. This would allow Porsche to raise its profile and increase its entrepreneurial freedom. At the same time, Volkswagen and Porsche could continue to benefit from joint synergies in the future.”
No further details of the IPO have been given, but the VW Group will make further announcements in late summer.
Porsche’s annual results have been published amid widespread disruption across the automotive industry as a result of the war in Ukraine. The company has donated €1 million to aid charities and is consulting with experts on the impact of the war on its operations. It says its supply chain has been impacted, and that as a result is unable to build cars to schedule “in some cases”.