BYD Starts Selling 200 Million Luxury Cars... Competition Intensifies
As the Chinese automobile market continues its overheated competition, the German luxury car brand Porsche is struggling. While the proportion of the Chinese market in overall sales is rapidly decreasing, local companies' entry into the high-end market is showing results.
According to Chinese economic media Caixin on the 28th, Porsche's sales volume in the first quarter was 16,340 units. Considering Porsche China's sales target of 70,000 units for the Chinese market this year, this is a disappointing performance.
For years, China was considered the single country where Porsche sold the most vehicles. The share of total sales reached 32% in 2021. However, this figure dropped to 30% in 2022 and 25% in 2023. In the first quarter, sales were limited to 16,340 units, a 23.5% decrease compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, the North American market has rapidly emerged as the largest market, surpassing China.
The proportion of pure electric vehicle sales among Porsche products has also noticeably declined. In the first quarter of this year, Porsche's pure electric vehicle sales accounted for only 5.6%, sharply down from 11.4% the previous year.
Porsche appears to be facing difficulties amid friction with local dealers. Porsche China issued a statement the day before announcing that it would cooperate with dealers to respond to market changes. The cooperation includes sales policies, responding to local customer demands, and electrification transition. Some dealers recently refused to sign agreements on Porsche's sales plans for China this year and halted vehicle deliveries. This occurred as dealers' sales profits sharply declined due to poor sales of Porsche's pure electric vehicle models and others.
On the other hand, BYD, the world's largest electric vehicle manufacturer, sold 952 units last month of the first model (U8) of its luxury brand "Anmeng," launched last year. The price of the U8 is about 1.1 million yuan (approximately 200 million KRW), more than twice the price of Porsche's lowest-priced model (500,000 yuan). Since the launch of the U8, cumulative sales have exceeded 6,000 units.
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