China's auto market slowdown Porsche high profit myth is difficult to continue?

Despite being overshadowed by the shadow of the European debt crisis, luxury car makers at this year's Paris Motor Show did not seem to be affected at all, and the high-end models of the various avant-garde fashions are still highly prized.

Careful people found that around Porsche's booth, there was always a large group of media and car enthusiasts who spoke about Porsche's new concept car at the auto show. This has become a hot topic for the entire auto show.

In recent years, the fickleness of the loyal Stuttgart has been surprising. From sporty coupe, sports car to SUV, to sedan, Porsche seems to boost the company's bottom line on a global scale again and again. "Is it the next pickup?" Someone even said jokingly.

New notice <br> <br> future of Porsche president and CEO Matthias Muller at the Paris auto show, dubbed "Sport Turismo" concept car will represent the future direction of the brand more This is an upcoming production model. Last year, thanks to the hot sales of Cayenne and Panamera models, Porsche’s profitability also set a record high since the company’s 80 years of existence. For Porsche, which has just become the twelfth sub-brand of Volkswagen, it seems that the sales target of 200,000 vehicles will be realized in 2018. However, Porsche will become more “mass” under the leadership of Volkswagen. Many consumers seem more important.

Porsche's racing spirit is the DNA of the brand, and as Ferdinand Piech said, Porsche's every cell is full of this unparalleled technical feeling.

“We want to maintain the uniqueness and ideals of our products.” Müller knew that high sales figures were not an end in itself for Porsche. Because ultra-high sales may threaten this uniqueness, it is difficult to discover the danger in time.

History is always surprisingly similar. In those years, the biggest headache for the Stuttgart people was the oscillating sales of "pure" Porsche-equipped 6-cylinder engines. In order to change this situation, Porsche started developing a four-cylinder engine from the Model 912. However, once the sale of Porsche’s flagship models improves, the customer’s interest in low-end models will soon be reduced. In this period of time, the 914 model jointly developed by Volkswagen and Porsche was born.

Nowadays, this racing-born manufacturer seems to be facing the same problem again. The Panamera Sport Turismo concept car displayed by Porsche at the Paris Motor Show is the Panamera's travel concept car. Porsche claims that this will be the direction of the future sports wagon.

This concept car with strong "Porsche DNA", in the eyes of Porsche enthusiasts, when the "concept" into the "reality" is the key. As this model will be mass-produced, it will be a hatchback luxury car with Porsche luxury and driving standards, energy saving and environmental protection. They all look forward to seeing Porsche stand out in the million-dollar market of sedan and SUV.

According to industry insiders, from the appearance of this concept car introduced by Porsche at the Paris Motor Show, in fact, it is not so “conceptualized” as it is, and it is more like a “forecast” of Porsche's future products. Just like Skoda's Rapid, it was evolved from its earlier Mission L concept concept car, with exactly the same body appearance, but only abandoned some of the elements of the concept car in the process of mass production.

"Sino-US" struggle for a public <br> <br> European car manufacturers, the Chinese market has become their last straw. However, the slowdown in China’s economy has affected the luxury car market as well, as those companies that have invested heavily in building joint venture factories in China are counting on this to bypass high vehicle import tariffs.

As the luxury car market in China is gradually becoming more and more saturated, the small luxury car brands such as Porsche can still gain a lot of market share and have to put up a question mark. Researcher Bernstein analyst Max Warburton wrote in a research report released on September 25th: “In recent years, the consumption of luxury cars in the Chinese market has been a bit overdone. Now we see that in order to maintain high profits in the Chinese market, there are many risk."

Earlier Porsche said that due to the increased competition in the Chinese market and the European debt crisis, next year will reduce output and expenditures to offset the impact of slowing sales. Nonetheless, under Muller's vision, China will become Porsche's most important market for the first time in the coming year, while the United States is likely to lose its leading position for the first time.

In the first eight months of this year, Porsche sold a total of 92,000 vehicles worldwide, an increase of 15% year-on-year. The sales volume in the Chinese market was 21,092 units. The gap between the sales volume and the 22,279 units in the US market has been getting closer. Some analysts said that in the U.S. market, which is not very keen on wagons, the popularity of the SUV in the Chinese market has greatly contributed to the growth of Porsche, and Macan, a small SUV that will be available in 2014, will also help.

However, this German company, which has always believed in identity as a source of brand credibility, has always insisted on authentic German production, and has always avoided the issue of when to localize. Although most people are reluctant to see this high-end sports car brand domestically, the current main challenge for Porsche is now to "ensure that there is sufficient sales volume, which is nearly 20% higher than the previous record. The yield." Earlier it was reported that Volkswagen had begun planning to use its own factory to assemble some Porsche models.

Although Muller repeatedly stated that raising the output to 200,000 units in 2018 is not a hard target for the company, he said that Porsche pays more attention to profitability than production and expects to keep the profit margin at over 15%.

Porsche’s profit last year hit a record high in its 80-year history, operating profit increased by 22% to 2.05 billion euros, and revenue increased by 18% to 10.9 billion euros. In the first half of this year, the company’s global car sales were 68.94 million, an increase of 22.5%, while operating profit increased by 20.6% to 1.26 billion euros.

At present, Cayenne has already accounted for more than 50% of Porsche's overall sales, and Porsche has also been constantly expanding its product line. For example, in the next year, the compact SUV Macan will be available as the fifth series. Accustomed to "extraordinary" Porsche, the Cayenne S diesel version launched at the Paris Motor Show this year runs a 8.3-liter 100-km fuel consumption with the 4.2T V8 engine, and its concept vehicle, the Panamera Sport Turismo, is more efficient in CO2 emissions. Is beyond the public's blue drive version of golf.

Has Porsche been tasted? Many consumers can't help but ask. Christoph Stuermer, an analyst at IHS Automotive, said that the Porsche family as owners and significant shareholders benefit both the public and Germany. This has changed the company’s cultural core, and the public has become more powerful in the long run.

And Morgan Stanley analyst Stuart Pearson pointed out that Volkswagen played a good hand, and he expects Volkswagen's profit to increase by 6% next year after the deal is completed. Porsche is the world's best premium car brand.

The Porsche, which has been regrouped by the public, seems to have returned to Volkswagen under the leadership of Heinrich Nordhof: Wolfsburg is responsible for production and Stuttgart is responsible for development. What is slightly different, however, is that the group of Porsche designers who were somewhat arrogant on that day, and whether their “spirit” can continue to survive on today’s Porsche is a tangled topic.