Porsche looks ahead to 2020

PORSCHE Cars Australia (PCA) is set for an exciting 2020 with an extensive range of new products set to land on Australian shores, including the all-new Taycan EV and expansions to its 911 and 718 performance car ranges.

The German high-performance brand is coming off a successful 2019 campaign, in which it increased its overall sales by 6.4 per cent to 4161 units, despite the overall new-vehicle market experiencing a 7.8 per cent slump.

Its growth was helped mainly by its SUV stable, with the Macan mid-sizer up 7.2 per cent and the Cayenne large SUV increasing by 24.7 per cent since launching in all-new guise in mid-2018 and adding the Coupe body style at the end of last year.

Speaking to GoAuto, PCA head of public relations Chris Jordan said the brand wasn’t focusing on increasing its sales in 2020, but was happy with the current strength of its business.

“I can’t speak to the market and the raw sales number isn’t the ultimate priority, but all that said we still see reasonably strong and consistent demand across the board,” he said.

“Obviously (we had) really strong sales numbers last year for Macan and Cayenne and in actual fact with 911 we’re actually just now trying to deliver more of the 911 type 992 so we’re actually a little behind in deliveries of that car, so demand on that one is quite strong.

“We’re really happy with the strength of our business at the moment, and it was obviously nice to be up six per cent, but the actual chasing a sales number is not our ultimate goal.”

Along with the deliveries of the 992 911, Porsche’s eighth-generation flagship coupe range will see its first full year of sales in 2020, with a number of new variants set to arrive to bolster the range.

So far the model rollout of the 992 generation has followed the same pattern as the 991.2, with the Carrera S launching first, followed by the base-level Carrera.

Following the same pattern, the top-spec Turbo and Turbo S models should be the next 911 variants to launch, with the Targa convertible body style set to come after.

The last 991.2 grades to launch were the GTS and race-bred GT3, suggesting fans of those variants will have to wait the longest to get a taste of the new-gen version.

Probably the biggest event of 2020 for Porsche will be the arrival of the Taycan all-electric sedan, which will be the first new model line for Porsche since the Macan launched in 2014.

Set to touch down in the fourth quarter of this year after being rolled out in other global markets, Mr Jordan said that judging from expressions of interest placed at Porsche dealerships, the Taycan should be able to bring new owners to the brand.

“It’s been good, strong interest,” he said. “We’ve seen roughly 50:50 between new customers to Porsche and existing Porsche owners.

“We’ve been pleased that so many long-time Porsche owners are actually really interested in the Taycan.

“They’re perhaps looking at it because they see it as a Porsche sportscar, then you’ve got other people that are new to the brand, and they’re looking at it from the perspective of it being a really exciting EV. So there’s two sides to that coin.”

Mr Jordan would not be drawn on expression of interest numbers, saying that interested customers can withdraw their deposit at any time, and contracts of sale will not be processed until pricing is announced, which PCA says is due soon.

“But the interest has been really strong, to the point where we’d urge anyone that’s really keen on getting a Taycan to speak to their local Porsche centre, because the demand will be very high and the cars will be quite sought after,” he said.

Porsche will also be working on EV charging solutions, but will wait until it is closer to launch to announce details.

When asked what model lines have room for growth in 2020, Mr Jordan pointed to the 718 Boxster and Cayman pair, which is set to reintroduce six-cylinder power to the range this year.

“One (opportunity for growth) is bringing the GTS 4.0 and then also the GT4 and Spyder to the 718 model range,” he said.

“We’re really happy with how (four-cylinder 718 models are) going but there are some die-hard sportscar fans are really excited to see us bring that six-cylinder 4.0-litre models in as well, so we have the best of both worlds which is fantastic.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of really strong interest in those models, which is going to be an area for us to really exploit.”

The first examples of the race-bred Cayman GT4 have just touched down in Australian showrooms, while the slightly detuned GTS grade will arrive in the middle of the year for extra six-cylinder choice.

The updated Macan medium SUV range will also add its own GTS variant around March, following hot on the heels of the Turbo which arrived at the end of 2019.