We already knew that Porsche’s inaugural electric vehicle, the Taycan, was a hit with critics, but it’s beginning to prove to be just as successful with buyers in the US. Despite Covid-19’s severe impact on the car market, the EV has not only sold at a brisk pace; it’s even outselling the 911.
The German automaker unveiled its third quarter US sales numbers on Thursday, which revealed that the Taycan is its third-highest selling vehicle, trailing only the Macan and Cayenne SUVs, and is currently the marque’s highest selling sports car. Not only did the EV outsell the brand’s most iconic model, it completely demolished sales of the 718 sports car and the Panamera sedan.
According to the numbers, the brand sold 1,858 Taycans between July and September. The 911, by comparison, sold 1,567 units, a number that includes all 15 of the the model’s different variants. Meanwhile, the more established 718 and Panamera sold 1,084 and 1,064 units, respectively, meaning that the Taycan outsold them both by more than 40 percent. (The brand sold 5,466 Macans and 4,509 Cayennes.)
2020 Porsche Taycan Christoph Bauer
In total, Porsche sold 15,548 vehicles in the US during the third quarter of 2020, of which 12 percent were Taycans. That total is actually a 5 percent increase over last year’s sales of 14,805 units. The EV appears to be the biggest reason for this increase, as sales of the Cayenne, 911 and Panamera all fell by 8 percent or more.
“The third quarter remained challenging for many people, so I am grateful to our customers for their enthusiasm and to our dealers and their employees for the energy they continue to bring to Porsche,” Joe Lawrence, the brand’s North American executive vice president and COO, said in a statement. “We’ve never had such an exciting lineup in US showrooms—with demand for the new all-electric Taycan growing to the point that it was our third best-selling model line this quarter, just behind the Macan and Cayenne.”
In all, it’s been a decent debut year for the Taycan. The EV sold 2,897 units in the US during its first model year, which is not bad considering that car sales dropped off a cliff after the coronavirus pandemic brought the country and world to a standstill in March. Earlier in the year, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume claimed that the brand had received 30,000 pre-orders for the car globally, with 10,000 firm commitments to buy.
