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Porsche deliveries to the US jumped in the first quarter ahead of looming tariffs while sales slumped elsewhere, as the sports-car maker grappled with rising trade barriers likely to make its most important market less profitable.
The carmaker behind the 911 and more modern, lower-priced electric models such as the Macan on Tuesday said its deliveries to North American customers soared 37 per cent in the first quarter compared with last year.
Porsche partly attributed the large increase to comparatively low figures last year, when thousands of its cars were held at US ports due to banned Chinese components. But a person familiar with sales in the country said new orders from US customers had also risen, with Porsche buyers unusually willing to skip custom features that typically delay delivery.
The surge failed to offset big drops in Germany and China, where deliveries fell 34 per cent and 42 per cent respectively, pushing global deliveries in the first quarter down 8 per cent to 71,470 cars.
Porsche, which manufactures all its cars in Germany, said in January that full-year sales in 2024 fell 3 per cent to 310,718.
US President Donald Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on imported cars come at a time when global automotive companies face unprecedented pressures in China and Europe, amid slowing consumer spending and growing competition from Chinese electric vehicle start-ups.
Mercedes-Benz on Monday said its US sales in the first quarter were more robust than elsewhere, as it posted a 1 per cent increase in the American market compared with 10 per cent drops in Germany and China respectively.
For Porsche, the global sales slump — driven by a collapse in demand in China — has been so severe that North America is now its largest market, underscoring the threat of tariffs to its profit base.
Volkswagen, Porsche’s parent company, has also made a big bet on the US, as it rushes to look for new revenue pools amid a squeezed European market and shrinking market share in China.
Porsche last month cut its midterm target on profit margins from a range of 17 to 19 per cent to between 15 and 17 per cent, as it warned that US tariffs — which had not yet been announced then — could force it to revise its guidance further.
The Stuttgart-based company, which has said it plans to invest more in combustion engine and hybrid technologies, on Tuesday said EVs now made up 26 per cent of its sales, driven by strong demand for the electric Macan.
