Porsche isn’t interested in building a factory in China, even though the country is its biggest single market.
Last year, Porsche sold 272,162 vehicles and of those, 88,968 were delivered in China. That was more than the 80,892 vehicles sold in Europe and the 57,294 in the United States. While other premium automakers such as Audi, Mercedes and BMW, have decided to capitalize on growing Chinese sales by manufacturing vehicles locally, Porsche chief executive Oliver Blume said he doesn’t have any interest in following suit.
“It is a quality and a premium argument still to produce from Europe for China,” he told the Financial Times. “Today it doesn’t make any sense [to move production]. In 10 years, I don’t know. It depends a lot on how volume develops and also the regulations in each country.”
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Blume added that by continuing to make the majority of Porsche’s new vehicles in Germany, it can maintain more stable prices. He added it is worth absorbing higher costs of production in Germany to protect the ‘Made in Germany’ image of the company (even though the Cayenne is built in Slovakia).
This isn’t the first time Porsche has poured cold water on the idea of it producing vehicles in the People’s Republic. In fact, Blume told Chinese media in early 2019 that it didn’t make any sense for the company to begin manufacturing vehicles locally.
While Porsche is sticking to its guns, a report last week suggesting it will open an assembly plant in Malaysia runs contrary to Blume’s statements. However, the veracity of this report remains unclear.
