Yahoo Autos Porsche Is Raising Its Prices
If you can afford a new Porsche, you clearly already have money. After all, even a Macan with no options costs nearly $60,000 including destination, and an entry-level 718 Cayman will run you just short of $65,000 including destination fees. That’s not even accounting for taxes, registration, insurance, or gas. So to consider either car reasonably in your budget, your salary probably needs to be at least $200,000. But even so, if you’re planning to buy a Porsche this year, you might still need a raise to afford it because the entire lineup is about to get more expensive.
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Autocar reports that on a recent call with analysts, Lutz Meschke, Porsche’s chief financial officer, said price hikes are coming later this year. And he wasn’t shy about the reason, either. It’s to improve profits. “We will see significant price increases in the middle of the year for the new model year. That will help a lot to make sure we make strong group operating margins,” Meschke told analysts.
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Also, while you’ll still be able to get a regular gas version of the upcoming Macan, 718, and Cayenne, the electric versions will be between 10 and 15 percent more expensive than their internal combustion counterparts. But since the average Porsche customer already makes so much money, Meschke said he isn’t worried that higher prices will negatively impact sales. “We have a very good foundation with a very strong brand and a very strong customer base that gives us the power to increase prices in very challenging times and in an intelligent manner,” he told analysts.
The price hike announcement came after Porsche announced that it had an operating profit of more than $7 billion last year and an 18-percent profit margin. That’s a lot of profit, but according to Meschke, it’s also too low. He would prefer to see a 20-percent profit in the future. Thus the higher prices.
That said, if you’re considering buying a Cayenne or Panamera plug-in hybrid, the higher prices might not be the worst thing in the world. On the same call, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said those two PHEVs will get bigger batteries and an improved electric range. Blume said the Cayenne’s range should increase to about 50 miles, but assuming that’s on the European test cycle, expect the EPA rating to be more like 40 miles. But considering the current Cayenne E-Hybrid only has a 17-mile range, that’s still a big improvement. As long as you can afford it, that is.
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