2021 what an absolutely sad year for many car brands. Several brands came out with sales figures and numbers sold in recent days. Only a few brands are doing well, or better than the previous year. What is striking is that successes have been achieved particularly in the high-end category. How is this possible?
Take Porsche, for example, which sold over 300,000 cars worldwide for the first time. Never before has Porsche sold so many cars worldwide. Virtually all markets sold more of this brand than in previous years. How can this be explained?
There are several theories about that, let’s discuss a few.
Brand loyalty
Porsche customers are generally very brand loyal. Once you have driven a 911, Boxster, Cayman or Cayenne, you will not easily find a better car in the same price range. The service of these centers is also exceptionally good, and is rated as such by customers.
The brand is pushing hard. Whereas 10-15 years ago there were a few models available, now they have more models in the range, all of which are reasonably to well-received by the public.
In terms of chip shortages and delivery times, Porsche is also struggling. However, these cars are often delivered faster than Audi or Volkswagen brand cars, for example. Even though it is all owned by the Volkswagen AG.
Higher margins
Reasons for this are not entirely transparent, however, it is said that margins on luxury cars are a lot higher than on the other classes. So one would rather sell a Porsche than a Volkswagen, if one looks purely at financial returns.
This could be one reason why the luxury cars tend to have shorter wait times.
If you look at another luxury brand, Rolls Royce; they also had a banner year. By 2021, the British say they will have brought 5,586 cars to the well-to-do. This is an absolute record for the British Automobile brand.
In particular, markets in the US, China and Asia are seeing a lot of growth. There, the SUV craze is in full bloom. That would also explain why, despite the chip shortages we wrote about earlier, the sales numbers of luxury brands are only increasing.
Demand for specific models
Could you draw conclusions from this? As far as we are concerned, no. We could specify the sales numbers to see where the biggest growth is, but unfortunately that doesn’t tell us much yet.
Because of the chip shortage, we think the sales numbers may be a bit skewed. Only when this problem is solved will we see what the actual demand is for specific models, which will then be readily available. Potential buyers, in these times, may not be able to get the car they like within 1 year; and so choose an alternative.
Future
Time will tell. We are stuck with the deficits for now, but expect some changes in the medium term. Of course, the global COVID crisis will have done its part in the sales numbers as well. Potential buyers who no longer can or want to go on vacation 4-8x a year would rather spend the money on a nice car. Totally understandable, by the way, especially when you see what is possible these days.
In case you are also looking for a high-end car yourself and don’t want to wait more than a few days, or at most a few weeks? Please let us know. We always have some popular models in stock, or can import and register your car for you within days.
If you have questions about specific luxury car brands, popularity or demand for certain cars, you can always contact us for tailored advice.
