China arrives earlier and better

Just a few days ago, Porsche presented its quarterly results. In the month of Halloween, the numbers were truly terrifying. Hundreds of millions lost, a resounding drop in margins per unit sold and, above all, the feeling that the company is in the middle of a clamp between Europe and China where, in the latter, its toast is being eaten at a devilish rate.

The numbers. Loud, if I had to give it a quick qualifier. Let’s review hand in hand with your own numbers:

• Losses in the last quarter of 967 million euros.
• Last year it reported 974 million euros in the same quarter.
• In the first nine months of the year it reported 40 million euros in profit.
• Last year it reported 4,000 million euros of profit in the same period.
• The operating margin has completely disappeared.
• Expected losses at the end of the year of 1.8 billion euros.

a clamp. The problem for Porsche is that it has found itself in the middle of a perfect storm. not long ago it seemed like she was ready for that storm. Now everything indicates that is falling on him and he has been caught with a flimsy umbrella and a raincoat that leaks water.

Encouraged by its sales in China and a European regulation that has clearly pressed for jumping into the electric car, Porsche put on the table a plan to electrify at a good pace. He porsche taycan was received with a good reception, the Electric Porsche Macan It was to be its first large “mass” electric car and the Porsche Cayenne would delve into the leap to electric.

However, the electric Macan has arrived late. At that time, The United States has imposed very high tariffs that have caused a hole in their accounts. The European institutions want to jump to the electric car but customers seem not to want to do it at the pace proposed by politicians and The rich already seem satisfied with the electric cars they bought. The Chinese public has completely changed their focus and now, for them, Luxury is represented by the cars made in China itself..

Looking at the internal market. The paradigm shift in the Chinese market has completely disrupted Porsche’s prospects. Not only in terms of sales, but also in terms of putting a huge brand crisis on the table. For the Chinese, Porsche is no longer synonymous with luxury and the latest technologyit’s just another brand.

The company, like many other European brands and the entire Volkswagen Grouphas not known how to adapt to the new reality. The result is that sales in the Asian country have plummeted. Despite the launch of the electric Porsche Macan, in the first nine months of the year, Porsche has sold 26% less than in the same period of 2024. The 32,195 cars sold in China in Q3 of 2025 are very far from the 64,237 cars sold in Q3 2019record year for the company.

In the last five years, the drop in sales has been a constant but it has worsened especially in the last two years. China has experienced an explosion of electric vehicles that They are faster and more modern. But, in addition, they put supposed innovations on the market that arrive earlier and better than those presented by the German company.

Better and faster. The best example of how China is arriving better and faster is the case of the electric Porsche Macan and Cayenne. The first, as we have said, was delayed for years and that was disastrous in an industry that is advancing at a devilish pace and that, specifically in China, makes cars obsolete in just a few months.

To convince the skeptics and eliminate friction with its more classic customers, the Porsche Cayenne has been presented with a wireless charging system and a very digital environment. The problem is that this type of cargo is already offered in China in cars like the Hongqi E-HS9 for years and it hasn’t caught on. On the other hand, ubiquitous screens are no longer surprising, what the public in China is demanding is differential software, extensive integration with services such as the mobile phone and a variety of services that European companies do not seem to understand.

The other great incentive is its ultra-fast 400 kW recharge. It must be taken into account that, indeed, in Europe it will be one of the most powerful cars on the market but Porsche is interested in looking at China and there BYD is offering cars with 1,000 kW of power for a fraction of the price. The Zeekr 7X, which is one of Geely’s (owner of Volvo) big bets it will go to 800 kW of power.

We already know this. This example of the Zeekr 7X and its 800 kW of ultra-fast charging is just the (pen)latest example. BMW suffered something similar with its Panoramic iDrive. The company announced it in 2023 but will not have mounted it on a street car until the first units of the BMW iX3 hit the streets in the early stages of 2026. When it was first announced, Xiaomi did not have a single car on the street. Today, Your Xiaomi YU7 already has a system very similar to BMW’s big bet.

The ability of Chinese firms to adapt to new markets or launch technologies in record time is one of their great assets when it comes to staying ahead of the competition. In fact, we know that from Volkswagen to Toyota have looked for solutions to speed up production times and put their products on the market more quickly and thus be able to compete with an industry that advances at a dizzying pace.

We have noticed the consequences of this crazy race to bring more and better cars to the market even in our country. a few months ago we explain in Xataka how companies adapted their cars in record time to European tastes, adapting pre-series units that were launched on the market with completely different behavior after having fine-tuned them in record time. or how BYD has adapted its strategy to change its perspective from exclusively selling electric cars to decisively betting on the plug-in hybrid.

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