Porsche just published its American sales figures for 2024, and last year was technically one for the record books. The German automaker managed to surpass 2023’s U.S. sales by one percent. On the face of things, that doesn’t sound phenomenal, but dig into the numbers and some remarkable patterns start to emerge. It turns out that one of the major contributors to this sales gain was Porsche’s bread and butter, bonafide sports cars. Can I get a hell yeah?
Let’s start with the bad news: Taycan sales volume went way down for 2024. Last year, Porsche sold 4,747 units of its first mass-market electric car in America, but consumers snapped up 7,570 of them in 2023. Even though last year saw a model changeover with the significantly revised facelifted Taycan rolling into showrooms, a sales decrease of 37.3 percent year-over-year doesn’t paint a great picture of the future. What’s more, fourth-quarter sales of the Taycan were down a whopping 42.6 percent year-over-year, so this trend isn’t solely attributable to ramping up model revisions earlier in 2024.
So, are more American consumers turning to Porsche’s other sedan instead of the electric Taycan? No. Panamera sales totaled 3,982 units last year, compared to 4,205 in 2023. That’s a modest decline of 5.3 percent year-over-year, which is mostly just a sign that things are going steady. Would a bigger number be nice? Sure, but considering that even the high-end sedan market is growing less popular than it may have been previously due to the saturation of SUVs, steady isn’t a bad place to be. After all, it beats selling two distinct vehicles under the same model name and still seeing sales decline.
Although the electric Macan rolled into American showrooms fairly late into 2024, any pre-order hype on tap didn’t build much momentum over where the combustion-powered Macan already sat. Keep in mind, we still get all variants of Porsche’s compact gasoline-powered crossover in America, so it’s not like we’re seeing a European situation where the combustion model’s been discontinued. American 2024 Macan sales fell 1,767 units over 2023, a 6.5 percent year-over-year decrease.
Alright, that’s all the bad news, so onto the good. If you like the Porsche Cayenne, you aren’t alone. Last year, 22,432 Americans liked it enough to take one home, chalking up a sales increase of 1,957 units over 2023. It’s easy to see why the Cayenne’s popular, as not only did sales of the refreshed model fully ramp up for 2024, a wide variety of powertrain options including the return of a V8 in the Cayenne S give luxury SUV shoppers a little more to love.
However, from a raw unit perspective, it’s the sports car clientele that really came out in numbers. The biggest jump in pure units sold came from the iconic 911, with 14,128 of the rear-engined sports cars finding homes in American garages last year. That’s an increase of 2,436 units over 2023 despite the challenges of ramping production on a facelifted model. Considering the GT3 and GT3 RS now enjoy the same social status modern Ferraris had in the 2000s, it wouldn’t be surprising if 911 sales continue to rise.
We’re not done yet, though. Perhaps the most intriguing sales increase comes from a car near the end of its lifecycle. The combustion-powered 718 Boxster and Cayman are set to die in October, which means time is running out to bag a new mid-engined Porsche sports car. The model range has already been drastically reduced in Europe due to new equipment legislation, but Americans are playing an outsized role in boosting sales. While an additional 1,172 units over 2023 might not have the same impact as the gains enjoyed by the 911 and Cayenne, Porsche’s entry-level sports cars are lower volume products, seeing U.S. sales increase to 5,698 units in 2024 from 4,526 units in 2023. That’s a jump of 25.9 percent year-over-year.
While the sheer unit numbers of the Cayenne and Macan made up the bulk of Porsche sales volume last year, we have to give a hand to the sports car drivers for this one. They came, they saw, they voted with their wallets, and as a result, 26 percent of all Porsches sold in America in 2024 were sports cars. Score one for the love of driving.
(Photo credits: Porsche)
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
-
The 2025 Porsche 911 Carrera S Kills The Manual Transmission
-
The Porsche Configurator Lets You Share Your Builds, So Let’s See Your Favorite GT3 Setup
-
The New Porsche 911 Carrera T: Less Weight, Less Roof, And A Sticker To Show The World You Can Drive Stick
-
The 1,019-Horsepower 2025 Porsche Taycan Turbo GT Makes You Feel Like A God
-
You Can Buy A Brilliant Porsche Cayman For The Price Of A New Civic
Please send tips about cool car things to tips@theautopian.com. You could even win a prize!
Hell yeah, good parsh.
(Well, besides Taycans being down. I like those! Good parsh!)
More sports cars is good. I suspect a lot of this boom is people having a “get em while you can” mindset, which makes sense.
I finally get to see my Spyder RS on Monday, and see it onto a truck on Tuesday.
The sports cars numbers aren’t surprising me — they’re not just selling a ton of them, they’re selling trims with a high ASP. Want a Spyder RS allocation? There’s really no ADM for the allocations left, or its peanuts in the scheme of things ($10K common). I assume GT4 RSes are the same, because whoever wanted one already has one.
These aren’t $80-100K out the door, these are $200-250K, if not more. Porsche is building more of the crazy stuff so more people can buy it. Yes, they’re super expensive, but they can now be bought without needing 7-digits of purchase history.
I’m hearing 992.2 GT3 Tourings will be available as well, since there’s no $100K insta-resale on the used market anymore, and they’re building more. The days of ADM and 400-mile “used” flips are starting to disappear. About time. Get rekt, flippers.
Granted, it’s exactly why Porsche is printing money with their sports cars.
Amen to flippers getting rekt. That’s good parsh.
with the boxster and cayman going i wonder if there will be a four cylinder 911 again soon for a similar price that would actually be amazing!
Considering there aren’t many new coupes and convertibles left to buy anymore – it makes sense that the manufacturer who has the iconic name, class-leading performance, and the ability to customize in innumerable configurations and unlimited colors in a wide range of pricepoints would see increased sales.
But relatively high interest rates, steep prices, and the disdain for 4 cylinder Porsches make these numbers still a bit of a surprise.
I don’t believe that most Porsche sportscar clients – unlike their SUV buyers – are very interest-rate sensitive.
While some are leased, I’d venture to say that most are discretionary, cash purchases.
The opposite: most are financed, despite the average 718 buyer having a household income of $400K, 911 buyers at $750K.
The reason is the opportunity cost of money, as you don’t want to tie up the entirety of $100-$350K in a car, especially for non-Motorsport division cars which aren’t super liquid (and also depreciate).
You can get 4.49% for 60 mo. if you know where to look, which is little more than a state tax-exempt treasury MMF. You’d rather pay a bit of interest to keep $100-250K more on hand if an opportunity arises, or just put it into well-diversified low-cost index funds as over the long haul it’ll easily cover the cost of interest with plenty to spare.
“…disdain for 4 cylinder Porsches…”
Makes one wonder if these people have ever heard of the 356, 550 Spyder, 718, 904, 912, 914, 924, 944 or 968.