Porsche 911 Sales Surge, While the Rest of the Automaker's Lineup Stumbles in Q1 2026
Posted by V8-Turbo-Hybrid@reddit | cars | View on Reddit | 105 comments
Porsche sales are down 15 percent globally, with more pain looming as popular models like the 718 end production.
trailmixaddict@reddit
My dream of a Cayman S went out the window. Tough to justify these days.
Intel_Oil@reddit
Used 981s are still selling for 35-50k. Its the nicer Cayman S than the 718S anyway
trailmixaddict@reddit
Good point — it’s the Cayman that got me into the model (and mid engine cars). The mental barrier of a 10 year old car that might need a lot of unplanned maintenance is tough personally.
TheSexyKamil@reddit
That's part of the fun! What's exciting about a car that can't leave you stranded?
trailmixaddict@reddit
Totally get it tho I’m a scarred former Alfa owner here. Haven’t owned a pre owned car after multiple piston misfires and freeway dead engines.
epsiblivion@reddit
cheaper than you think if you skip the dealer. but it's still porsche pricing on parts.
NetworkStatic@reddit
Tend to agree. Its hard to consider the 718 where I need to spend 100k USD for a flat 6. I am sure its a lovely car but at the point where I get up to six figures on a Cayman its gotta be a GT4. I had a 987.2 Cayman S daily that I loved. 981 are nice cars if you can get past steering feel portion.
Intel_Oil@reddit
Personally i feel the steering feel thing is overblown on the internet. I'm nowhere near being qualified enough to judge, but so are probably 99% of potential 981S buyers, but the 991 and 981 feel perfectly fine to me on both alpine/mountain Backroads (Sustenpass, Furkapass, italian dolomites) and the Nürburgring. I get Feedback etc.
Does an Elise or 987 provide more or more textured feedback? Surely does, as does the Throttle-by-cable on my Skyline compared to the modern Throttle-by-wire. But thats natural tradeoffs that more modern Cars bring, in exchange being more liveable in the environment they'll be used for the majority of the day.
f30tr0ll@reddit
I have a weird thing of clicking on profiles before commenting. I was going to say just get a Miata and start running track days. I sure found more satisfaction in doing that. But, then I saw the watches. Guess the badge just got more expensive for you.
trailmixaddict@reddit
Owned an ND Miata 8 years ago (but mistakenly tried to daily it). It’ll likely be my first purchase once I can manage a weekend car.
Not sure I follow the watches piece.
This_Elk_1460@reddit
There's a dealership in my city that's trying to sell a used one for $160 Grand
hiro111@reddit
A nicely specced Carrera GTS is $235K and Porsche sells every single one they can make. I don't get it.
cookingboy@reddit
Marketing. People pay $15k for Rolex Submariners too. 911s is the Rolex of the cars world, it attracts enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts alike and the marketing ensures great value retention too.
Whether the product itself is worth the price is no longer relevant.
A lot of people who buy Rolex Submariners don’t even cross shop, that’s the case for the 911 too.
But it’s more of a U.S market thing, which is why Porsche is raising prices even more for the American market.
Intel_Oil@reddit
Its a very europe market thing aswell. A prof of me had "Porsche 911" as the second lowest step of the maslows pyramide. He was no car person at all.
asonemoa@reddit
Damn. That really hits different when you think about it
DinoSharkBear@reddit
What’s the omega of the car world?
cookingboy@reddit
BMW’s M cars probably. Is well loved by enthusiasts and has great reputation and heritage, but doesn’t have the brand cachet nor value retention.
LordDarthShader@reddit
At least the car brings joy, you can enjoy the driving.
A watch... is just nice, that's it.
996forever@reddit
At one point a GT3 was a better deal for its performance than a Carrera S with power kit.
Prestigious_Idea4462@reddit
I bought a CTO Taycan Cross Turismo 4S recently and was talking to the agent about the ICE lines. The lineup for a 911 GT3 or GT2 is long
Dr_Everyone@reddit
Its surprisingly easy to get once you look at the numbers. Just some back of napkin math: there are \~132 million households in the US. So 1% of that = \~1.3 million, and those households at the top 1% are pulling in something like $700,000 per year. A 911 is an easy purchase in such a household. So thats 1.3 million households in the US that could easily afford a 911. Google tells me that last year there were something like 14k 911s sold in the US. So thats like 1 out of every 100 people in the 1% buying a 911. Doesn't sound so crazy like that... in fact they could probably double production and raise prices another 25% tomorrow and still sell every single one.
Those numbers could be off some but they're still close enough to demonstrate why there are whole neighborhoods of 5 million dollar houses in every city, and why Porsche keeps selling cars like crazy. George Carlin said it best... its a big club, and you ain't in it.
hiro111@reddit
I get it that people have money. I don't get spending that kind of money on a Carrera GTS.
NetworkStatic@reddit
Agreed, and I have one. Of course mine was $60k used and its one hell of a great car. Still even if I had a couple million dollars I am not sure a $230k GTS makes sense.
Mister_Poopy_Buthole@reddit
$60k used for a 997 GTS was a great price. No doubt it’s gone up considerably since then especially for a clean example. Back when I was searching it was a mission even finding a 997 GTS let alone in manual.
perennialpurist@reddit
All super/exotic cars have gotten expensive now. But I will say, the Carrera GTS, relatively speaking, is still a really good sweet spot for the current market. You get like 540hp with the new turbo hybrid system which removes lag and makes it sound much closer to an NA flat 6, you can track it or take it up winding roads and get as much performance out of it as you can physically muster, but also flies completely under the radar on the road because to normies it looks like yet another 911. In fact, the 992.2 GTS almost makes the new 911 Turbo redundant (I believe that’s what Throttle House had said too). If anything, some of the current special model 911s are not worth the money (looking at you 911 ST, 992.2 GT3 Touring and whatever else of that elk that are about to come out with).
Larcye@reddit
It's the non flashy performance car for the rich. No one who isn't a car enthusiast gives a shit about a 911. But show up in a ferrari or a lambo and they notice it.
J_NonServiam@reddit
It's not called a "get this spec" for nothing. Great car.
No-Necessary7135@reddit
What does that mean?
strongmanass@reddit
GTS - Get This Spec. It means the GTS is the sweetspot in the 911 range.
krombopulousnathan@reddit
And 5 years ago that was $150k and I thought that was absurdly high pricing
Scary_One_2452@reddit
K shaped economy is real.
cookingboy@reddit
Yeah on the Porsche sub people were all jumping the gun at the news Porsche sales are in trouble with“this is what you get for 911 being so expensive!!!”, meanwhile I was the only person pointing out that the 911 is doing extremely well and they will likely raise its price ever further.
BillyJohnsFinds@reddit
Dude I just stumbled across that thread, and all the most upvoted comments are such a hard read. How do people on the Porsche sub not understand that the 911 pricing is not the problem and like you said will only get more expensive with how well they are selling.
Like what thinking process are they going thru to see all this ADM, difficulty to purchase, value retention and still think to themselves hmm must be because the 911 is too expensive.
Saitoh17@reddit
How many people on the Porsche sub do you think actually own a Porsche lmao
g-4-ces@reddit
Many
BillyJohnsFinds@reddit
I don’t own a Porsche either but I’d expect people participating in such a sub to at least have some basic knowledge of the companies most popular car. Like if you are that clueless, why say anything lol.
cookingboy@reddit
It’s mostly from people who want a 911 but can’t afford it, so they feel vindicated if they can convince themselves that the Porsche’s pricing is wrong.
r00000000@reddit
Not even on the Porsche sub, I know IRLs that had the same opinion, but I had to tell them it's bc they made bad bets in China on EVs that's causing their issues, but the 911s are doing amazingly right now. Like you said, I don't think people outside this market understand that Porsches are basically the Toyota of the luxury sports car world, and people are willing to pay a premium for the hassle-free ownership experience that'll meet your expectations.
Ironically a lot of teens come up to me to ask me questions and I've heard a few people say that they think 911s are boring now bc everyone has them on social media, so their dream car is the GT4.
AnonymousEngineer_@reddit
More correctly, this is what happens when they make the base Macan so expensive.
That was their bread and butter volume seller, and the EV Macan significantly raised the price of entry.
colonial_dan@reddit
Yeah but that’s not what’s happening here. These are 100k SUVs that we’re talking about lol
Scary_One_2452@reddit
Yeah but a base macan would have been much more reasonable for a salary man to work towards a few years ago. Especially since it would've replaced their rav4 or crv. A 911 is a toy that would've been supplemental to their daily driver. Now with the way the economy is, buying a base macan instead of a rav4 is much more unthinkable for an average salary man.
Hywelthehorrible@reddit
Absolutely wild how much this has accelerated. I could be a new gt3 buyer just a few years ago. No more.
gimpwiz@reddit
My coworker walked into a dealer and bought a new 991 gt3 touring. They made enough that you could just buy one towards the end of the production run. Sticker price for those was, what, a little under 150 base price? I know nobody got the stripped model, but you could get one for 150-160ish without issue.
Today that's the price of a base 911. Only a few years later. The GT3 is like double once you add in all the bullshit. Madness.
Puzzled_Region_9376@reddit
Worst thing is no idea what will stop it or if anything even can
Hywelthehorrible@reddit
I have one big idea. Mass job loss of the upper middle class due to ai will reverberate across the economy. People will still be rich. But things will change.
I_love_quiche@reddit
You know the upper middle class are still working class and aren’t the people who are able to escape taxes like the ultra rich.
rick_C132@reddit
I think they know, saying high earners in tech etc all being out of work will jack the economy for everyone
Hywelthehorrible@reddit
Exactly
murpalim@reddit
Fuck i’m complaining.
Hywelthehorrible@reddit
AI companies minting tens of thousands of mega multi millionaires too.
generalistinterests@reddit
The upper K is having a smaller and smaller portion of the population. The top 10-2% but not top 1% are the ones most impacted by AI. If you're making $150-$500k in white collar industry, you probably have bad job security or have already been laid off. This impacts managers and individual contributors both. This demographic buys the <$200k Porsches.
New 911's are now $200k+ and bought by people making more than $500k who strongly benefit when stock prices go up with headcount reductions and get bigger bonuses when they can prove further "efficiency."
guy_incognito784@reddit
It’s not like their other cars are cheap. Just typically aren’t worth the premium vs other cars.
The 911 has that heritage plus the difficulty in getting an allocation, which has since gotten much easier to get at MSRP unless you want a Turbo S or GT.
Theendisnai@reddit
And ya know… China’s ballooning economy
CallLivesMatter@reddit
The lack of an entry level sports car is such a dumb and avoidable problem that they brought entirely on themselves. The 718 platform reliably sold 20,000-25,000 units per year. For years now Porsche has had exceptionally good margins, and the death of the 718 probably means that half a billion dollars in profit is off the table this year.
_galaga_@reddit
It is a biz school case study on product strategy risks and mitigations. Feels like they went cheap by extending the 718 to the last possible moment until flipping over to the new EV. That EV probably would’ve flopped hard (interested in what Audi does with the platform now). They were at the end of the line with the 718, tho, due to cybersecurity regulations. To avoid the hard shift from ICE to EV they would’ve had to start years earlier and spend on a platform that could potentially support both.
strongmanass@reddit
Their plans haven't changed. The Concept C will be produced within two years. They're also not interested in whatever Porsche wants to do to shoehorn an engine and transmission in there.
_galaga_@reddit
Yeah, I’m very eager to see the Audi version reviewed. No offense to Audi but they historically have a slightly lower handling standard than Porsche so if it’s good not great as a pure sports car that may partly explain why the 718 was paused. If it’s more GT-ish in performance, which I know you’re into, then maybe Audi is the right spot for it.
strongmanass@reddit
Yeah it sounds like the Porsche dynamics people were never quite satisfied. All of Audi's Concept C messaging was about the design and interior materials and nothing about the performance, so I suspect it will be more of a GT like you're thinking.
CallLivesMatter@reddit
The cybersecurity part comes up a lot and it is mind blowing to me that they couldn’t figure out how to design around that.
Riverrattpei@reddit
The thing was a decade old and the electronics in it were even older so it probably would have required a very expensive overhaul of all of the electronics
If it was an easy fix they probably would have done it to the ICE Macan since that thing is one of their best sellers and it was also affected by that law
thisisjustascreename@reddit
And yet they figured out how to keep selling 911s despite being subject to the same laws.
Riverrattpei@reddit
Because it's already got that expensive electronic overhaul when it got turned into the 992
They could have spent the money and overhauled those 2 to pass the laws if they really wanted to, but both of them were getting quite long in the tooth and they already had full replacements on the way
CallLivesMatter@reddit
Yeah my assumption was always that the problems were insurmountable because otherwise they’d have figured it out. But it’s still weird that laws surrounding cybersecurity are what doomed a sports car. Brave new world, I suppose.
_galaga_@reddit
From my Google level understanding the new rules make the manufacturer legally responsible for cybersecurity vulnerabilities and if your crusty old software is a leaky insecure pile of historical junk never implemented with security in mind it becomes a big legal risk (aka a lawsuit generator). Fixing that is big bucks and the EV was slated to take over in a few years so they punted.
Dachshand@reddit
The EV is still coming!!!
Dachshand@reddit
They had to stop the 718 and the new one is around the corner in several specifications. Chill
BWFTW@reddit
The 718 outsells the taycan. I actually don't understand the logic at all. The low volume sports cars is outselling the supposed volume move ex sedan. Let's discontinue it since clearly the people want an ev sports car.
strongmanass@reddit
It outsells the Taycan now. The Taycan comprehensively outsold it in its first 4 years on the market.
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This_Elk_1460@reddit
They see their SUVs as their entry level cars I think which is sad
barbarino@reddit
The used 911 market will crack soon with the volume they are now pumping into the US. They have no choice but to flood the US with 911s as their China sales implode. When that market cracks it's going to take down a whole lot of other cars with it.
I_love_quiche@reddit
The volume isn’t substantially higher, and the prices are still increasing. If Porsche starts to cut pricing on 911s (I hope they do), then would agree with your prediction.
thisisjustascreename@reddit
If demand sags they will probably just make the cars faster / more standard equipment rather than cut prices.
Salty-Dog-9398@reddit
Over the next few years it should be an exciting time to see how premium Euro OEMs attempt to recover lost China profits in North America.
dayvieee@reddit
I’m just glad the Cayenne still has the same depreciation, 2-3 year old S/GTS is right in my price range (when I decide to upgrade)
driftking428@reddit
The wealth gap continues to grow. Hooray.
bluepied@reddit
My buddy is loaded-loaded, has bought 3 911’s in the past 2 years…a Dakar, a GT3 and some other one. But you know what? He’s still sad.
Positive_Gazelle_667@reddit
I have .93 cents in my bank and $14107 of credit card debt. Something tells me he's 2 steps further back than I am from just killing myself lmfao
long_fish3000@reddit
911 got all them california boys sharing a car 8 ways to appear to have money
Saitoh17@reddit
California is a place where salaries are very high because houses are extremely expensive but the price of cars doesn't change much by state.
OHWHATDA@reddit
There’s an insane number of rich people in California, odds are they own it themselves.
Puzzled_Region_9376@reddit
Or they just have one?
Clareth_GIF@reddit
Lol, now where are all those people that were saying that the 911 is too expensive and that it's sales will suffer as a result?
jkggwp@reddit
Sports car makers should stick to manual shifters and ICE with real buttons in the cabin. Focus on the act of driving and the design of the car. Most people that buy them do it for the status symbol or the love of driving or both. Leave the EVs for daily commuters
Huge_World4801@reddit
Not wanting to hate but Porsche can go suck it too
Global_Chair9652@reddit
Sun 60k Porsche nowwwwww and just do a 944 revisit
PuzzleheadedSky9536@reddit
Can't wait for very dumb people to say this is because porsche pushed EVs and consumers don't want them and not because they jacked up prices to oblivion
LlamasNeverLie@reddit
Well… my wife has a 2017 Macan, and she wants a new Macan, but she doesn’t want an EV. So we’re shopping for other cars. It has nothing to do with price. So, that’s one data point of a lost Macan customer for you.
cookingboy@reddit
That’s a shame. The Macan EV is such a better car than the ICE version.
LlamasNeverLie@reddit
It’s got no sound. When we first got her current Macan, which is an S, I remember how pumped she was to put it in sport mode and go down on-ramps, through tunnels, and just generally start the engine. 6 years later, it still gives her a thrill.
You wouldn’t believe the cars I’ve suggested that all my friend’s wives have and love - Ineos Grenadier, Defender, Lexus GX; nope - she wants a small SUV with room for all her work things, with an engine that sounds as good or better than her current Macan S.
Pls help.
Medical-Gate-9978@reddit
BMW X3 or Mercedes GLC43
cookingboy@reddit
X3 with the B58. The engine is better than that of the Macan S in every way
LlamasNeverLie@reddit
I will check it out!
AllTearGasNoBreaks@reddit
Do they not have petrol Macans in your area?
maxipanda8321@reddit
Not brand new ones
AllTearGasNoBreaks@reddit
Dang, we can still get 2026s new in the States with gas/petrol engines.
PuzzleheadedSky9536@reddit
Most of the decline in sales comes from China, where evs are popular and America, where the petrol Macan is still offered
Bradymyhero@reddit
Slowing economy, insane price increases, ICE Macan is over 10 yrs old, their EVs have limited demand in NA, and 718 foolishly being killed off
This_Elk_1460@reddit
I mean if there's any car Porsche wants to be selling well it's this one so
What_the_8@reddit
Funny how the tables turns, it was the SUVs and 4 doors that saved the 911
Puzzled_Region_9376@reddit
Did the sales surge or did they just start making more of them because they needed something to tout in their report?
I don’t think they created thousands more 911 customers. Judging by the number sitting on lots nation wide they just finally stopped playing supply games
NoctD@reddit
Raise prices and still sell yet more 911s is proof pricing doesn’t matter, people want them ICE cars. Pretty amazing to see given how expensive the 911s have gotten.
mastawyrm@reddit
I don't know if the 911 market is easily applied in the ICE vs EV question. 911s just sell well.
I mean personally an EV fun car is not appealing to me in the least but I do really want a PHEV/range-extended EV for my tow vehicle and if I wanted a commuter appliance I'd definitely look at EVs
NoctD@reddit
If they tried to sell a 911 EV only lineup it would tank sales for sure. People want ICE cars for their toys.