Porsche Rules Out China Factory Because People Want Cars From Germany

Porsche will not build a factory in China anytime soon because the company will maintain its "Made in Germany" image, according to company CEO Oliver Blume speaking with the Financial Times. The decision comes despite China now being the automaker's largest market in the world

"It is a quality and a premium argument still to produce from Europe for China," Blume told the Financial Times. "Today it doesn’t make any sense [to move production]."

Porsche delivered 272,162 vehicles in 2020. Of those, 88,968 units went to China. For comparison, the company moved 80,892 products in Europe and 57,294 in the United States in the same period.

It's worth noting that Porsche does not build all of its vehicles in Germany. The Cayenne comes from the VW Group multi-brand factory in Bratislava, Slovakia. In the past, the company worked with Valmet Automotive to produce the Cayman and Boxster in Finland.

Blume is pragmatic enough to realize that a factory in China might be necessary eventually if the market continues to be such a major part of the company's sales. "In 10 years, I don't know," he told the Financial Times. "It depends a lot on how volume develops and also the regulations in each country."

To launch the Taycan electric sedan, Porsche invested €6 billion into its Zuffenhausen factory to create an assembly line for building the EV. Production kicked off in 2019, and the company delivered 20,015 units of the model in 2020.

Porsche's EV production in Germany will only ramp up in the years to come. The company is already teasing the Taycan Cross Turismo to debut soon. An electric version of the Macan is also on the way and should arrive in late 2022.