porsche's third-quarter u.s. sales report contained a surprising statistic: for the first time, the all-electric taycan outsold the 911, 718, and panamera. for now, it's the third-best-selling porsche here, behind the company's macan and cayenne suvs.
it's too early to say whether this will last, though. in the second quarter, the 911 outsold the taycan, 718, and panamera combined. but sales rebounded across the industry in the third quarter as the new normal set in. and if this pattern holds, it could be the first case where a traditional automaker's u.s. ev sales has overtaken its more established products.
especially when you compare it to the panamera—a larger, more expensive, more established sedan—it seems like a watershed moment. tesla initially proved that an ev could outsell its rivals, but the taycan could be demonstrating that an ev from within the same brand could quickly surpass its internal-combustion counterpart. even with the price premium and logistical challenges of evs, people may be ready to make the jump.
of course, all of this comes with a healthy dose of salt. first, porsche's more affluent customers may be less worried about the price tradeoff. plus, products tend to do well when they're newest, giving the taycan an advantage over the panamera, with facelifted models yet to go on sale. most important, though, this could be a one-quarter anomaly. if it becomes a trend, though, it could show that even non-tesla evs can be more desirable and popular than their traditional counterparts.
from: road & track