It is second-quarter automaker sales news season, with Automotive News reporting that Toyota has “edged” GM; that Hyundai and Kia are doing well; that even Nissan and Mitsubishi are doing fine. Porsche is doing better than fine.
Porsche Thursday said its second-quarter sales were up in the U.S. 55.5 percent, compared to the second-quarter last year, the biggest reason for which is obvious. But even on top of that, Porsche said that its second-quarter sales in the U.S. were the best ever, period.
Here’s how it broke down in North America by model:
More Taycans than 911s so far this year, which is not a thing I would’ve guessed would’ve happened, or at least this soon, and, because 911 sales did not grow nearly as much as Cayenne, Macan, Taycan, and 718 sales this year compared to last I’m going to guess that a lot of those Taycan buyers are converted 911 people.
This is all very nice if you can afford a Porsche, but one reason I’m singling out Porsche is that, increasingly, in this market, buying a new car means buying an expensive car, as the cheapest Porsche, a Macan, starts at $52,100, or only about $12,000 more than the average transaction price.
For June 2021, average transaction prices are expected reach a record high $40,206, the first time above the $40,000 level. For context, average transaction prices are trending to be 14.9% higher in June 2021 than they were in June 2020 when prices broke the $35,000 level for the only the second month on record. This is partially due to retraction in manufacturer incentives. The average manufacturer incentive per vehicle is on pace to be $2,492, a decrease of $1,857 from a year ago and the second-lowest amount on record for the month of June. Expressed as a percentage of the average vehicle MSRP, incentives for June 2021 are trending toward a record low of 5.8%, down nearly five percentage points from a year ago, and the first time ever under 6%.
Automakers are offering fewer incentives because new car inventory is low and demand is high which, as J.D. Power says, is one factor in transaction prices being so high, but another factor is that luxury automakers have it especially good now, because rich people are bored. Remember about a year ago when every automaker was just begging you to buy a car? Wait a little bit; the cycle will return.