Pan Lichi, CEO of Porsche China: Porsche won't let consumers be guinea pigs | Exclusive interview by 36Kr

The sales volume of foreign luxury brands in China has been declining year after year, and transformation and change are inevitable.

In 2025, Porsche sold a total of 42,938 vehicles in the Chinese market, a year-on-year decline of 26%. Porsche's sales in China have been declining for four consecutive years. Recently, Matthias Patzschke, CEO of Porsche China, had an exchange with media such as 36Kr. He not only provided a detailed explanation of Porsche China's sales volume and countermeasures but also responded to hot topics such as Porsche China's intelligent driving supplier, domestic models, and the design disputes of Porsche.

Regarding the change in Porsche's sales volume, Matthias Patzschke said that structural changes usually start with changes in customer demand. "The needs of Chinese customers have changed fundamentally. They hope to have a perfect technological experience in the car."

He believes that Chinese local brands have their own technological ecosystems. Moreover, new brands are not burdened with old platforms and huge investments, so they have indeed embarked on the new trend faster than Porsche. As competition intensifies, price wars have followed. "In the market where the Cayenne is located, the manufacturer's suggested retail price has dropped by more than one-third in three years. You can now buy a C-segment SUV at the price of a B-segment SUV in the past."

In the face of challenges, Porsche is also actively making adjustments.

Last year, some Porsche dealerships suddenly closed, causing customers who had paid the money to fail to pick up their cars as scheduled. Matthias Patzschke responded during the exchange, saying that the Dong'an Group, the dealership company involved in the incident, is no longer on Porsche's dealership list, and the relevant customers will receive the delivery within this month.

In 2026, Porsche's dealership system will continue to be optimized. The number of dealerships will be reduced from 114 in 2025 to 80, and the dealership inventory level will drop by 30%. Matthias Patzschke said that Porsche would rather reduce production to ensure customer service.

In terms of products, in addition to the all-electric Cayenne to be launched this year, Matthias Patzschke revealed that Porsche has also planned several models exclusive to China and will launch two new B-segment and D-segment SUVs with fuel and plug-in hybrid powertrains by the end of this decade.

Starting from mid-2026, the in-vehicle infotainment system jointly developed by Porsche and Pateo will be officially installed in models such as the 911, Panamera, Cayenne, and Taycan.

In terms of intelligent driving, which the Chinese market is concerned about, Matthias Patzschke said that there are many excellent technology companies in China, including Huawei. As for which company Porsche will cooperate with specifically, "we currently have an open attitude and are considering many options, so please stay tuned."

In addition, Matthias Patzschke also directly responded to the design disputes between Porsche and several domestic brands.

He said that this phenomenon precisely shows the strength of Porsche's design language and emphasized that "originality is always originality." As more and more models look alike, the market will cherish original brands more.

Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi, has spared no praise for Porsche on many occasions. Porsche's design and engineering capabilities have indeed been recognized by the global automotive industry. However, the harsh situation that Porsche China is facing is also an objective fact.

Matthias Patzschke's speech sends out a positive signal: Porsche is deepening its understanding of the Chinese market and taking actions to revive its performance.

The following is a dialogue between media such as 36Kr and Matthias Patzschke, CEO of Porsche China, slightly edited without changing the original meaning:

Question: In the cockpit field, Porsche has a very in-depth cooperation with Pateo. Does this mean that Porsche's cooperation model with local technology companies is changing? Is it possible to carry out similar cooperation with companies like Huawei, which are leading in the field of intelligent driving, in the future?

Matthias Patzschke: Our cooperation with Pateo is indeed very close. We have formed a joint project team to ensure that what we finally get is not only an excellent infotainment solution but also a system that can run perfectly on Porsche sports cars.

High-level intelligent driving is more complex - the system must be perfectly integrated into core vehicle controls such as the safety system, braking, acceleration, and steering, with extremely high technical thresholds. Therefore, no matter which partner is selected, extremely in-depth cooperation must be carried out.

Regarding specific partners, there are indeed many excellent local enterprises and global suppliers to choose from in the Chinese market, and Huawei is just one of them. Currently, we are fully evaluating a variety of different solutions. Not only in China but also in Weissach, corresponding research and studies are being carried out. We currently have an open attitude and are considering many options, so please stay tuned.

Question: Recently, many popular models of domestic brands look like Porsche. How do you view this trend? How can Porsche continue to be irreplaceable?

Matthias Patzschke: First of all, we are proud of this because it shows that our design language is strong enough to be recognized by everyone. Take the 911 as an example. Its design language has remained highly consistent for more than six decades, which is undoubtedly a positive signal.

But we believe that originality is always originality. After seeing so many look-alike models, people will eventually recognize the pioneer and cherish brands with a profound historical heritage.

Question: Will Porsche be localized in production in the future?

Matthias Patzschke: Everyone is very concerned about the issue of localized production.

We have noticed that many Western brands are promoting similar measures, such as the lettered Audi of AUDI. The Volkswagen Group has strong technical strength and production capabilities in China, so localization will naturally become a key direction for our evaluation. The possibility in the future remains to be seen. Currently, we have an open attitude, but there is no specific plan yet.

Question: Dr. Oliver Blume once said that "there is no luxury all-electric market in China," but in reality, Chinese electric vehicles such as the Li L9 and Wenjie M9 priced above 400,000 yuan have achieved great success. How does Porsche view the difference between this view and reality? Does this mean that Chinese brands understand local high-end consumers better, or has the definition of "luxury" by the Chinese elite class changed fundamentally?

Matthias Patzschke: I think what Dr. Oliver Blume referred to at that time was the luxury electric vehicle market (Luxury EV market), corresponding to the segmented market with a price range of 800,000 yuan or even 1 million yuan and above. The high-end electric vehicle market (Premium EV market) you just mentioned, with a price range of 300,000 to 600,000 yuan, does have some new Chinese car models being sought after by the market. But currently, according to our observation, in the ultra-luxury segmented market above 1 million yuan, the mainstream ultra-luxury models are still dominated by internal combustion engine and plug-in hybrid models.

Question: Macroeconomic factors, intensified market competition, and changes in its own product structure are all reasons for Porsche's decline. How do you rank their impacts?

Matthias Patzschke: I think the order of impact is: changes in customer demand, intensified competition such as price wars, and thirdly, macroeconomic challenges.

This kind of structural change usually starts with changes in customer demand. The needs of Chinese customers have changed fundamentally. They are at the forefront and hope to have a perfect technological experience in their cars - they already have the ecosystem of devices such as mobile phones and expect to have the same seamless experience in cars.

Local brands have keenly grasped this opportunity. They already have an ecosystem and are not burdened with old platforms and huge investments. They can be said to start from scratch and can board the train of this structural change in consumers faster, which also brings more possibilities for price competitiveness.

In China, almost all players are doing this. So we can see that the prices in each segmented market have dropped rapidly. Take the C-segment SUV segmented market where the Cayenne is located as an example. In three years, the manufacturer's suggested retail price has dropped by more than one-third. Now, basically, you can buy a C-segment SUV at the price of a B-segment SUV in the past. This is the fundamental change that has taken place in the market.

Question: Chinese car companies are getting faster and faster. Will Porsche speed up its development cycle?

Matthias Patzschke: When it comes to the R & D cycle, I think it can be understood from two perspectives.

First of all, if the R & D cycle refers to the whole process from concept determination to vehicle launch, then indeed the "Chinese speed" is worth learning from. The shorter the cycle, the more controllable the cost will naturally be.

But we will not compromise on quality, safety, and reliability. During the R & D stage, we will conduct a large number of reliability tests to ensure that this is a vehicle that meets Porsche's engineering standards. We will not use consumers as guinea pigs in the laboratory.

In addition, the R & D cycle can also have another understanding, which is its iteration cycle. We do see that many car companies are currently significantly shortening the product life cycle, and basically, new and updated models of the same car series will be launched every two years. In the current technological context, I believe this is possible, and stimulated by the market, many car companies are approaching this speed.

We need to seriously examine this change. But Porsche must first do things right and then do things fast. Our task is to find the best balance: on the one hand, we need to be fast, but on the other hand, we still must conduct sufficient tests to ensure that the brand experience provided by the vehicle is perfect.

Faster is indeed better, but we think the top priority is always to be responsible to customers.

Question: In December last year, some Porsche dealerships suddenly closed. How is the situation of this incident progressing now?

Matthias Patzschke: For this unexpected incident, we took very rapid measures to deal with it. Currently, the Dong'an Group is no longer on our dealership list.

After communication and coordination with multiple parties, the vehicle certificates will be delivered to real customers who have paid the full car price within this month. For real contract customers who have paid a deposit to the involved stores but have not picked up their cars, Porsche China will provide corresponding solutions to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of real customers.

We deeply understand that trust is the most precious bond between the brand and customers, and we will surely go all out to defend this hard-won trust.

Question: What are the specific success criteria for the "Win Back China" strategy? Is there a clear timetable or milestone? In the current fierce market competition, how much time window is left for Porsche to achieve this strategic goal?

Matthias Patzschke: 2025 was really challenging for us. Unexpected things also happened in the middle of the year. The starting point for the luxury car tax was lowered from 1.3 million yuan to 900,000 yuan, resulting in a 11% price increase for 30% of our products, which had a huge impact on us. Of course, such unpredictable events will affect our timetable.

Since I took office, I have two key lessons learned about the Chinese market. One is to always be flexible and quickly face and respond to unexpected market changes. The other is to always be humble, learn from the market, and continuously improve to meet consumers' needs.

2026 is still a stage of recalibration and adjustment. Measures such as the optimization of the dealership network and models exclusive to the Chinese market are all helping us to more steadily win back the Chinese market.

As for what standard can be regarded as winning back the Chinese market?

First of all, sales volume is not the standard. We will not judge whether we have achieved success in the Chinese market by the sales volume figure. Our judgment standard is whether the brand power is still strong and whether consumers' needs are met. We hope that consumers are not only satisfied with Porsche but also excited and enthusiastic about it.

Question: You just mentioned that Porsche plans to launch a B-segment SUV. Is the price and positioning of this SUV lower than that of the Macan? Will it become the lowest-priced product in Porsche's history?

Matthias Patzschke: We really can't disclose too much information about these specific product details for now, but please stay tuned.