Porsche's sales fell 16% this year, but the 911 is having a moment
When the going gets tough, the 911 gets going
It has been a bruising few months for Porsche, with deliveries down 16% and a Chinese market that keeps sliding. And yet, amid all the gloom, the oldest and most familiar Porsche of all is quietly having one of its best runs in years. The 911 has defied the wider slump entirely, and it now makes up around a quarter of everything Porsche sells.
The numbers behind the dip
Porsche delivered 122,306 cars worldwide in the first half of 2026, down from 146,391 a year earlier, a fall of 16%. The 911 was the shining exception, climbing 19% to 30,534 units. Almost everything else went the other way: the Cayenne dipped 9% to 38,141, the Macan fell 22% to 35,315, the Panamera dropped 38% to 9,308 and the Taycan slid 25% to 6,219. The steepest fall belonged to the 718, down 73% to just 2,789 as combustion production wound down.
China is the big worry
Regionally, the picture is toughest in China, where deliveries collapsed 32% to 14,501 as local premium brands pile on the pressure. North America held up better with a 13% drop to 37,712, hurt partly by the expiry of US tax incentives for electrified cars. Closer to home, European deliveries excluding Germany fell 14% to 30,278, while Germany itself proved more resilient with a smaller 6% decline to 14,938.
Why it happened
Porsche points to a few clear reasons. The 718 Boxster and Cayman ended combustion production in October 2025, leaving a gap before their electric successors arrive. The Macan Electric enjoyed a big launch surge in early 2025, making this year's comparison look worse. Add the loss of US incentives and a slower-than-hoped electrification uptake, and the drop starts to make sense. Sales boss Matthias Becker said Porsche is "below the same period last year but in line with our expectations," and pointed to positive early dealer feedback on the new Cayenne Electric.
AutoNext Take
There is a lovely irony here. As Porsche wrestles with a rocky electric transition, cools on the idea of a fully electric 911 and watches China wobble, it is the good old petrol-powered 911, the car Porsche recently confirmed will keep combustion and hybrid power, that is carrying the whole company on its shoulders. It is proof that desirable, emotional cars still sell even in a downturn, and that Porsche's motorsport-honed halo, now including the new 911 GT4 racer, still means something.
The challenge is obvious: Porsche cannot run on 911s alone, and it needs the Macan Electric, Cayenne Electric and Taycan to find their feet in a hesitant EV market, especially here in Europe where the shift is happening fastest. But if there was ever a reminder of why the brand still matters, a 19% jump for its icon while everything else falls is a pretty emphatic one.
