Porsche’s U.S. Sales Are Down 14% — and the Dead 718 Explains Most of It
Global deliveries fell to 178,532 through September. In the U.S., the discontinued 718 accounts for nearly two-thirds of the drop, while the 911 is up 33% and the Taycan is down 56%.
Porsche delivered 178,532 cars worldwide in the first nine months of 2026, 16% fewer than a year earlier, the company said on Oct. 9. The 911 went the other way: deliveries rose 12% to 42,217, which works out to nearly five 911s for every Taycan.
The report landed two days after Porsche laid out its strategy through 2035, which commits the company to depending less on volume. A separate U.S. report shows where the volume went: most of the American decline traces to one discontinued sports car.
What happened in the U.S.
North America is still Porsche's largest region, at 56,088 deliveries, down 13%. Porsche puts that mainly on the end of 718 production and a strong year-earlier period for the Macan Electric.
Porsche Cars North America published its own U.S. retail figures the same day: 49,038 sales through September, down 14% from 57,099. The 718 Boxster and Cayman fell from 5,398 to 252. That is 5,146 cars, or nearly two-thirds of the 8,061-car decline. Production ended in October 2025, and U.S. dealers sold just eight in the third quarter.
The 911 filled part of the gap, rising 33% to 11,778. The Cayenne gained 7% to 15,622 and jumped 36% in the third quarter alone, the first full quarter with the 2027 Cayenne Electric in customers' hands. The Macan is still the U.S. best seller at 17,071, down 19%.
The Taycan fell 56% to 1,616, so U.S. dealers sold more than seven 911s for each one. In July, Porsche also blamed its first-half decline on the expiry of U.S. tax incentives for electric and hybrid vehicles. The nine-month release doesn't repeat that.
Third-quarter U.S. sales came to 16,026, down 13%. Rivals grew over the same three months: BMW brand sales rose 3.4%, and Mercedes-Benz USA's third-quarter sales were up 4%. Porsche Cars North America doesn't split its Macan or Cayenne totals into gas and electric versions.
The global picture
Worldwide, the Cayenne is the best-selling Porsche at 59,586, down 2%, including 7,002 of the electric version. The Macan fell 21% to 51,025: 23,029 electric and 27,996 gas, with gas production ending this summer. The Panamera dropped 35% to 13,714, and the 718 fell 79% to 3,291.
China fell hardest, down 33% to 21,493, which is less than half the U.S. total. Europe outside Germany slipped 11% to 44,949, Germany fell 7% to 20,954, and Porsche's overseas and emerging markets were down 19% at 35,048.
The 911's growth is slowing. It was up 19% at the half-year mark and is up 12% now, and third-quarter U.S. sales slipped 4% to 3,300. Porsche didn't publish global third-quarter figures. Subtracting its half-year report from the nine-month total implies about 56,200 deliveries from July through September, roughly 15% below last year. That is our arithmetic, not a Porsche figure.
What's next
Porsche isn't trying to win the volume back quickly. The 2035 plan aims to break even at fewer than 200,000 cars a year, and sales chief Matthias Becker said the company "remains committed to its value-over-volume strategy."
The gaps in the lineup will stay open for a while. The electric 718 gets its first full year of production in 2028, and a new gas and plug-in hybrid small SUV is due the same year. Porsche hasn't confirmed that SUV for the U.S. Full-year delivery figures are due in January.
