Porsche to begin online car sales

13 November 2019

Porsche is to develop its online platform, allowing customers to buy both new and pre-owned models through the internet.

The carmaker is looking to open itself to a new generation of customer and believes offering sales digitally, while retaining physical locations for customer authentication and final contract conclusion, will bring a younger audience to the marque.

′Today, customers move between the digital world and physical retail as a matter of course. Our new digital marketplace meets this need and therefore makes the experience of purchasing a vehicle even easier and more convenient. We will continue to expand our overall digital ecosystem and, in addition to vehicles, also offer Porsche-specific mobility products and services worldwide,’ says Detlev von Platen, member of the executive board for sales and marketing at Porsche AG. 

Simple process

Customers can access the product range via www.porsche.de. There they can reserve their desired vehicle, choose between a cash purchase and leasing and can also obtain a no-obligation leasing offer from Porsche Financial Services. If customers would like to trade in pre-owned vehicles, they can provide initial information for this online.

The service will start in Germany next year, with a Europe-wide roll-out taking place after the launch. Porsche is also launching digital retail in the US, with 25 of the 191 Porsche dealerships in the country currently offering in-stock new and certified pre-owned cars through the online pilot.

The fact that the customer can carry out the main steps of a vehicle purchase online also means that the final contract conclusion at the dealer is much simpler and faster, Porsche says in its statement.

More than 4,000 immediately available new and pre-owned vehicles of the German Porsche Centres can already be ordered online with the launch of the digital sales channel.

Future sales

′With the introduction of online car sales, we will safeguard the competitiveness of our Porsche Centres in the era of digitalisation,’ says Alexander Pollich, CEO of Porsche Deutschland. ′We are very proud of the fact that we can offer our customers a digital purchase option within the established Porsche environment – and can implement this integrated solution for Porsche on the German market for the first time.’

Porsche is the latest manufacturer to turn to online sales to boost its business. Last year, Ford developed its platform in the UK, with Volvo following suit, with its service designed to operate end-to-end, from vehicle specs to final purchasing agreements.

Retail giant Amazon is also looking to get into the online vehicle sales market and is talking to several manufacturers about a project in the UK.