Tariffs Made Me Do It

[USMA81]

I soon will own two Macan 4’s. I took delivery of #1 last December and became a two EV household, owning for two years a 2023 Audi E-Tron as well. Later this year or next, I had planned to buy a 2026 Cayenne EV to replace the Audi, which has poor range of about 200 miles and buggy software. In talking to my SA, he has had no word yet from Porsche on the launch of the Cayenne (press article say it will launch later this year, which likely would push deliveries well into 2026). Of course, by that time any new vehicle will be subject to tariffs, if extant. While nobody knows where tariffs will be, I decided to replace the Audi now with a 3,400 mile, certified Macan 4 (#2), as there are no tariffs on existing dealer stocks. Essentially the car is new, and has a long list of options. The prior, 90 year old owner decided he didn’t want a white car and ordered a new Macan in a different color. The prior owner paid nearly $105,000. Six months later the Macan now is a certified vehicle with a six year warranty. I paid a bit over $92,000. This isn’t an exceptional deal, but I didn’t negotiate very hard as I considered it to be a reasonably good deal already.

My Audi sticker price was about $92,000 in 2023. I bought it as a certified vehicle with 24 miles on it for $72,000 (original owner never took delivery). The trade-in value I got was $36,000. There’s an example of rapid EV depreciation. Unfortunately, the certified warranty of six years goes away for any new owner because that is canceled when trading in to a dealer (private sale, however, would have preserved that).

#1: Ice over Chalk
#2: White over Red

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[USMA81]

Oh, and some other info from the SA (accuracy to be determined). Porsche has a large number of cars in US ports, pre-customs, trying to figure out what to do. It also has more cargo ships inbound with no place to store the newest arrivals. The dealers are starting to run out of higher volume vehicles, like the ICE Macan. Maybe a suspension of tariffs for a few months will allow them to clear those vehicles through customs without a tariff, but longer term it obviously still will be a problem.

25%, let alone 50%, is a show stopper. Porsche’s margins now are nowhere close to being able to absorb all of that. So Porsche likely has only one option going forward: to raise prices. He thinks that Porsche will absorb part of the tariff, the dealer will as well, and the customer might see an increase of +/- 10%. So everybody shares the pain.

Tariffs already have cost Porsche $200 million.

Again, just info I picked up in conversation with him. Not sure if anyone knows these things for sure or how it will change in the future.

 

[masmole]

congrats on Macan EV #2!

now where are the obligatory pics of these pair of beauties together?

 

[USMA81]

Picking up #2 later this week…

 

[Yves]

well the info on cayenne launch is that it has been pulled forward (they delayed the 718 for this, they figured out real Porsche drivers do not want EV sport cars I guess). So it should be launched around October according to the dealer.

 

[SteveInKirkland]

I understand how you arrive here because I've been considering it for 2 to 3 months. I also understand why the 90 yr old original buyer of the white car decided to buy another, as I have a white car and keeping it clean requires twice weekly washing.

I've been trying to hold out because I believe it is a 75/25 coin toss that tariffs are brought way down from announced insanity, but I may give in also.

 

[USMA81]

In five months, the build-to-order ice grey has had just a few issues, nothing serious. That convinced me to stay with the Macan for vehicle #2. The used white Macan has been with me just two days. It will be interesting to see how well this strategy works out.

 

[Heavywun]

You boys have heard of wall street's TACO meme when it comes to tariffs...? Trump Always Chickens Out? There've been so many to and fro back-pedaling decision reversals that I wouldn't make any long term decisions based on current political posturing (apart from an excuse to get more Porsches, which is of course entirely legitimate).

“a lot to do with markets realizing that the U.S. administration does not have a very high tolerance for market and economic pressure, and will be quick to back off when tariffs cause pain. This is the TACO theory: Trump Always Chickens Out.”

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