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Recently, an auto analyst @ Jas0nYu revealed that Volkswagen's Porsche brand had sought platform cooperation from BYD, ideal and Wei, but was eventually rejected.

A few days ago, the German Volkswagen Group announced that it would take a stake in Xiaopeng Motors. The two sides plan to jointly develop two electric models of the Volkswagen brand for the medium-sized car market in China. The first model is scheduled to enter the market in 2026. It is understood that the two pure electric models will be jointly developed based on Xiaopeng G9's electric vehicle platform and software. Xiaopeng will contribute the vehicle platform as well as intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving system, while Volkswagen will provide the world's leading engineering and supply chain capabilities.

Volkswagen, as the second largest car company in the world, can choose Xiaopeng among many new forces. On the one hand, it fully recognizes Xiaopeng's ability in intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving system. On the other hand, the challenge that Volkswagen faces in electrification can not be ignored. Stimulated by the news, Xiaopeng's US stock rose 26.69%, reaching an one-year high, with a new market capitalization of $18.11 billion.

We don't know whether Porsche, as an ultra-luxury brand of Volkswagen Group, has negotiated cooperation with BYD, Ulay, ideal and other Chinese automobile brands, but in the context of the era of electrification and intelligence, Porsche is also difficult to realize the elephant turn and face the pressure of electrified transformation.

On July 26, Porsche released its 2023 interim results. In the first half of the year, Porsche's operating revenue was 20.43 billion euros, up 14.0% from the same period last year; sales profit was 3.85 billion euros, up 10.7% from the same period last year; and the rate of return on sales was 18.9%, compared with 19.4% over the same period. In terms of sales, Porsche delivered a total of 167354 new cars worldwide in the first half of 2023, an increase of 14.7% over the same period last year.

Porsche said in its financial report that net cash flow in the group's automotive business fell slightly to 2.22 billion euros from the same period last fiscal year due to heavy investment in products and innovation businesses. In Porsche's view, the global economic situation remains grim and Porsche continues to face multiple challenges, including supply chain and parts supply, generally rising costs and a variety of geopolitical tensions. Even so, Porsche confirmed its forecast for full-year performance in 2023. As long as there is no significant deterioration in the global economy and supply chain situation, Porsche expects a return on group sales of 17% to 19% by the end of 2023, while operating revenue is expected to reach 40 billion to 42 billion euros.

Porsche's electrification transformation will begin with the Macan, followed by Cayman, Boxster and Cayenne, and its iconic 911 will be the only fuel model. However, Porsche's electrified transformation has not been smooth. Porsche said it was under pressure to accelerate the electrification transition and that the launch of several major electric vehicles, including the pure electric Macan, had to be delayed because of software glitches. Due to the influence of the software platform, Porsche's performance in China and even the global new energy vehicle market is not smooth, which not only hinders the listing of Macan electric vehicles, but also disrupts the electrification transformation rhythm of other models.

At present, Porsche has only a pure electric model on sale, but as an ultra-luxury electric car, Porsche has a clear lead in cockpit intelligence and self-assisted driving. Porsche CEO Oliver Blume has previously said it will spend more than 20 billion euros ($21.9 billion) on electrification and digitization over the next few years and plans to sell 80 per cent of its new cars to pure electric models by 2030.

If Porsche can also step down and seek partners in the Chinese market, it may also be much more efficient for its new model development work.

In May, Wen Liebo, president and CEO of Porsche Management Consulting Co., Ltd., visited Hefei. It was rumored that Porsche would build China's first complete vehicle production plant, but the rumor was later refuted by officials. Porsche responded that as a strategic and business consulting subsidiary of Porsche, Porsche (Shanghai) Management Consulting Co., Ltd. will carry out in-depth cooperation with Hefei Economic Development Zone to further speed up the development of the park's self-driving industry. promote international cooperation between smart city infrastructure and smart network connection automobile industry.

Porsche Macan is the first pure electric vehicle developed and built based on the PPE platform, a high-end pure electric vehicle platform jointly developed by Porsche and Audi. Audi has introduced the PPE platform into Audi FAW's joint venture new energy project, and the first plant will be put into production in Changchun in 2024. In addition to the PPE platform, another Porsche platform version, called SSP Sport, will be based on the development of large cars or electric sports cars, and the electric version of the Panamera and the second-generation all-electric model Taycan will also be based on the SSP Sport platform. The new three-seat SUV model is expected to be launched in 2027, but the development of the expensive SSP platform is passive and slow.

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