Just a Matter of Time Now: Porsche Swaps to Quarterly Sales Reporting
Porsche Cars North America is the latest automaker to join the expanding list of manufacturers abandoning monthly sales reports in favor of a quarterly format. Detroit has made the changeover entirely, with General Motors swapping to quarterly reports in 2018, only to be followed by Ford and Fiat Chrysler the following year. While Asian manufacturers tend to prefer monthly updates, both Hyundai and Nissan are considering trying quarterly reports within the next twelve months.
As for the German manufacturer, Automotive News cited Porsche as wanting to keep a better eye on the bigger picture. But the plan also runs some risks, especially when some automakers are on the monthly schedule and others report just four times per year.
“The auto market is critical to the U.S. economy, so delays in knowing what’s going on is not good for Wall Street, or Main Street,” Charlie Chesbrough, senior economist at Cox Automotive, told Automotive News.
He also worries that quarterly reports could lead to lower levels of transparency, more speculation and plenty of errors. Still, he expects the trend to continue, especially as more companies join in. “There is not much to be gained by putting your results out there when no one else does,” he said.
Porsche says it’s moving to quarterly reports immediately, with Q1 results due in April. “Monthly sales figures rarely capture the overall picture of how our business is developing,” Porsche Cars North America CEO Klaus Zellmer said on Thursday. “Quarterly reporting better aligns with the Porsche premium brand positioning that is focused on performance and experience.”
[Image: Tishomir/Shutterstock]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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The companies that went to quarterly reports are those whose sales don't "look as good" as they would like and because they want to monetize this data. In any case, does anyone really think GM or Ford or any carmaker will not know how many cars they sold in January 2020?
GM started this - no? When is the last time GM started something that the other car companies followed?
I HATE the quarterly reporting. By the time the data is released, I have lost all interest in it.
One wonders if those monthly manufacturer/dealer spiffs and unloads of non-selling models on dealers who are "underperforming" will continue. Or will it go quarterly? If so, no more turning up on a Jan 31 at 6 pm at your dealer in a snowstorm, with the sales manager pacing up and down trying to pad out his monthly sales quota, and thereby getting a great deal.