Boss seeks partners for chips and advertises synthetic fuels

Due to the shortage of chips, around ten million vehicles will not be able to be built in the global auto industry this year, despite high demand. In the corona crisis, the auto industry hastily cut its chip orders, but did not expect the chip industry to outsource its production capacities to other industries.

Blume also sees Porsche being challenged in the current chip crisis. This year, the sports car manufacturer could still stay afloat with organizational measures. Porsche, with its high-margin models, is given preferential treatment in the VW Group. “In the group, we prioritize according to profit contributions,” said Blume.

But adversity looms: “I’m less optimistic about 2022,” said Blume. “We will continue to have to fight hard because we are still dealing with a structural and procedural issue.” The proportion of currently more than 1000 semiconductors per car will increase in the future with electrification.

Porsche with delivery record

Despite the lack of chips, Porsche had delivered a total of almost 218,000 vehicles by the third quarter, 13 percent more than in the previous year – a new record. Porsche also expects further growth in the final quarter. In the three months up to the end of September, Porsche even sold more of its first all-electric sports car, the Taycan, than the iconic 911 for the first time. The electric sports car was delivered 28,640 times, while the combustion 911 was “only” 27,972 times. Blume does not see cannibalization: “50 percent of Taycan drivers are new customers.”

According to Blume, the Taycan also plays a major role in the fact that 40 percent of sales in Europe are now electrified Porsche models. The Macan SUV will be built fully electrified from 2022 and delivered in 2023. The Zuffenhausen-based company wants to sell 80 percent purely electric and hybrid vehicles annually by 2030.

A ban on internal combustion engines would still hit Porsche hard. “We take a holistic view of sustainability,” emphasizes Blume. One must also take into account the 1.3 billion vehicles in the world. Porsche is therefore investing heavily in a synthetic fuel plant in Chile. In the pilot, a liter costs more than ten dollars, in large-scale industrial production, Blume holds out the prospect of a liter price of less than two dollars.

Billions in the market for synthetic fuels

“This will be a billion-dollar market,” the Porsche boss is convinced. The fuel is mainly needed to move planes and ships in a CO2-neutral manner. For Porsche, synthetic fuel is particularly interesting for its 911s. Because 70 percent of the vehicles ever produced are still around. Porsche plans to use the first synthetic fuel in racing next year. “When it comes to new technologies, you first have to create lighthouses,” says Blume. It is very clear that at some point electric driving will be cheaper than driving with a combustion engine.

Blume believes synthetic fuels from regenerative production are a sensible alternative when one considers sustainability in its entirety. In any case, Porsche wants to use them for a transitional period until the complete switch to electric vehicles.

“You have to come from both sides, and we see ourselves in a very good position,” said Blume. The top manager has a prominent colleague in EU Transport Commissioner Adina Valean. The day before, at the Handelsblatt Auto Summit, she was open to alternative fuels: “E-fuels would be absolutely great.”

In particular, Porsche demands that deliveries of synthetic fuels to other industries such as aviation are included in the CO2 balance of the sports car manufacturer. The aim is to be able to offer the conventional 911 for an even longer period of time, which could then be made climate-neutral on the balance sheet.

Pioneering function in the Volkswagen Group

After all, the Zuffenhausen-based company wants to be CO2-neutral on the balance sheet by 2030. And in doing so, Blume only hopes for a share of 20 percent emissions that have to be compensated. Recycling of steel, batteries and polymers should provide additional relief for the CO2 balance. Porsche is working with BASF on battery concepts. The aim is first to use the batteries a second time and then achieve a recycling rate of over 95 percent.

According to Blume, Porsche intends to invest more than a billion euros in its sustainability in the next few years in order to tap into new renewable energy sources: “It makes no sense to bring more and more vehicles onto the market and fish from the same energy lake. This must be expanded. “
Porsche has a pioneering role in the VW Group. “The advantage in the premium segment is that customers are willing to spend more money on innovation,” says Blume. As an example, he cites the 800-volt systems in the Taycan, which allow faster charging. It was the first major series in the industry. “The technology is finding its way into mass production and is becoming the industry standard,” said Blume.

The Porsche boss is demanding binding specifications from the new federal government because of the longer product cycles in the automotive industry. “The charging infrastructure must be significantly accelerated through funding, plug-in hybrids should be accepted as a transition technology and synthetic fuels should be included in the CO2 balance,” said Blume in a small catalog. “The mix is ​​important to tackle climate protection as a whole.”

And he would be happy if the speed limit did not come because German autobahns are already the safest in the world.
More: “The supply chain is completely empty” – Infineon boss warns of a prolonged chip crisis in the automotive industry