China accounts for over a third of Porsche's global sales.
In what could be called an embarrassing situation for the world's premier luxury car maker Porsche a dealership in China mistakenly advertised a sports car which is worth $148,000 for just $18,000.
The popular 2023 Panamera model was advertised online by the dealership in the northern city of Yinchuan for 124,000 yuan ($18,000), or one-eighth of the sedan's actual starting price. People eager to purchase a car quickly noticed the advertisement and hurried to the dealer for what they believed to be a great price, according to Bloomberg.
The news agency reported that after hundreds of eagle-eyed consumers put down reservation fees of 911 yuan, Porsche acknowledged the dealership in the northern city of Yinchuan had uploaded information containing "a serious mistake in the listed retail price."
Upon realising its mistake, the dealership took down the incorrect information immediately, a spokesman for the Stuttgart, Germany-based carmaker said in response to a query from Bloomberg.
The gaffe wasn't bad for everyone. Porsche said it had been in touch with the first person who made an online reservation and "negotiated an agreeable outcome" regarding the one vehicle the dealership had in stock. It didn't elaborate.
Porsche has apologised and explained the situation to each of the other bidders individually, and will reimburse reservation payments within 48 hours, the a spokesman said.
According to Bloomberg, Porsche's sales in China reached $6.2 billion in the first half of 2022, making it the company's largest market. During that time, it sold 46,664 vehicles in China, or about 30% of total sales.