German media reported over the weekend that Porsche, a German luxury auto manufacturer, used the China-Europe Railway Express to deliver its transcontinental logistics since April. The report said that a Porsche spokesman confirmed that rail transport will deliver Porsche sports car to China in the aim of faster transportation. The track will cut transport time by three weeks.
The new cars are delivered to Southwest China's Chongqing municipality for delivery to regional dealers. The 88 Porsche sports cars are loaded in up to 44 containers in the freight train that will pass through Poland, Belarus, Russia, and Kazakhstan to China.
Hellmann, a German logistics company organized to transport the Porsche cars, said that the overland trip takes 18 days which is faster than transportation by sea. The company delivers around 80,000 Porsche sports cars to China every year. The country's market is the highest-volume individual market for Porsche.
Porsche plans to export 11 percent of its factory-new sports car through the 11,000-km-long rail route to southwest China. The China-Europe Railway Express is used in transporting garments, auto parts, chemicals, and other Chinese goods to European consumers. It brings back imports of European food, machinery, equipment, and timber back to China. The China Railway Corporation said that the trains made 6,363 trips in 2018, surging 73 percent from 2017.
Recently, the company announced their plan of exploring joint projects with Chinese technology giants like Tencent Holdings Ltd., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., and Baidu Inc. as it expands the digital offering in its largest market and bolsters sales.
The company plans to add features like voice recognition, navigation, and integration of WeChat messaging services to be developed locally. Porsche also inked an agreement with Tongji University to expand its research cooperation.
According to Chief Executive Officer Oliver Blume, they want to have the right partnerships in place in each individual region. He added that it's a misconception to believe all this can be developed in Germany. China's jumped as the world's largest electric-car market plays an important role in the plan of the company to its lineup of fully and partly battery-powered vehicles. The Taycan, Porsche's first all-electric model, is scheduled for release this year to be followed by a more spacious Cross Turismo Version.
The company expects an increase in sales for the whole year. it predicted an increase in its revenue this year as complemented by the introduction of the latest iteration of its iconic 911 sportscar.
