(Yicai) Nov. 14 -- Porsche will not lower the prices of its vehicles in China despite shrinking sales and will continue to assess the possibility of opening factories in the country though its business is not big enough for localized production, according to the chief executive of the German high-performance carmaker's Chinese arm.

Porsche pursues a balance in supply and demand and will not lower its prices for higher sales in China, Michael Kirsch, who is also president of the firm's local unit, told Yicai. It will not oversupply products to the market because price wars will likely affect its surplus value and thereby hurt its brand, dealers, and even buyers, he added.

Porsche sold 60,700 autos in China in the first nine months of this year, down 12 percent from a year earlier. Its sales in North America rose 14 percent to 64,500, making it the automaker’s biggest market.

But Porsche will continue to raise its investment and market presence in China, with plans to debut a new-generation Panamera model on Nov. 24 and bring Macan-branded electric vehicles to the market next year, Kirsch said. Porsche Finance Leasing, set up in the Shanghai Free Trade Zone, will raise its registered capital by about CNY1.3 billion (USD1.8 billion) to develop Porsche's local business, he added.

Porsche's business in China is not big enough to start building plants, but the Stuttgart-based company will continue to assess the possibility of doing so, Kirsch noted. Porsche currently imports to China from overseas. 

Porsche has built research and development facilities in China, including the Porsche R&D office in Beijing, Porsche Engineering, and Porsche Digital, hoping to create more products to meet the needs of Chinese consumers, Kirsch added.

Designing a model that is universally applicable to all global markets may no longer be appropriate, so Porsche should develop products according to local conditions, Kirsch said, adding that Chinese EVs are now among the world's best for electrification, digitization, and intelligence.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev