News
Porsche reveals 20,000 Taycan deliveries in 2020, 3% decrease in Worldwide sales
Porsche announced in a press release on Tuesday that it had successfully delivered over 20,000 units of its new, all-electric Taycan. Despite a relatively strong showing in the first full year of deliveries, the German automaker saw an overall decline in sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Porsche unveiled the Taycan in late 2019 as the legendary automaker planned to enter the EV market that has been dominated by Tesla for several years. The Taycan, which was a stereotypical Porsche vehicle in terms of both looks and performance, made its way to owners 20,015 times in 2020. Combating demand issues from the COVID-19 pandemic, which also halted production for six weeks as the company was ramping up manufacturing efforts, Porsche revealed that it is relatively pleased with the showing, looking at the future as an opportunity for large-scale growth.
The automaker said:
“Taycan deliveries totaled 20,015 in 2020, despite a six-week pause in production just as the new model was ramping up, and despite many markets planning spring premieres.”
The Taycan was far from Porsche’s most popular vehicle in 2020. The Cayenne led that statistic with 92,860 sales during the year, a 1% increase compared to the year before. Meanwhile, as a company, over 121,600 cars were delivered to Asia-Pacific and the Middle East & Africa, a 4% increase from 2019. These regions, along with China, which saw a 3% increase, were the only positive differences in 2020 compared to 2019.
The largest fall in sales was in Porsche’s home country of Germany, where a 17% decrease in sales was reported. This contributed to a 3% decline in sales in 2020 compared to 2019, making Porsche just one of many automakers to chalk up 2019 as a year to forget. However, with regions beginning to reopen after the initial shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is plenty of reason to believe that 2021 could be a breakthrough year for many companies, including Porsche.
Credit: Porsche
Porsche won’t consider 2020 a complete failure, however. It was certainly a learning experience for many companies in nearly every industry, but 2021 is being looked at as a rebounding year for the legendary automaker.
The company added:
“After the robust 2020 result, Porsche is optimistic about further positive developments in 2021. “We are continuing our product offensive – our customers can look forward to it. It will include additional derivatives of the all-electric Taycan and the 911, among others. We are full of optimism and looking forward to 2021, a year that will also be characterised by unique experiences with the Porsche brand,” says Detlev von Platen.”
Elon Musk
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has ordered the closure of an investigation involving Elon Musk and social media platform X. The inquiry had been pending for about two years and examined whether the platform was used to coordinate attacks against members of the judiciary.
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
According to a report from Agencia Brasil, the investigation conducted by the Federal Police did not find evidence that X deliberately attempted to attack the judiciary or circumvent court orders.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet concluded that the irregularities identified during the probe did not indicate fraudulent intent.
Justice Moraes accepted the prosecutor’s recommendation and ruled that the investigation should be closed. Under the ruling, the case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges.
The inquiry stemmed from concerns that content on X may have enabled online attacks against Supreme Court justices or violated rulings requiring the suspension of certain accounts under investigation.
Justice Moraes had previously taken several enforcement actions related to the platform during the broader dispute involving social media regulation in Brazil.
These included ordering a nationwide block of the platform, freezing Starlink accounts, and imposing fines on X totaling about $5.2 million. Authorities also froze financial assets linked to X and SpaceX through Starlink to collect unpaid penalties and seized roughly $3.3 million from the companies’ accounts.
Moraes also imposed daily fines of up to R$5 million, about $920,000, for alleged evasion of the X ban and established penalties of R$50,000 per day for VPN users who attempted to bypass the restriction.
Brazil remains an important market for X, with roughly 17 million users, making it one of the platform’s larger user bases globally.
The country is also a major market for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which has surpassed one million subscribers in Brazil.
Elon Musk
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Amazon after the company opposed SpaceX’s proposal to launch a large satellite constellation that could function as an orbital data center network.
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
Amazon recently urged the FCC to reject SpaceX’s application to deploy a constellation of up to 1 million low Earth orbit satellites that could serve as artificial intelligence data centers in space.
The company described the proposal as a “lofty ambition rather than a real plan,” arguing that SpaceX had not provided sufficient details about how the system would operate.
Carr responded by pointing to Amazon’s own satellite deployment progress.
“Amazon should focus on the fact that it will fall roughly 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending their time and resources filing petitions against companies that are putting thousands of satellites in orbit,” Carr wrote on X.
Amazon has declined to comment on the statement.
Amazon has been working to deploy its Project Kuiper satellite network, which is intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the program and has launched more than 200 satellites since April of last year.
Amazon has also asked the FCC for a 24-month extension, until July 2028, to meet a requirement to deploy roughly 1,600 satellites by July 2026, as noted in a CNBC report.
SpaceX’s Starlink network currently has nearly 10,000 satellites in orbit and serves roughly 10 million customers. The FCC has also authorized SpaceX to deploy 7,500 additional satellites as the company continues expanding its global satellite internet network.
Energy
Tesla Energy gains UK license to sell electricity to homes and businesses
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
Tesla Energy has received a license to supply electricity in the United Kingdom, opening the door for the company to serve homes and businesses in the country.
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
According to Ofgem, the license took effect at 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday and applies to Great Britain.
The approval allows Tesla’s energy business to sell electricity directly to customers in the region, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.
Tesla has already expanded similar services in the United States. In Texas, the company offers electricity plans that allow Tesla owners to charge their vehicles at a lower cost while also feeding excess electricity back into the grid.
Tesla already has a sizable presence in the UK market. According to price comparison website U-switch, there are more than 250,000 Tesla electric vehicles in the country and thousands of Tesla home energy storage systems.
Ofgem also noted that Tesla Motors Ltd., a separate entity incorporated in England and Wales, received an electricity generation license in June 2020.
The new UK license arrives as Tesla continues expanding its global energy business.
Last year, Tesla Energy retained the top position in the global battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator market for the second consecutive year. According to Wood Mackenzie’s latest rankings, Tesla held about 15% of global market share in 2024.
The company also maintained a dominant position in North America, where it captured roughly 39% market share in the region.
At the same time, competition in the energy storage sector is increasing. Chinese companies such as Sungrow have been expanding their presence globally, particularly in Europe.
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
