Porsche has been embroiled in a $300 million lawsuit with a major U.S. luxury car dealer, as the German automaker struggles to readjust its pricing strategy after significant increases in the wake of the pandemic.
The lawsuit, originally filed by Florida dealership The Collection in 2022, alleged that Porsche North America resorted to “strong-arm” tactics and withheld vehicle customization after refusing to build a stand-alone Porsche showroom.
German parent Porsche group has tried several times to exempt itself from the case as a foreign entity, but a Miami judge recently rejected its request, paving the way for a trial next March, shortly after former McLaren boss Michael Leiters takes over as the new CEO.
Porsche and its two subsidiaries have denied allegations that their conduct violated Florida’s dealership franchise law and pushed The Collection’s sales into a “death spiral,” the dealership asserted in its filing with a Florida court.
But the lawsuit in one of the most important locations for luxury brands in America has put an uncomfortable spotlight on Porsche’s relationship with powerful American dealers. It comes as the German carmaker faces weak car sales in its core markets and a costly reversal of its ambitious electric vehicle policy.
“This lawsuit addresses the relationships between dealers, their distributors and manufacturers certainly across the state of Florida, but since most of America has similar regulations at issue, the lawsuit implicates the industry across the country,” said Shawn Burstyn, founder of Burstyn Law in Miami, who represents The Collection.
Three years ago, when the group sued Porsche subsidiaries for $300 million in damages, the luxury car landscape was vastly different.
Coming out of a coronavirus chip shortage, Porsche, like its rivals, has been able to aggressively raise its prices as its cars were often pre-sold before dealers took delivery of them due to pent-up demand for rare units.
In a trend some buyers have dubbed the “Ferrarification of Porsche,” the German automaker has tried to become an ultra-luxury brand like Ferrari by raising its prices.
“Porsche, coming out of Covid, has put very strong price pressure on prices and has continued to raise the prices of everything,” said Scott Sherwood, an independent analyst of luxury car brands. “If you’re looking to create loyalty and repeat customers, this is not the way to do it.”
Price increases also accelerated due to a lack of pricing discipline among dealers. Unlike Ferrari, whose dealers are incentivized to sell at the manufacturer’s suggested price, Porsche dealers have had greater freedom to sell some of their cars well above the automaker’s recommended price. This in turn means that there is a large variation in retail prices between agents.
The Collection said in its complaint that in May 2022, Porsche paid “significant attention” to dealers who charged fees well above MSRP for their vehicles.
In recent years, Porsche has sought to expand its influence over its sales network in the United States by encouraging dealers to set up exclusive showrooms for its brand, according to analysts.
The group, which also represents other brands such as Ferrari, McLaren and Aston Martin, has been asked to invest tens of millions of dollars to build facilities that sell only Porsche cars – a move aimed at enhancing the luxury experience for customers.
One of the major Porsche dealers in the United States for several decades, The Collection has accused the German automaker of withholding cars after refusing to build the facility, alleging that such tactics may have been used to “weed out” dealers so it could sell directly to consumers.
In its defense this month, Porsche denied the allegations and said the group had been suffering from declining sales for nearly a decade.
The dealership would not have suffered any loss in profits if it had “timely built a Porsche-compliant sales facility,” the company said, adding that “the group deliberately decided not to invest in a new Porsche-only facility despite a decline in sales of new Porsche-branded vehicles for nearly a decade.”
Porsche Cars North America declined to comment on the pending trial. As for its pricing strategy, it said all of its 204 franchised dealerships in the United States are independently owned and operated.
She added that Porsche came out on top in terms of sales satisfaction and customer loyalty in 2025 surveys conducted by JD Power, a consumer analytics company, in the United States.
Arthur Kipferler, of Alix Partners’ Beryls, said conflicts between manufacturers and traders in the US market were “inevitable”. The brands’ demands will likely face resistance from merchants who have an interest in protecting their bottom lines, he said.
The go-ahead for the trial comes as analysts increasingly criticize Porsche’s efforts to emulate Ferrari’s pricing policy. While the Italian automaker thrives on controlling vehicle volumes — totaling just 14,000 a year — to create scarcity and pricing power, Porsche, with annual sales of more than 310,000, hasn’t had the same kind of exclusivity.
The company is also under intense pressure to boost sales as it has invested heavily in developing new electric cars, while halting production of petrol or hybrid successors to its best-selling Macan and Cayman models – a decision that has now backfired and cost Porsche billions of euros to reverse.
With car sales in the first nine months of the year down 6% in North America, along with a 25% decline in China and a 16% decline in Germany, Porsche needs its American dealers more than ever.
Stefan Rendel, director of the German Automotive Industry Institute, said that local dealers in the United States are “indispensable” for Porsche to support its sales performance, “especially in a period of slow demand.”
As Leiters seeks to improve Porsche’s fortunes, analysts have warned that the incoming CEO cannot afford to be further involved in a high-profile lawsuit in Florida.
Litigation would add to the complications already created by Donald Trump’s high tariffs on foreign-made cars. The company raised the prices of new models in all regions, and indicated to investors additional price increases in the coming months.
“When Leiters takes over, if he’s smart, he’ll solve this problem quickly and move on,” Sherwood said.
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