Porsche, a German carmaker, announced the launching of their first non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on Monday. However, the project resale price has been stalling, and its performance in secondary marketplaces is very poor.
The luxury car company launched a 7,500-edition collection to appreciate the iconic Porsche 911 sports car. After launching the 7,500-edition collection, Porsche allowed minting for allowlist holders at 9 a.m. EST on Monday. The mint was opened to the general public after the allowlist holders' mint ended. Those interested in minting the new NFT collection were allowed to mint only about 3 Porsche 911 NFTs at 0.911 ETH each, approximately at the price of $1,490.
But after a few hours of launching the NFTs, Porsche realized their NFT sales were stalling badly. On Monday evening, only about 16% (1198 Porsche NFTs) were sold through their official website. The numbers at other secondary NFT marketplaces were also worse than expected. Many had expected Porsche NFTs to sell out immediately after its release, judging from its customers' size and spending capacity.
In December at Miami Art Week, Porsche announced their decision to mint the Porsche NFTs. In a blog post, they made their intentions known to the public, saying, "This project is an additional element of our digitalization strategy. We’ve made our commitment for the long haul, and our Web3 team has the autonomy to develop innovations in this dimension. Innovation management at Porsche also sees potential in the purchasing experience, the metaverse, and the supply chain. Vehicle and sustainability issues are also being considered."
They also reiterated that this move was solely based on their intentions to move their brand reach to the digital world. They wanted to take a share of the market existing in the digital world by venturing into the NFT and Web3 space." The NFT artworks enable us to take our understanding of modern luxury and the unique brand positioning of Porsche into the digital world," Detlev von Platen, a Member of the Executive Board for Sales and Marketing, said.
Those pioneers of these NFT ventures will get specific rewards from the carmaker. Porsche mentioned that those who are the first to get their newly launched NFTs would get direct access to their company and receive preferential treatment. "Owners of the Porsche NFTs gain exclusive access to experiences in the virtual and real world. Digital pioneers can, for one, participate directly in Porsche’s journey into the world of Web3 and enter into a dialogue with the brand," Porsche added.
User Opinions About Porsche NFTs
Users on social networks, especially Twitter, have shared what they think about the poor sales Porsche is recording on their newly launched NFTs. Many opined that Porsche entered the Web3 and NFT space the wrong way.
They said that Porsche should have hired the services of NFT and Web3 natives before launching the NFT collection. "The Porsche mint is a perfect example of why even the most established brands need to partner with Web3 natives to enter the space in a real way," a Twitter user named (@realfrankwilder) said.
Another said Porsche made the mistake of setting the price high for their NFT. The Twitter user said Porsche should have reduced the price or made it free on their first outing before setting a huge price tag. "My number one piece of advice for major brands entering the space is make your first effort as close to free as possible. Find your community and prove yourself to them before you ask for millions of dollars," Dave said on Twitter.