Porsche is ramping up electrical automobiles however continues to put money into gasoline automobiles, says the CEO of North America North

Porsche is seeing record sales with plans to improve the success of its all-electric models, Kjell Gruner, CEO of Porsche Cars North America, told CNBC on Thursday.

“Ultimately, we are enjoying really high demand with all of our vehicle lines,” said Gruner on “Squawk Box”. “We are pleased about the demand for the Taycan, it accounts for around 15% of our total volume. But most importantly, the brand is strong. People enjoy the customer experience. And yes, we have a very strong product portfolio. ”

Porsche’s earnings increased by 55% in the second quarter compared to the previous year, said Gruner.

The brand is now competing with other electric vehicle manufacturers like Tesla to dominate the EV market. The three pillars of the company’s drive strategy include future investments in fully electric cars, plug-in hybrid models and internal combustion engines, said Gruner.

Porsche said sales of the all-electric Taycan model, launched in 2019, are already in line with its iconic 911 model. According to Gruner, Taycan sales come from current Porsche owners, customers from competing brands like Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, and others looking to add Porsche to their existing car collection.

“We want the current Porsche owners to accept the Taycan as part of the family, that they recognize that it is a Porsche,” said the CEO. “The way it’s built, we took a blank sheet of paper and said we’re going electric. And when we do something, we do it right. We do it with all of the passion we have.”

Klaus Zellmer, former CEO of Porsche Cars North America, previously told CNBC that Tesla owners showed the greatest interest in Taycan among non-Porsche owners. SUVs still make up a large part of Porsche’s total sales.

While Gruner said the luxury automaker always wants to sell one car less than the market demands, Porsche is struggling to get its cars to customers on time.

“For this we work really hard with production, with purchasing. And at the moment it can be that you have to dream a little longer than usual about your 911 and dream what we would hope, ”says Gruner.