The gorgeous and powerful Porsche Taycan continued its sales hot streak in the third quarter of this year. We knew it was going to outsell the 718 siblings and the Panamera sedan, but we thought the 911 might make a comeback this quarter. It did not, as Porsche moved 1,861 of the 402- to 750-hp EV sedans in July, August and September.

Compare that to the Panamera, which moved 1,090 vehicles and the 911, of which 1,621 found new homes in the US. It only beat the 911 by a couple hundred this quarter. But overall its up about 500 for the year to date. Obviously, the Macan and Cayenne SUVs destroyed those low-roofs, selling 5,090 and 4,874 units, respectively.

Porsche notes that the 1.7% overall decline is due to the supply chain issues, mainly the chip shortage, but that in the first three quarters of 2021 its way up over 2020 and even above the same period in 2019.

"Demand is as strong as we've ever seen. It's not one initiative, but many working in parallel - a great, global team effort," said Kjell Gruner, President and CEO of PCNA. "We just saw this emotional connection confirmed by the latest J.D. Power APEAL Study of customer experience with a new car, which ranked Porsche as the number one premium brand for the third year in a row."

We had a little hope the 911 would rebound in the third quarter, spurred on by summer months and convertible-friendly temperatures. But this isn't unexpected, and its nothing to fret about either. Like the Cayenne and Macan pay for our lovely 718 and 911, the Taycan is just another hose pouring water (money) into the research and development bucket. We wouldn't have crazy prototypes like the Mission R, which is a test bed for the electric Cayman, or the forthcoming Macan EV, which will probably outsell everything the company makes for years to come.