Job Cuts at Porsche

[pwd72s]

https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/vw-supervisory-board-recommends-another-4100-job-cuts-porsche.

The latest impact: According to a report by Handelsblatt, citing an internal recommendation by Volkswagen’s Supervisory Board, the personnel scalpel is once again being applied to the “Sport Luxury” division, meaning Porsche. Another 4,100 jobs are to be eliminated at Porsche, after it had already become clear that a total of 9,000 positions would disappear over the coming years. Porsche currently still employs 41,800 people.

(Click above to read full article)

[onewhippedpuppy]

Good read. VAG became more focused on politics than product and this is the end result. At the end of the day you need to make desirable products that people want to buy, they forgot that basic element of sales. Virtue signaling doesn’t make money, nor does it sell cars.

This is unfortunately the case across all of the German automakers, BMW and Mercedes are similarly struggling.

[Zeke]

" Virtue signaling doesn’t make money, nor does it sell cars."

What did they do, talk up electric?

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Zeke

" Virtue signaling doesn’t make money, nor does it sell cars."

What did they do, talk up electric?

Invested trillions in EVs and didn’t continue investing in ICE and hybrid in parallel. What they kept as ICE they downsized engines. Basically they went all in on green and forgot that customers also get a vote.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Invested trillions in EVs and didn’t continue investing in ICE and hybrid in parallel. What they kept as ICE they downsized engines. Basically they went all in on green and forgot that customers also get a vote.

Spot on, just like EU forced car manufacturers to use biodegradable materials and now the interiors of a lot of old Benz’s look like something from a 80s drug smuggler movie.
White powdery like cocain turned into the plastic interior to be smuggled.

[PorscheGAL]

Porsche has a bloated workforce. When you divide the number of cars sold worldwide in 2025 by 410000 employees you get about 7 cars per employee. On a modern assembly line that is crazy.

[KNS]

^^
Excellent point.

VW/Porsche must have been aware of that but figured the profits were so good why change anything.

[onewhippedpuppy]

I believe German industry is heavily unionized? If so that makes it far harder to reduce headcount.

[KNS]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

I believe German industry is heavily unionized? If so that makes it far harder to reduce headcount.

I think you might be right. From what I’ve been reading the German car industry never imagined they would be in a situation such as this. They scoffed at the thought of the Chinese being a competitor.

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by KNS

I think you might be right. From what I’ve been reading the German car industry never imagined they would be in a situation such as this. They scoffed at the thought of the Chinese being a competitor.

Then the EU geniuses let 'em into their home market with their price dumping and cheap ugly tech. Why did Europe allow them in? Especially with the Chinese market beating 'em badly. Better to leave 'em out. Not until they practice fair trade-manufacture on European soil forcing parity.

Also, Chinese kids like lights, buzzers and internet access. Germans don't do that. So in China since German car isn't like a CHEAP smartphone they are failing.

rjp

[wildthing]

And now the latest is they want to focus on higher end models: https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2026/company/porsche-capital-markets-day-strategy-sportwagenschmiede-35-43419.html

I always thought Porsche should actually try to capture the younger crowd to sell volume as opposed to high value cars.

[DWBOX2000]

No longer an aspirational car for most. I read the average salary of a new 911 is 800 plus. I’ve lost interest.

[dlockhart]

Originally Posted by wildthing

I always thought Porsche should actually try to capture the younger crowd to sell volume as opposed to high value cars.

A new 914 944 or Boxster type niche Not cheap but do-able if things are going well.

.

[herr_oberst]

Years ago, on a grey, soggy day, there was a grey car directly in front of me. I paid absolutely no attention to it, it was just another jellybean-shape to my lizard brain. After quite a few minutes it dawned on me that I was looking at the ass end of a first gen 997 Carrera S.

A watershed moment for me, my infatuation with Porsche was dying. It really hasn't returned.

[KNS]

Originally Posted by wildthing

And now the latest is they want to focus on higher end models: https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2026/company/porsche-capital-markets-day-strategy-sportwagenschmiede-35-43419.html

Reading that and knowing how Porsche wants to sell cars cars going forward is, frankly, a turn-off. There's been talk that they want to emulate Ferrari. Well, now it's confirmed.

[pwd72s]

Sigh...just glad I was around during the fun times.

[Randolph]

Porsche (upper K leg), VW (lower K leg) and many others are canaries in coal mines as K shaped economies around the world will continue to grow in scope and therefore class division. That is if the AI investment bubble doesn't burst, then it gets very interesting. Either way, the next 5 years for anyone in the U.S. making under 6 figures, and proportionately around the Western World, isn't going to be what it used to be. The masses have less money and buying power but there are only so many millionaires and billionaires to sell to.

Porsche’s New Look: Pricier Cars and 25% Fewer Employees

The German sports car maker once thrived in China and powered profits for its parent company, Volkswagen. Now it hopes to do more with less.

By James Paton

Reporting from Stuttgart, Germany
Oct. 7, 2026

For years, Porsche’s profits generated glowing headlines and powered its parent company, Volkswagen. But weakening demand in China, President Trump’s tariffs and a costly reversal of its electric vehicle strategy have ended the company’s hot streak.

Porsche is now trying to reinvent itself as a smaller company with a sharper focus on higher-priced sports cars. The company, famous for the iconic 911, said on Wednesday that it would slash a quarter of its work force and rein in ambitions in China after its profit margin plummeted to 1.1 percent last year from 18 percent two years earlier.

“Without those profits, it’s causing huge headaches in Wolfsburg,” the German city that’s home to Volkswagen, said Matthias Schmidt, a European auto industry analyst.

In fact, reviving Porsche, once regarded as the world’s most profitable automaker, is one of the keys to turning around Volkswagen, which owns 75 percent of the company. Porsche, led by Michael Leiters, a former chief at the supercar maker McLaren and an executive at Ferrari, is betting on “value over volume.”

Porsche’s problems are in many ways the problems of the German auto industry as it struggles to respond to mounting Chinese competition. After a successful decades-long run in China, Porsche and its parent fell behind homegrown rivals amid the transition to electric cars. Porsche once relied on China for more than a third of its sales volume. By 2030, China is expected to account for one in 10 deliveries.

“Competition has intensified, markets have become more volatile and in some regions — especially in China — conditions have changed fundamentally compared with just a few years ago,” Mr. Leiters told reporters at the company’s development hub near Stuttgart. “I don’t expect this environment to become significantly easier over the next few years.”

By about 2030, Porsche plans to slash 25 percent of its work force, or 9,000 jobs. But the cuts, some of which have already been announced, could reach as much as 30 percent. The company also aims to reduce development costs by as much as a fifth, while raising the average price of its top-end models by about 20 percent to 330,000 euros, or about $370,000.

Unlike its German rival BMW, Porsche can “afford to shrink while leveraging Volkswagen economies of scale,” Stuart Pearson, an analyst at Oxcap Analytics, wrote in a report.

However, similar efforts at companies such as Mercedes-Benz have exposed problems with the strategy, underscoring the risks for Porsche, said Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, a German auto analyst and former industry executive. Lower sales could diminish Porsche’s ability to compete with rapidly innovating Chinese carmakers.

“That is part of the future, and part of the future which could be difficult for Porsche if they earn less money that they need for development,” he said.

Just four years ago, Porsche was riding high, valued at about €77 billion after being spun off by Volkswagen. Now Porsche is exacerbating its parent’s problems, accounting for a €6 billion write-down announced by Volkswagen last month. Volkswagen cut its profit forecast and said it expected an operating margin of no more than 1 percent.

Mr. Trump’s tariffs have hammered Porsche, which doesn’t produce cars in the United States, imposing a cost of about €700 million last year.

But at the top of Porsche’s list of worries is China, where fierce competition in the industry and a crunch in consumer spending have dented demand for high-end cars. The company’s deliveries in China fell by almost a third in the first half of the year.

In China, “market dynamics have changed significantly,” Mr. Leiters said. “We do not believe it would be realistic or beneficial for the brand to pursue a return to those levels at any cost. Instead our objective is to take a conservative side on the market and build a more resilient business in China.”

Mr. Leiters plans to undergird his turnaround plan on Porsche’s brand, which he called one the world’s most valuable alongside companies such as Ferrari and Louis Vuitton. The company also said it planned to develop a supercar platform that would “sit above” the 911 and was betting on a new version of the Macan sport utility vehicle with a combustion engine, expected in 2028.

Porsche is putting an increasing emphasis on trying to market its cars as exclusive, said Mr. Schmidt, the auto analyst. “It’s kind of like haute couture, taking what the fashion industry does and adapting it to the passenger car market,” he said.

The company, which once aimed to get 80 percent of its sales from electric vehicles by 2030, has scaled back its E.V. ambitions amid slower-than-expected demand. Last year, Porsche said it was halting development of several new E.V.s and would spend heavily to add more gasoline-powered models.

Mr. Leiters is targeting an operating profit margin of 10 percent to 15 percent by about 2030 and 15 percent over a longer term. He asked for patience.

“We have to be honest — none of this will happen overnight,” he said. “What I have described today is our medium-term ambition, and achieving it will require a great deal of hard work.”

[onewhippedpuppy]

Porsche has been working their way up market for a few years now. Look at all the special edition and GT cars that were invite only, or required you to purchase additional vehicles to “qualify” for a purchase spot. It’s all straight out of the Ferrari playbook, and frankly turns my stomach. I always enjoyed the Porsche community as a bunch of fellow car guys, many of which turned their own wrenches and enjoyed customizing and modifying their cars. I think that demographic is slowly being weeded out of the community by continuously rising costs, being replaced by the see and be seen class that would rather put their classic 911 on display behind glass than take it on a road trip. As Paul said, I’m glad to have enjoyed the fun times….

One other note for all the German automakers, you’ll never win in China. The model is well defined, China will seduce you with a huge domestic market and low labor costs, entice you to invest billions to build product in country, steal your IP, build a competing product at a dramatically lower price, push you out of China, then take over the plants that were built at private expense. I saw it happen in aerospace over 20 years ago, you’d think these idiots would learn.

[David]

I think Porsche is in for a rude awakening if they think they can go up market like Ferrari just because they want to. They have far too many dealerships to sell less, more expensive cars for one. They also have a large customer base because they are the (somewhat) affordable sports car that young professionals and newly retired middle managers can aspire too. I just don't there are enough millionaires out there willing to spend $200K plus on a car for their new model to work. Sort of like they thought electric car sales would take off just because they built them.

[The Synergizer]

Just another in a long list of companies that made major management mistakes by trying to build things for those that screamed the loudest but bought the least...