Porsche used to be the profit engine of the Volkswagen Group. On October 7, at a capital markets day at its Weissach development center, CEO Michael Leiters laid out how far it has fallen: a profit margin that collapsed from 14.1% to 1.1%, and layoff plans totaling roughly 13,000 people — about a quarter of the workforce.
The numbers are brutal. In fiscal 2025, Porsche's revenue fell 9.5% to €36.27 billion while operating profit plunged 92.7%, from €5.64 billion to €413 million. Return on sales dropped from 14.1% to 1.1% — a far cry from the Ferrari-style double-digit margins targeted at its blockbuster listing four years ago. The first half of 2026 brought no real relief: global deliveries of about 122,300 units, down 16.5%.
The cuts came in three waves: more than 4,000 positions in March, another 5,000 in July (mostly in Germany), and a further 4,100 disclosed in a Volkswagen supervisory board document in September. Combined, roughly 13,000 jobs — about a quarter of the workforce — are to go by 2035. Porsche says there will be no forced dismissals: the reductions rely on natural turnover, expanded partial retirement, and voluntary severance. Management positions face a 40% cut; Christmas bonuses drop from 100% to 60% of a monthly salary; work-from-home days shrink from 12 to 8 per month; and 3.5% of agreed pay increases are deferred until 2035.
Leiters is pursuing a "value over volume" strategy. Porsche is lowering its future break-even point to fewer than 200,000 units a year — against 279,449 deliveries last year, an admission that volumes won't come back. The product plan pivots back to combustion engines after costly EV missteps, doubling down on high-end sports cars like the 911 and luxury SUVs. The centerpiece is an eight-cylinder flagship supercar, internally dubbed S1, expected to cost around €500,000. The medium-term margin target is 10% to 15%. Investors seemed to approve: shares rose 3.2% after the announcement.
The damage is concentrated in Porsche's two most important markets. First-half deliveries in China were about 14,500 units, down 31.9%, as local premium EV makers pulled ahead on software, performance, and price — forcing Porsche to shrink its Chinese dealer network. In the United States, tariffs have choked off the ability to compensate with stronger volumes elsewhere. Since its 2022 listing, global deliveries have fallen nearly 10%.
Parent Volkswagen has now written down the value of its Porsche stake by €6 billion — after a €18.8 billion goodwill valuation in 2022 and two major impairments since, an accounting admission that the original assumptions no longer hold. The irony inside the group is hard to miss: Skoda, long the value brand, has become one of its steadiest profit contributors. The former cash machine is now officially a restructuring case.