[opinion] - hmmm…VW/Audi/Porsche _IS_ in trouble… [⚠️ ADMIN WARNING: NO INSULTING / POLITICALLY CHARGED POSTING]

[Tooney]

1st half 2026: Porsche AG achieves further milestones and stabilises profitability - Porsche newsroom

https://investorrelations.porsche.c...presentation/2026/q2/H1-2026-Presentation.pdf

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[chun]

Sales revenue down, deliveries down. So evrything important is still going down.

34% more profit from costs cutting. Which is suspciously high, seeing as how most cost reduction measures have not actually entered in effect yet. So safe to assume they added the money from Bugatti Rimac 45% stake sale to this.

I think most investors will see past these tricks

 

[JackSparrow]

I think Porsche was faced with a significant change in the market landscape, Tariffs in the US market, growing competition from China in multiple markets, inflation, and a failure to correctly anticipate market changes.
They seemed to do a nimble but costly adjustment reasonably successfully as they are still profitable.
I’m not sure any person on this forum could have precisely anticipated what unfolded. Of course BMW sort of did, their mix of EV to ICE to PHEV left them with options to change their mix as market conditions changed.

 

[questionmillennium]

People don’t care about the quality of the car as much as they do the actual cost of buying the car. Porsche (at least to my knowledge) cares about the driver experience which includes quality of the materials used. That alone is going to put them behind the 8 ball compared to some US and Chinese manufacturers. I don’t know how you increase the number of customers when people are having difficulty affording things other than decreasing the price or your vehicles. That would mean more plastic, less moving parts, and cheaper materials overall. That’s not the Porsche way

 

[chun]

People don’t care about the quality of the car as much as they do the actual cost of buying the car. Porsche (at least to my knowledge) cares about the driver experience which includes quality of the materials used. That alone is going to put them behind the 8 ball compared to some US and Chinese manufacturers. I don’t know how you increase the number of customers when people are having difficulty affording things other than decreasing the price or your vehicles. That would mean more plastic, less moving parts, and cheaper materials overall. That’s not the Porsche way

Xpeng p7+; made in Austria by Austrian technicians, with full “olea” leather interior, with far better software and infotainment, charging at 450kw; costs 45k.
It’s on air suspension and drives perfectly fine on public roads.

Last time I checked German technicians didn’t make 5x as much as Austrians.

Chassis tuning is not 200k in manufacturing cost extra.

 

[questionmillennium]

Xpeng p7+; made in Austria by Austrian technicians, with full “olea” leather interior, with far better software and infotainment, charging at 450kw; costs 45k.
It’s on air suspension and drives perfectly fine on public roads.

Last time I checked German technicians didn’t make 5x as much as Austrians.

Chassis tuning is not 200k in manufacturing cost extra.

I’m sure the interiors and software are amazing, but I’m talking about the parts that keep the car together. Car manufacturers have been cutting cost for decades and they’re trying to make sure the parts are not expensive to make.

 

[Tooney]

Thousands Protest As Volkswagen Weighs Closing Historic Audi Factory

 

[Tooney]

VW Employs 60% More People Than Toyota To Build Fewer Cars
Germany's biggest automaker is now trimming its workforce by as many as 140,000 to cut costs.

• Toyota sells more vehicles despite employing almost 240,000 fewer workers than VW Group.
• VW employs 629,000 and made 4.13 million cars in 2025; Toyota’s 391,000 made 5.39 million.
• BMW is also reducing its headcount as it deals with US tariffs and a slower Chinese market.

To be fair, the comparison, highlighted in a report by Germany’s DW, isn’t completely black and white. Volkswagen still does far more work in-house than many rivals, from manufacturing components to engineering and development. That helped make it one of the world’s industrial giants, but it also saddled the company with a cost base that’s become increasingly difficult to defend.

BMW to Volkswagen: How deep is Germany's auto industry cull?

 

[SoccerMan94043]

 

[Tooney]

From article posted by @gnr3312 in other thread: "Porsche cannot survive in its current form alone" (Article is behind paywall. After reading it once, I had to clear cookies to re-read it.)

Myth aside: In everyday life, things don't look good for Porsche. The yield stabilized somewhat in the first quarter, but revenue and sales continued to decline. How much time do you have to get the fallen icon back on track?
The realignment is taking place in three phases. In the next two years, the aim is to reduce costs and make the company more financially robust. The second phase begins with new products. The planned new combustion engine counterpart to our electric compact SUV Macan plays an important role. However, it will take time for the car to make a noticeable contribution to sales and profitability. This is more likely to be the case in 2028 or 2029. This will be followed by further product innovations that are intended to improve the result. Overall, our strategy is designed for ten years. That's why we call it "Sports Car Forge 2035".
. . .
In order to get healthy again, Porsche has to shrink sharply. But that alone is not a plan for the future. How do you want to bring the brand back to its former glory?
Our "Sports Car Forge 2035" strategy has two elements. First: sports cars. We want to offer the sportiest vehicles in every segment. Porsche sells cars through emotions, less through rationality. That's why we need to emphasize the brand experience and the sports car character even more strongly – also in our four-door models and SUVs. Second: blacksmiths. This stands for craftsmanship, but also for down-to-earthness. We want to think like a good medium-sized company again: take a close look at what we spend money on and question every euro.

 

[Tooney]

Volkswagen controlling families call for faster overhaul to fend off Chinese rivals

• Volkswagen’s top investor on Friday called on the auto giant to take immediate action to fend off intensifying competition from Chinese car brands.
• “The decisions that Volkswagen makes now will determine its future,” said Hans Dieter Pötsch, chairman of the board of management of Porsche SE.
• Volkswagen has confirmed that it is looking to cut up to 100,000 jobs as it seeks to counter a profit slump.

 

[chun]

• Volkswagen has confirmed that it is looking to cut up to 100,000 jobs as it seeks to counter a profit slump.

Building competitive cars seems to still be off the table.

BYD does it just fine in Hungary. Xpeng does it just fine in Austria. Geely is doing just fine when Ford takes a lunch break in Spain. Leap motors does it just fine at Setlantis factory in Spain. None of these are chinese mega factories that funciton with the lights off. They still emply tens of thousdands of people.

All of these "Chinese" EVs are built in similar factories to VW, in Europe, by european people with european salaries; and they still manage to have leather interior, better tech, better batteries and be cheaper.

Cruious what happens after they fire these 100k people. What will they blame next?

 

[Tooney]

Porsche to form EU CO₂ pool with Xpeng
Porsche has apparently left Volkswagen Group’s EU CO₂ emissions pool and will instead pool its new-car registrations with Chinese EV manufacturer Xpeng in 2026 and 2027. The arrangement could generate regulatory credits for Xpeng as its European sales grow.
. . .
The pooling arrangement could provide Xpeng with additional revenue from the pooling agreement, while Porsche will have to meet the EU requirements separately from the other Volkswagen Group brands. The financial impact on Porsche in 2026 and 2027 will depend partly on the development of its electric vehicle sales.
. . .
Porsche’s battery-electric vehicle volumes in Western Europe have fallen by almost 30 per cent year on year in 2026, according to Schmidt Automotive Research. BEVs currently account for around 30 per cent of its regional registrations, compared with almost 40 per cent during the same period last year. At the same time, Porsche is shifting its product strategy towards a higher proportion of combustion-engine vehicles. This includes plans for a new combustion-engined model in the Macan segment.

Volkswagen Group recorded average fleet emissions of 100 g/km in the EU27 plus Norway and Iceland in 2025, above its manufacturer-specific target of 93.6 g/km. According to earlier analyses, the VW Group would therefore have had to pay up to 2.2 billion euros in fines had the EU not ‘relaxed’ the CO₂ fleet targets at the eleventh hour. However, this also means that Volkswagen will have to compensate for any 2025 shortfall through its performance in 2026 and 2027 under the three-year compliance mechanism. As a general rule, carmakers do not have to limit CO₂ pooling to brands within their own group. They can form pools with external manufacturers and negotiate the terms directly. Under EU rules, open pooling arrangements must be transparent and economically reasonable.

Removing Porsche’s comparatively high-emission fleet from the Volkswagen pool would lower the emissions burden on the remaining pool members. The group must ultimately achieve the required three-year average to avoid non-compliance penalties or further pooling costs at the end of 2027.

 

[Tooney]

Porsche plans takeover of car tuner RUF

Porsche CEO Michael Leiters wants to transform the car manufacturer into a "sports car manufacturer". The car tuner RUF from the Allgäu is now to help with this.

The sports car manufacturer Porsche is planning the takeover of the tuning company RUF Automobile, according to information from WirtschaftsWoche. According to insiders, talks with the owner Alois Ruf are well advanced. Porsche did not want to comment on this.

The acquisition of the 80-employee company would not be a big deal by Porsche standards, but it is of strategic importance. Ruf is approved as a car manufacturer and refines combustion engine models from Porsche. Porsche CEO Leiters wants to expand the range of high-priced combustion engines individually equipped according to customer requirements, because the business with electric models is going badly. According to Leiters, Porsche is to become a "sports car manufacturer". RUF could take over the production of such vehicles.

According to insiders, Porsche originally did not plan with RUF, but one size bigger: They wanted to take over the world-famous Californian Porsche tuner Singer, but were rebuffed by the owners, according to insiders. Then Leiters turned to RUF, where Alois Ruf, an owner willing to sell, is at the helm. The completion of the takeover should not be far away, according to insiders.

Porsche owner Wolfgang Porsche is said to have a good relationship with Alois Ruf. According to WirtschaftsWoche information, he has been flirting with buying RUF for decades. Wendelin Wiedeking, Porsche CEO until 2009, is said to have negotiated a takeover with RUF during his time.

Related article from same publisher, which I cannot access: How an 80-man tuner from the Allgäu is supposed to save Porsche's future
Porsche had great ambitions for the electric age. The new CEO is burying the Taycan and is once again focusing on a niche business. Is this an opportunity – or a decline?

Edited to add:
Update: RUF Shuts Down Report That Porsche Is Buying It
The family firm behind the CTR Yellowbird has denied a report that put it in advanced acquisition talks with Porsche

 

[Tooney]

Porsche plans takeover of car tuner RUF

Related article from same publisher, which I cannot access: How an 80-man tuner from the Allgäu is supposed to save Porsche's future
Porsche had great ambitions for the electric age. The new CEO is burying the Taycan and is once again focusing on a niche business. Is this an opportunity – or a decline?

If rumors in the article actually come to pass, @daveo4EV is Porsche prescient, once again....

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