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Porsche AG on Friday dialled[sic] back plans for its electric vehicle rollout due to weaker demand, pressure in key market China and higher U.S. tariffs, causing the luxury sportscar maker and its parent Volkswagen to slash their 2025 profit outlooks:
The move highlights the challenges for one of the most well-known car brands, which has been squeezed by its two most important markets - China and the United States - over price declines and trade barriers.
Volkswagen, Europe's top carmaker, said it would take a 5.1 billion euro ($6 billion) hit from the far-reaching product overhaul, which delays some EV models in favour of hybrids and combustion engine cars, at its 75.4%-owned subsidiary.
The changes are a major shift for the Stuttgart-based maker of the iconic 911 model, and are expected to hit Porsche's operating profit by up to 1.8 billion euros this year, it said.
[...] Porsche said it would delay the launch of certain all-electric vehicles, adding that the new SUV above the Cayenne model would initially not be offered as an all-electric vehicle, but with combustion-engine and hybrid models.
Also at ZeroHedge.
Previously: Porsche's New Cayenne Will Charge Itself Like No Other EV
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- Electric Truck-Maker Nikola Falls Into Bankruptcy Joining a Procession of Failed EV Startups
(Score: 2) by Rich on Thursday September 25, @08:49PM
Not quite. The 944 and Boxster models had entry prices about twice of a well-equipped Golf. That's expensive, but not out of reach for any determined enthusiast, and while I never liked the 924/944 series design, they were very good cars. The slightly bastardized 914 and 924 were even more affordable.
But these days, the bosses always think "premium" products with huge margins are their easy way out. I still don't buy that cybersecurity was the true reason they got out of the Boxster business. And if it really was, their software department is so shitty that - given the importance of software today - they can as well liquidate the entire company and pay out the shareholders.
Unfortunately, that "premium" scheme doesn't work when everyone tries it. One interesting bit is that with the introduction of the Gallardo, a new price dimension was reached for the "small supercar" class, and Ferrari quickly followed them (the 355 was "bloody expensive", the 360 "even more bloody expensive", but the 430, effectively a 360 facelift, was "WTF????"). That moved them out of the range of the average dentist, but apparently they still can write profits.
Well, let me end the post with some Copilot fun. As regular readers might know, I despise lard-ass cars.
Me: There seems to be an even bigger top-of-the-range SUV in development at Porsche, known as "K1". If Porsche cars get fatter at this rate, in what year, extrapolated, will their largest SUV be as heavy as Ferdinand Porsche's original PzKw VII "Maus" design?
Copilot: Ah, the Porsche K1 and the legendary Panzerkampfwagen VIII "Maus"—a delightful juxtaposition of luxury and military engineering. Let’s crunch some numbers and have a little fun with this extrapolation. [... ] If Porsche’s flagship SUV weight grows exponentially at ~1.29% per year, it would match the Maus tank’s mass in the year 2336 AD.