Once seen as an eldorado for the automotive sector, the electric-vehicle market is proving ultimately too competitive and not profitable enough. Porsche is being hit even harder by this environment than peers such as Mercedes or BMW.
It also goes without saying that those who once dared to compare Porsche with Ferrari - the former was listed seven years after the latter - have long since paid the price.
Indeed, the prancing-horse brand, which has only very timidly shifted into EVs, posted another year of growth in 2025, while also delivering operating and financial performance that is incomparably stronger than that of the Stuttgart based group.
Porsche earlier this year welcomed its new chief executive. A former McLaren and Ferrari executive, Michael Leiters has made no secret of his intention to cut deeply into excess. In more delicate terms, shareholders should expect a "more compact" Porsche.
In practice, the "strategic realignment" is very much a euphemism for scaling back on electric, with concrete consequences. The future K1, initially planned as all-electric, will ultimately be launched in combustion and hybrid versions; the same logic applies to the Panamera and the Cayenne, which will remain in production with conventional and hybrid powertrains well beyond 2030.
As a result, the share of electric vehicles is expected to rise only very modestly in the mix next year, likely by just 2% to 3%, ultimately reaching around a quarter of sales.
The slimming plan and the reset of ambitions come with a reduction in the investment program planned after its 2026 peak through to the 2035 horizon. MarketScreener notes that this commitment could prove difficult to sustain in an ultra-capital-intensive and competitive sector.
However, Porsche could not do without this announcement effect. US tariffs have cost the automaker nearly €700m in profit, even as it still generates one-third of its sales in the United States - by far its leading market. It is also continuing to lose ground in China, which still represents one-sixth of its consolidated revenue.
In the meantime, the austerity drive also applies to shareholders, who are seeing their dividend significantly trimmed. This morning, however, the news was not too badly received by the market. It is true that Porsche nonetheless keeps its accounts in the black - or let's say roughly balanced - and maintains a solid balance sheet.
Moreover, the automaker's tightly locked-in shareholder base - the founding family holds 76% of its capital, and the Qatari sovereign wealth fund 5% of it - provides a welcome guarantee of stability.
Porsche's stockmarket performance remains extremely disappointing nonetheless. Valued at over 5x its equity just weeks after its listing, the automaker is now valued at 1.5x that equity.
