Porsche reports that its recent third quarter financial results have been the weakest this year.
Porsche has recently posted its third quarter financial results, and the numbers aren’t exactly the prettiest for the company. The Stuggart stallion marque has experienced a year-to-date group sales revenue drop of 5.2% (from €30.13 billion to €28.56 billion) and a whopping 26.7% slash in its profits (from €5.5 billion to €4.04 billion), from a slide in sales of nearly 7% (from 242,722 units to 226,026 units) relative to the prior three quarters from last year.
| Porsche AG Group | Q1-Q3 2024 | Q1-Q3 2023 | Change |
| Sales revenue | € 28.56 billion | € 30.13 billion | -5.2% |
| Operating profit | € 4.04 billion | € 5.50 billion | -26.7% |
| Operating return on sales | 14.1% | 18.3% | |
| Deliveries | 226,026 | 242,722 | -6.9% |
Though in the face of these somewhat grim figures, Porsche is nevertheless confident that it will be hitting its forecasted figures for 2024. This faith comes from the automaker having only recently updated five of its six model lines in just a few months, and will be offering the youngest product portfolio in years.
The automaker currently boasts that its newly-revamped Cayenne launched at the end of 2023 has since recorded a sales increase of 21% in the first nine months of 2024, relative to the same period in 2023. Porsche further touts that deliveries of the new all-electric Macan have also just recently begun in earnest, following on from the updated Panamera, Taycan and 911 models.
Having said that however, Porsche was rather keen in reiterating that its forecast for the full year of 2024 comes along with the proviso of its ‘framework conditions do not worsen significantly’. This is particularly pertinent as the automaker tacitly admits to facing a slump in demand for its models in China, as well as a shift in market appetite for EV adoption.
While not explicitly quantifying its sales slump in China, the automaker’s repeated mention of in its recent financial report hints that even Porsche isn’t immune to the flagging appetite of the Chinese for western marques over their own. “In China, we are dealing with a structural shift in demand,” says Lutz Meschke, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board and Board Member for Finance and IT.
As for the issues faced by Porsche on EV adoption proceeding more slowly than originally assumed meanwhile, Meschke added: “We are reviewing our product line-up and ecosystem, as well as our budgets and cost position. All with the aim of increasing our flexibility and resilience even further.”
“Every race track has slower and faster sections. The same applies to a financial year. In the fourth quarter, we expect that we can accelerate and head into the final sprint to the line,” states Meschke. Porsche further reiterates its claims that it intends to consistently focus on aligning supply and demand in line with its ‘value over volume’ strategy.
