Porsche sales hit - production stops - VW stake increase postponed

Revenue expected to fall by 15%
by Michael Gauthier
November 26, 2008 6:04 PM
Filed Under: Corporate/Financial, German, Industry, Porsche, Volkswagen

The financial crisis is hitting the bottom line at virtually all car companies, in order to make ends meet many are starting to take measures to reduce costs in the short term. Even Porsche is predicting that their revenue in the four months through November will fall 15 percent from a year ago, forcing them to re-evaluate their current strategy.

By company estimates this will result in a nearly €300 million year-to-year drop in revenue in just four months thanks to an estimated 5,500 fewer Porches being sold. The sales slump has also spread to Porsche's biggest market, the United States.

In order to deal with the lack of demand Porsche will cut production through the end of January. It also appears that Porsche's planned takeover of Volkswagen will be delayed, as Porsche doesn't appear ready to pass the 50 percent ownership mark of VW. The company's CEO Wendelin Wiedeking said of the Volkswagen takeover "In view of the current economic environment, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that we will reach this target in this calendar year."

 

 

Source: detnews.com
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Comments

thank goodness. i didnt like the fact of porsche owning VW

by great_supercars255 | November 26, 2008 6:10 PM
Perhaps Porsche is also waiting to see how badly VW is affected by current downturns. It may not want it if it suffers too badly.

by bristol411s3 | November 26, 2008 6:26 PM
I think they just see an opportunity to get VW ownership for a cheaper overall price.

by ceven | November 26, 2008 6:39 PM
Porsche ownership of VW can only make things better at VW/Audi. Perhaps in quality...which isn't that great, btw, despite what the automotive media tells you.

by mustang5507 | November 26, 2008 9:02 PM
I would wait to see some more figures as how this is affecting VW as well. If the numbers are bad then they can lower the price for the increase in stake. Porsche must be hoping for VW stock prices to fall.

by schizo0223 | November 27, 2008 3:50 AM
I can see Porsche sales numbers dropping faster then vw sales. It's a recession, people are spending less.

by joe_limon | November 27, 2008 4:26 AM
correction: poorer people are earning less and therefore spending less... while the rich (in the right position) get richer... in turn premium brand sales could well stay at a very respectable level, while brands that rely more heavily on 'everyday people' sales could be more significantly hit.

by effington | November 27, 2008 8:02 AM
Well put effington except that company execs outlandish bonuses are now a thing of the past and besides that most of the rich people had invested in equities which we all know have suffered the most this years last quater.

The car markets are however different as you may find that the normal Porsche buyers who can't afford prime cars like the top end Ferrari, top end Lamorghini and Bugattis do still have lots of fianancial muscle whilst the normal company exec who relied heavily on bonuses to buy a Porsche will no longer be able to afford such a luxury. There next target would obviously be a car like the R8, M6, E63 AMG etc which cost a bit less than the Porsche (of course not the Cayman).

by Wisp | November 27, 2008 12:44 PM

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