Porsche is realigning itself: "Leaner, faster and even more desirable"

[chassis]

Poor results…

11/03/2026
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG is shifting into the next gear in the realignment of the company and its product portfolio, which began in 2025.


Summary

Porsche AG is accelerating the further development of its product strategy, streamlining its management structure and reducing costs in all areas.
CEO Dr Michael Leiters:

"We are using the current challenges as an opportunity to act even more decisively."

"We will comprehensively reposition Porsche, make the company leaner, faster and the products even more desirable."

"We are considering the expansion of our product portfolio in order to grow in higher-margin segments."

Group sales revenue in 2025 was 36.27 billion euros, operating profit was 413 million euros, and the Group operating return on sales was 1.1 per cent.
Strong financial basis: high net liquidity and a healthy balance sheet give Porsche flexibility and resilience for the tasks ahead.
CFO Dr Jochen Breckner: "The global challenges and the company's realignment impacted earnings in 2025. In 2026, our recalibration measures will continue to have one-off effects on earnings in the high three-digit million euros range. In order to secure adequate margins by Porsche standards in the medium term and strengthen our resilience in the long term, we accept these burdens."

https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2026...ort-41708.html

[Car-Addicted]

Originally Posted by chassis

Poor results…
11/03/2026
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG is shifting into the next gear in the realignment of the company and its product portfolio, which began in 2025.

Translation: These Damn EV's are killing us and the the green jack holes in the EU can take their windmills and stuff them where the sun doesn't shine.

[Phillies8008]

1) "We will comprehensively reposition Porsche, make the company leaner, faster and the products even more desirable."

Um, reposition to what, exactly?

2) "We are considering the expansion of our product portfolio in order to grow in higher-margin segments."

Good luck, Porsche customers. You thought prices were high now?

Oh, and "higher-margin segments" means more SUVs. Yay.

Honestly this feels a little bit like grasping at straws. But I hope it works out for them – I am not hostile towards Porsche and think they're obviously great cars. But on the whole this is just a press release loaded with business speak that ultimately means nothing.

[kudos]

The way I read it was buisness speak for higher prices and lower quality.

[W2k]

Armchair take incoming: They're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

They still have an incredibly valuable brand and they know it. However, that brand is closely tied to sports cars, not bulky SUVs, which are not and will never be sports cars no matter what logo you slap on the front. Unfortunately, bulky SUVs for well-off soccer moms is where the money's at. That's probably what they mean by "higher-margin segments", sadly.

But the market for sports cars is divided. Porsche buyers lean old-school and are some of the last people on earth (present company excluded, ofc) that will continue to demand a manual transmission. But EVs have taken the performance crown and that's where it's staying. Building slow cars that only appeal to nostalgia isn't a winning long-term strategy.

And I'm sorry, but literally every car with a combustion engine that isn't a purebred racer or an unattainable hypercar is a slow car at this point in time, relatively speaking.

Plus, the politicians in the EU - where Porsche is based - are pushing EVs hard. They could care less about people's nostalgia for naturally aspirated flat sixes. Political meddling is not something I'm personally in favor of I might add, I would like the free market to decide.

Regardless - Porsche is in the unenviable position of being forced to make a transition that their customers aren't ready for. And are looking at short-term solutions to stop bleeding cash. I wish them luck.

[XutvJet]

Bring back a 944 replacement to compete with the BMW M240/M2. Seems so obvious.

[tracksidemanner]

Originally Posted by Phillies8008

1) "We will comprehensively reposition Porsche, make the company leaner, faster and the products even more desirable."

Um, reposition to what, exactly?

2) "We are considering the expansion of our product portfolio in order to grow in higher-margin segments."

Good luck, Porsche customers. You thought prices were high now?

Oh, and "higher-margin segments" means more SUVs. Yay.

Honestly this feels a little bit like grasping at straws. But I hope it works out for them – I am not hostile towards Porsche and think they're obviously great cars. But on the whole this is just a press release loaded with business speak that ultimately means nothing.

This has been in the work for years. Porsche K1 - 4/5/7 passenger configurations of a bigger SUV which should be 200-300K. Will be based on the eventual Audi Q9.
Porsche's solution will be more sharing with Audi; chassis, tech, etc. All continuing to lessen the brand.
One easy way to solve it - just make more 911s. Like they used to.

[tracksidemanner]

Originally Posted by kudos

The way I read it was buisness speak for higher prices and lower quality.

That's exactly what they've been doing since 2020. Have you been in a 992? They feel incredibly cheap inside unless you tick the boxes for full leather, a 930 heritage package, Alcantara headliner, deviated stitching and a few other leather options...and then it still has all the cheap plastic which just doesnt look good especially if you're not careful with it. The Taycan is probably the single cheapest feeling car in its price range. Even more so, Porsche stopped doing leather in the same color on the entire seat. If you buy a Cayenne with Bordeaux interior, just the face of the seat is that color, the rest is black as to lessen the cost. On top of that, Porsche stopped using Alcantara, and just use cheap, multi-source 'race-tex' which is very chintzy feeling. They've been clearly using more and more Audi/VW parts as a means to bolster the bottom line.

[Car-Addicted]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

Bring back a 944 replacement to compete with the BMW M240/M2. Seems so obvious.

I was in the business when the 924 and 944 and 944 Turbo came out
944's were great cars and we worked on a lot of them and sad to see them go.
We built the Lee Metals Porsche 944's for SSA. I was at Road Atlanta in 1977 for the SCCA Run-offs when Porsche brought in all the big guns to win D productions but got their butts kicked by a old Lotus Super seven driven by, if memory serves me well a privateer named Tom Robertson?

IMO bring back a version of that would be a winning program. Leave the 928's in the history of not so good ideas.

[c1pher]

The dealers really have pissed me off, just as much as Porsche really ratcheting up the prices. The price increases would be so bad on their own if the quality was there. The plastic content is more evident and even little “Porsche” aspects like the ignition switch are going away unless you buy a GT car. I do think they are stuck because they can’t lower prices, so the only option is to keep prices flat, bring back a couple entry and mid tier models like a lightweight 944 on the low end and a 718 next gen in the mid tier with flat six. They could put the 2.0t motor in a 944 and I bet it would sell.

[x622]

Originally Posted by tracksidemanner

That's exactly what they've been doing since 2020. Have you been in a 992? They feel incredibly cheap inside unless you tick the boxes for full leather, a 930 heritage package, Alcantara headliner, deviated stitching and a few other leather options...and then it still has all the cheap plastic which just doesnt look good especially if you're not careful with it. The Taycan is probably the single cheapest feeling car in its price range. Even more so, Porsche stopped doing leather in the same color on the entire seat. If you buy a Cayenne with Bordeaux interior, just the face of the seat is that color, the rest is black as to lessen the cost. On top of that, Porsche stopped using Alcantara, and just use cheap, multi-source 'race-tex' which is very chintzy feeling. They've been clearly using more and more Audi/VW parts as a means to bolster the bottom line.

You’re 100% right, and it’s been getting worse every model cycle. I owned a 2022 992 Turbo S. ~$280k MSRP, just over $300k out the door. On paper that sounds like a flagship-level product. In reality, it’s a modular VW/Audi interior with a Porsche tax layered on top. Because like you said, if you don’t aggressively option the car, the base interior is borderline unacceptable at that price point. Hard plastics in primary touch points, cohesive design, but executed with materials that feel cheap as hell unless you start throwing money at Exclusive Manufaktur options.

Crests on the headrest and armrest? Paid option.
Extended leather? Paid option.
Deviated stitching? Paid option.
Anything that makes it feel remotely bespoke? Paid option.

Even fully optioned out, it doesn’t actually fix anything. You’re just paying to mask their cost-cutting, not improve the underlying experience. The build quality doesn’t remotely match the price either. Mine had persistent creaks, squeaks, and rattles, especially around the dash, door cards, and rear. The PDK was also screwed, intermittent lag and inconsistent shifts under load. Multiple service visits, no resolution. I paid for a TCU tune, helped a bit, same issues. I got fed up, dumped the car, and only then they tell me it “just needed a clutch pressure recalibration.” That alone sums up the ownership experience.

Now compare that to what $300k buys you elsewhere in 2022.

With Ferrari, McLaren, Aston, Lamborghini, Bentley, you’re getting an actual step up in materials, design intent, and sense of occasion. Even when they share components, they don’t feel like they do. Porsche doesn’t even try to hide it anymore. What makes it even worse is the dealer network. Every other marque understands positioning. There's hierarchy sure but there's still mutual respect across brands. Porsche dealers in my experience operate with this vapid mix of arrogance and denial.

“No issues.”
“Best engineered cars in the world.”
"GT3RS is the best track car"
"Never has any issues or reliability concerns"
Everything else is inferior, even when it objectively isn’t.

Meanwhile they’re pushing Macans, Cayennes, Taycans, whatever garbage they they need to move that quarter, calling it “relationship building,” while treating allocations like some earned privilege. Let’s be real about what that actually is.

You’re being asked to cycle money through their highest-margin, lowest-differentiation products to maybe qualify for something better later. Those cars are exactly what they look like. Shared platform, cost optimized, lightly differentiated from VW/Audi underneath with a Porsche price tag attached. Other brands don't do this the the same way at all. Their entry cars still feel like they belong. You're buying into the brand at every level, not funding it from the bottom. Porsche flipped that model. Volume cars fund the brand, halo cars sell the story and dealers sit in the middle and gatekeep this.

The transaction becomes real simple:
Buy what they need to sell
Prove your loyalty
Mayyyybe you can earn the right to spend more later

The problem is the product no longer backs that attitude. Go sit in the new Macan EV. It’s a dressed-up VW product with Porsche pricing. Same switchgear same cost-cutting, just wrapped in branding. The gap between perceived and actual quality is getting wider, not smaller.

Then look at GT3 RS pricing.

Why? What are you actually paying for?

It’s not bespoke construction. It’s not exotic materials. It’s not interior craftsmanship. It’s a track-focused car on paper, but most of them will never see a real lap. Compare that to something like a 765LT. That car feels like a different tier the second you touch it, drive it, or even just sit in it. There’s intent behind everything, not just aero and marketing. They even had enough money to make the aero out of carbon fiber instead of plastic. The 3RS ends up in this weird middle ground. Sold as a serious motorsport adjacent machine, but mostly bought as an aggressive-looking status piece.

If you actually want the real experience, you go get a Cup car and run that shit.

Porsche is trying to charge exotic money while operating like a scaled OEM underneath, and that only worked when the cars were underpriced for what they delivered. It doesn’t work when they’re priced alongside actual exotics, especially when the ownership experience doesn’t back it. Older Porsches had identity, mechanical feel, and a clear sense of purpose. Now it’s allll margin optimization. Options are monetized, materials are value-engineered, and the brand is carrying more weight than the product. At this point Porsche isn’t competing on substance, it’s competing on reputation, and if you’ve spent time in anything else at this level, the gap is obvious.

[tracksidemanner]

Originally Posted by x622

You’re 100% right, and it’s been getting worse every model cycle. I owned a 2022 992 Turbo S. ~$280k MSRP, just over $300k out the door. On paper that sounds like a flagship-level product. In reality, it’s a modular VW/Audi interior with a Porsche tax layered on top. Because like you said, if you don’t aggressively option the car, the base interior is borderline unacceptable at that price point. Hard plastics in primary touch points, cohesive design, but executed with materials that feel cheap as hell unless you start throwing money at Exclusive Manufaktur options.

Crests on the headrest and armrest? Paid option.
Extended leather? Paid option.
Deviated stitching? Paid option.
Anything that makes it feel remotely bespoke? Paid option.

Even fully optioned out, it doesn’t actually fix anything. You’re just paying to mask their cost-cutting, not improve the underlying experience. The build quality doesn’t remotely match the price either. Mine had persistent creaks, squeaks, and rattles, especially around the dash, door cards, and rear. The PDK was also screwed, intermittent lag and inconsistent shifts under load. Multiple service visits, no resolution. I paid for a TCU tune, helped a bit, same issues. I got fed up, dumped the car, and only then they tell me it “just needed a clutch pressure recalibration.” That alone sums up the ownership experience.

Now compare that to what $300k buys you elsewhere in 2022.

With Ferrari, McLaren, Aston, Lamborghini, Bentley, you’re getting an actual step up in materials, design intent, and sense of occasion. Even when they share components, they don’t feel like they do. Porsche doesn’t even try to hide it anymore. What makes it even worse is the dealer network. Every other marque understands positioning. There's hierarchy sure but there's still mutual respect across brands. Porsche dealers in my experience operate with this vapid mix of arrogance and denial.

“No issues.”
“Best engineered cars in the world.”
"GT3RS is the best track car"
"Never has any issues or reliability concerns"
Everything else is inferior, even when it objectively isn’t.

Meanwhile they’re pushing Macans, Cayennes, Taycans, whatever garbage they they need to move that quarter, calling it “relationship building,” while treating allocations like some earned privilege. Let’s be real about what that actually is.

You’re being asked to cycle money through their highest-margin, lowest-differentiation products to maybe qualify for something better later. Those cars are exactly what they look like. Shared platform, cost optimized, lightly differentiated from VW/Audi underneath with a Porsche price tag attached. Other brands don't do this the the same way at all. Their entry cars still feel like they belong. You're buying into the brand at every level, not funding it from the bottom. Porsche flipped that model. Volume cars fund the brand, halo cars sell the story and dealers sit in the middle and gatekeep this.

The transaction becomes real simple:
Buy what they need to sell
Prove your loyalty
Mayyyybe you can earn the right to spend more later

The problem is the product no longer backs that attitude. Go sit in the new Macan EV. It’s a dressed-up VW product with Porsche pricing. Same switchgear same cost-cutting, just wrapped in branding. The gap between perceived and actual quality is getting wider, not smaller.

Then look at GT3 RS pricing.

Why? What are you actually paying for?

It’s not bespoke construction. It’s not exotic materials. It’s not interior craftsmanship. It’s a track-focused car on paper, but most of them will never see a real lap. Compare that to something like a 765LT. That car feels like a different tier the second you touch it, drive it, or even just sit in it. There’s intent behind everything, not just aero and marketing. They even had enough money to make the aero out of carbon fiber instead of plastic. The 3RS ends up in this weird middle ground. Sold as a serious motorsport adjacent machine, but mostly bought as an aggressive-looking status piece.

If you actually want the real experience, you go get a Cup car and run that shit.

Porsche is trying to charge exotic money while operating like a scaled OEM underneath, and that only worked when the cars were underpriced for what they delivered. It doesn’t work when they’re priced alongside actual exotics, especially when the ownership experience doesn’t back it. Older Porsches had identity, mechanical feel, and a clear sense of purpose. Now it’s allll margin optimization. Options are monetized, materials are value-engineered, and the brand is carrying more weight than the product. At this point Porsche isn’t competing on substance, it’s competing on reputation, and if you’ve spent time in anything else at this level, the gap is obvious.

Nailed it. I couldnt agree with you more on any of this and they've historically been my favorite brand and ownership. I do think they are working off reputation more than substance these days with a driving experience that, outside of the GT cars or the 0-60 launch of a turbo S, rarely excites. They also arent even light anymore. The new turbo S is 3900 lbs. That's more than my G80 CS weighs and I can actually fit 5, and their luggage.

[JeffinOregon]

Sounds like the Jaguar marketing team was thrown out but caught on with Porsche.

[NickyC]

Originally Posted by x622

Porsche is trying to charge exotic money while operating like a scaled OEM underneath

100% spot on with the whole post as usual.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by tracksidemanner

Porsche is trying to charge exotic money while operating like a scaled OEM underneath, and that only worked when the cars were underpriced for what they delivered. It doesn’t work when they’re priced alongside actual exotics, especially when the ownership experience doesn’t back it. Older Porsches had identity, mechanical feel, and a clear sense of purpose. Now it’s allll margin optimization. Options are monetized, materials are value-engineered, and the brand is carrying more weight than the product. At this point Porsche isn’t competing on substance, it’s competing on reputation, and if you’ve spent time in anything else at this level, the gap is obvious.

Nailed it. I couldnt agree with you more on any of this and they've historically been my favorite brand and ownership. I do think they are working off reputation more than substance these days with a driving experience that, outside of the GT cars or the 0-60 launch of a turbo S, rarely excites. They also arent even light anymore. The new turbo S is 3900 lbs. That's more than my G80 CS weighs and I can actually fit 5, and their luggage.

Same goes for BMW.

[Car-Addicted]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Same goes for BMW.

I disagree. Germany based car companies are fighting multiple head winds. First they have a EU government that seems hell bent on killing industry in Germany, you have high and limited energy, you have a big demographic problem with older more skilled workers aging out and you have a younger population not sharing their work ethic.

Couple examples.
Germany has a shortage of workers - so it's turning to India for help
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3wlww83yv4o

Mercedes to move A-class production from Germany to Hungary
https://www.reuters.com/business/mer...ry-2026-01-06/

I think BMW has been the leader in moving production of volume products out of Germany. They also seem to be leading the pack in automation of their production. They also have widened the price points of their offerings to grow their market.

Porsche on the other hand has done the opposite
AI:
Porsche vehicles are primarily produced in Germany, with main factories in Zuffenhausen (911, 718, Taycan) and Leipzig (Panamera, Macan). Cayenne models are largely assembled in Bratislava, Slovakia. A specialized assembly plant in Kulim, Malaysia, handles local production for the Cayenne, marking a rare non-European assembly site.

Anyone not reading the tea leaves and diversifying out of the EU will join Saab, Jaguar and Mitsubishi (Europe).

Automotive extinction event on the horizon.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by Car-Addicted

I disagree. Germany based car companies are fighting multiple head winds. First they have a EU government that seems hell bent on killing industry in Germany, you have high and limited energy, you have a big demographic problem with older more skilled workers aging out and you have a younger population not sharing their work ethic.

Couple examples.
Germany has a shortage of workers - so it's turning to India for help
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3wlww83yv4o

Mercedes to move A-class production from Germany to Hungary
https://www.reuters.com/business/mer...ry-2026-01-06/

I think BMW has been the leader in moving production of volume products out of Germany. They also seem to be leading the pack in automation of their production. They also have widened the price points of their offerings to grow their market.

Porsche on the other hand has done the opposite
AI:
Porsche vehicles are primarily produced in Germany, with main factories in Zuffenhausen (911, 718, Taycan) and Leipzig (Panamera, Macan). Cayenne models are largely assembled in Bratislava, Slovakia. A specialized assembly plant in Kulim, Malaysia, handles local production for the Cayenne, marking a rare non-European assembly site.

Anyone not reading the tea leaves and diversifying out of the EU will join Saab, Jaguar and Mitsubishi (Europe).

Automotive extinction event on the horizon.

I was specifically referring to this quote, "I do think they are working off reputation more than substance these days with a driving experience that... rarely excites".

As far as the off (Germany) shore manufacturing, both the Z3 and the Z4 (E86) I have were built in the Spartanburg USA manufacturing plant and feel as German as any of the other German-built Bimmers I've owned, which were a '89 E30 325i, '05 E46 330i Cabrio, and an '06 E90 325i.

[tracksidemanner]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Same goes for BMW.

I think you quoted the wrong person as that was x622 but he’s not wrong.
I don’t think BMW is charging exotic pricing and living off the brand vs actually delivering a quality driving experience that is still leagues better than RS or AMG and most of the Porsche range too. The M3/4 CS/L at 140k (loaded) offer as good or better performance and experience than just about anything up to about 250K along with best in class practicality. 140k is nowhere close to exotic money. A base 911 without a single option is more expensive!

[Phillies8008]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

I was specifically referring to this quote, "I do think they are working off reputation more than substance these days with a driving experience that... rarely excites".

As far as the off (Germany) shore manufacturing, both the Z3 and the Z4 (E86) I have were built in the Spartanburg USA manufacturing plant and feel as German as any of the other German-built Bimmers I've owned, which were a '89 E30 325i, '05 E46 330i Cabrio, and an '06 E90 325i.

And the only reason the E89 wasn't built in Spartanburg was because of a lack of capacity. The SUVs had skyrocketed, and they needed all the capacity they could get for them. The quality coming out of the Spartanburg plant is the same as any other BMW plant.

[FrankL]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

Bring back a 944 replacement to compete with the BMW M240/M2. Seems so obvious.

Weird that you mention that. I watched and old video of the launch of the 924 which was pretty underpowered. Walter Rohrl had a 924 Turbo video because I think Porsche gave him one. The 924 was fairly light, throw a turbo on it, a few engine mods plus wider wheels and you have a fun car.

The 944 and 924 were not bad though they both had kind of crappy Audi reliability. I always wanted a 2002 tii and a 944 Turbo.

I agree with our friend in Stockholm posting. They are trying to stay alive while EU politicians try to kill car companies. They are arguably the largest employers in Europe.

I watched a lot of the BMW yearly presentation and I cringe when they talk about Co2. Just plant more trees.

[Car-Addicted]

Good to see you still have the fight in you. Keep polishing that Z4 Coupe, I may add on to the garage some day.

[ZTK_M240i]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

Bring back a 944 replacement to compete with the BMW M240/M2. Seems so obvious.

HELL YES. Turbo 4 from the Cayman, 6 speed manual, RWD, starting under $60k. I'd be in...