PORSCHE has announced plans to axe thousands of jobs as it battles high costs and weak demand in China.
The luxury carmaker will cut about 2,000 fixed-term contracts on top of the 1,900 already announced.
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The downsizing move will reduce the German company’s headcount by almost 10 per cent.
The automobile manufacturer said it will enter negotiations with unions in the second half of the year over further cuts.
Porsche also announced it will keep its dividend for 2024 at the previous year’s level despite a 30.4 per cent drop in earnings per share.
Citing a “persistently challenging environment”, the company also pared back its medium-term margin target to 15-17 per cent from 17-19 per cent.
Porsche’s shares suffered their worst day on the stock market last month when it warned that its 2025 margin would hit just 10-12 per cent this year.
At its stock market debut in 2022, Porsche was valued higher than its parent company Volkswagen AG.
The $872.24million dent to profits came as it pivoted back to more combustion engine and hybrid models.
The carmaker has fallen from grace since struggling in particular with low sales in China, its top market, where sales dropped 28 per cent in 2024.
The brand’s chief financial officer Jochen Breckner also said he was very concerned about the potential impact of Donald Trump‘s trade policy on the business.
He said: “We at Porsche are strongly supporting the discussions that are ongoing to find good solutions in terms of tariffs for the US and the European Union, but also looking at China.
“Tariffs indeed are something that gives us, to some extent, sleepless nights.”
He said Porsche would consider passing on some of the costs that Trump is threatening to impose to consumers.
“When the subject becomes concrete, we will assess which price options there are to pass on consumers,” he added.
