Porsche Holding on course despite the crisis

Porsche Holding on course despite the crisis

All in all, this year's 75th anniversary year was another good year for Porsche Holding Salzburg. “Thanks to our robust business model and the excellent sales performance of our global employees, we were able to once again demonstrate our effectiveness and crisis resilience,” says Hans Peter Schützinger, spokesman for the Porsche Holding Salzburg management at the annual press conference in Vienna. Schützinger has a tried-and-tested recipe to combat the current regional crises and market fluctuations, which will likely continue for some time and which are clouding the result: “Efficient management, sensible investments and value-adding growth remain the order of the day.”

In the previous growth market of China, Porsche Holding Salzburg has experienced a trend reversal for the first time. "The economic engine in the Middle Kingdom is currently stalling, including in the luxury sector, and we and our dealers are feeling this crisis," explains Schützinger: "We are now bringing a breath of fresh air into the market with the new electric Macan, among other things, but the crisis is not going away that easily. That's why we are taking a cautious approach in China and are entering a consolidation phase. We are also counteracting this by strengthening value-added areas such as service and used cars." In view of the economic developments in Europe and the bad news from Austrian companies, Schützinger emphasizes: "Our jobs are secure and there will be no job reduction program. To date, we have worked successfully with demographics and natural fluctuation. However, in order to be able to react to changes, we need more flexibility and mobility in the company - including among employees."

Although new car sales fell by 7.5%, deliveries of 691,758 vehicles are on a good five-year average. Global used car sales increased by 4.2% to 221,401 vehicles in the 2024 car year. The number of dealer locations fell by 29 to 498 compared to the previous year due to consolidation and a new method of recording. The number of employees in the 29 PHS countries increased to 37,361, an increase of 4 percent, due to new acquisitions and consolidations in individual countries as well as in the IT area. The Porsche Inter Auto Group has been serving the growth market for older used cars with the online platform OutletCars.at since 2022. Here, vehicles up to ten years old, such as leasing and fleet returns, are marketed through our own channels at an attractive fixed price. Successfully. "Since we launched two and a half years ago, we are currently represented with Outletcars in 13 countries. With Outletcars we address those target groups who want an inexpensive used car - quickly and easily. We have captured the spirit of the times," says Schützinger happily. In 2024, around 7,000 used cars across Europe will find new owners through outlet cars. And with “Clean & Charge”, Outletcars at Porsche Wels and Porsche Linz-Leonding combines car care and electrical charging as an additional novelty.

As of July 1, 2024, the Volkswagen Group transferred management responsibility for the two importer markets of Italy and Sweden to the Salzburg automobile trading company. “The transfer of regional responsibility underlines the trust in us as sales experts,” says Schützinger: “In the future, with the entrepreneurial and decentralized approach of Porsche Holding and the implementation of IT solutions from Porsche Informatik, we will make sales activities in both countries even more efficient and resilient and take advantage of the numerous development and growth opportunities.” This step will allow Porsche Holding to reach new dimensions in terms of size in the future. With around 1.56 million vehicles, the car market in Italy is one of the five largest car markets in Europe; Sweden has around 290,000 vehicles and is one of the flagship markets in Europe when it comes to electromobility and digitalization. Porsche Holding Salzburg serves the entire value chain in the automotive trade - from wholesale and retail to the financial services of Porsche Bank and the IT solutions of Porsche Informatik. This networking across all areas allows us to better focus on customer needs worldwide and serve them in a tailor-made manner.

Given the current conditions, there will be no major growth in the domestic car market in 2025. "Against this background, we see the new car market in 2025 at a similar level to this year. But surpassing the 250,000 mark should be realistic," says Hans Peter Schützinger, assessing the market potential for the coming car year. A sustained return to pre-Corona levels in terms of volume cannot be expected so quickly. In addition to the fluctuating economic situation and the existing loss of purchasing power, the dominant topics of the car year 2025 will be increasing competition, overcoming purchasing reluctance and boosting e-mobility along with the CO2 targets that need to be met. "The omens are good, because we are entering the new year with a solid order backlog of over three months. In addition, the brands' numerous new electric and combustion engine products are also fully available with normalized delivery times," says Schützinger. Electromobility remains in focus, because only with a growing and affordable range of BEVs and PHEVs can it continue to gain momentum again - also in order to achieve the short and long-term CO2 targets. Schützinger comments: "The future is electric, there is no way around it. It's just that getting there takes more time than politicians assume. At the same time, e-mobility will remain the strongest growth driver."