by Porsche is feeling a financial blow. The profit of the sports car company fell by 40.6 percent in the first quarter, dropping from €1.28 to just €0.76 billion (from $1.46 to $0.87 billion), as shown by recently published financial figures. Turnover decreased by 1.7 percent to €8.86 billion ($10.1 billion), and sales profitability dropped from 14.2 to 8.6 percent during a period when global deliveries fell by 7.9 percent to 71,470.
Porsche had already announced the decline in advance in April. The data showed that demand in China took a real hit, with deliveries there decreasing by 42 percent, while in Europe they fell by 10 percent (including a shocking 34 percent drop in Germany). In contrast, sales in the U.S. increased by 37 percent, but this North American showcase was not enough to compensate for the slowdown in other regions.
Porsche blames its profit decline on “ongoing economic and political challenges,” as well as investments and other changes taking place within the company. One of these investments, completed in March, was Porsche’s acquisition of a majority stake in V4Smart, a battery manufacturing enterprise that is a subsidiary of Varta, which will develop cylindrical lithium cells for Porsche’s electric cars. The automaker initially intervened to rescue Varta, which already produces batteries for (information reached the level of recent years).
In other battery-related news that will affect Porsche’s profitability in the future, the company canceled plans to expand production of high-performance battery cells by the Cellforce group, a joint venture between Porsche and Customcells. The decision is a result of slow electric car sales rollout and leads to an increase in special costs from €800 million to €1.3 billion ($911 million to $1.48 billion).
These additional costs, plus the poor outlook in China and the introduction of import tariffs in the U.S., have forced Porsche to lower its 2025 forecast. It now estimates marginal profitability before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization at 16.5-18.5 percent, compared to 19-21 percent, but this only accounts for the impact of tariffs in April and May.
The situation is so unpredictable that Porsche cannot foresee what impact it may have for the rest of the year. But this week, the company denied reports that it had stopped delivering cars to the U.S. due to President Trump’s new tariffs on imported cars.
