Porsche plans to cut 1,900 jobs
These figures were given by Andreas Haffner, Member of the Executive Board for Human Resources at Porsche, and Harald Buck, Head of the Works Council, when they informed the workforce at the headquarters in Zuffenhausen and in Development in Weissach about the agreed cost-cutting measures. Porsche currently has around 42,000 employees, 23,650 of whom work in the Stuttgart region. 1,900 jobs thus correspond to around five per cent of the German workforce.
However, Porsche will rely on voluntary departures of employees for the job cuts through staff turnover and partial retirement schemes – the company has a job security programme in place until 2030 that rules out redundancies for operational reasons. It is thus unclear whether Porsche will achieve its goal.
According to media reports, this reduction in the permanent workforce will take place in addition to cuts in the number of temporary employees. 1,500 jobs have already been made redundant. The Taycan, for example, is now only produced in one shift. According to the works council, 500 contracts will not be extended this year.
“The goal is to reduce the number of jobs at Porsche AG with the main sites in Zuffenhausen and Weissach by 15 per cent by 2029,” said a Porsche spokesperson. It is thus clear that only the two sites in the German state of Baden-Württemberg are affected. For example, the Leipzig plant, where the electric Macan is built, is excluded from the plans.
It was a turbulent February for Porsche, not just because of the cost-cutting programme. At the beginning of the month, Porsche announced its intention to part ways with two members of the Executive Board – Chief Sales Officer Detlev von Platen and Chief Financial Officer Lutz Meschke, who is also Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board. Porsche did not officially provide any background information. The most likely reason for the departure of von Platen is weak sales in China. At the same time, Meschke could be blamed for weak financial performance (due to the lack of income from China) – the German carmaker will not achieve its medium-term return target of 20 per cent in the foreseeable future. As Meschke was also rumoured to have ambitions for the CEO position at Porsche, a power struggle could also be the reason for his intended sacking – but this has not been confirmed.
Shortly after the turmoil surrounding the Executive Board, Porsche also announced that it intends to stick with the combustion engine and hybrids for longer – contrary to earlier plans. The company thus expects additional expenditure of 800 million euros for 2024 alone, as previously unplanned models with petrol engines or plug-in hybrids will have to be developed.
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