Saving where customers don't notice and investing where they see it: This is how Porsche's head of development describes the new strategy. Experts see opportunities for higher profits. But that alone may not be enough for business in China.
More profit with less sales. The new strategy of the sports car manufacturer Porsche can be broken down into this equation. The group wants to build more exclusive, more expensive cars and thus break even earlier with fewer units sold. The average price at the top of the segment is expected to rise by around 60,000 euros.
To achieve this, Porsche wants to sell more high-class models and make special requests possible. At the same time, the number of model variants is expected to fall by around 20 percent and the workforce will shrink by a quarter in the medium term. In the future, the break-even point should be less than 200,000 cars sold. When asked by ntv.de, car expert Frank Schwope is confident that new models and lower costs will help the group "drive margins back to acceptable levels."
The half-year figures showed how much pressure Porsche is under: the group delivered a total of 122,306 cars worldwide from January to June 2026, 16 percent less than in the same period last year. In China, deliveries even fell by 32 percent to 14,501 vehicles. Expert Stephan Bratzel therefore warns: "The strategy can help make Porsche more profitable and resilient again, but it does not automatically solve the China problem." In the Chinese market, software, digital user experience and the relationship between price and performance increasingly mattered. Porsche needs an offer that is better suited to the Chinese market - especially when it comes to electric and intelligently networked cars.
In fact, the new Porsche boss Michael Leiters announced electric Boxster and Cayman models for the coming year. At the same time, the car manufacturer wants to stick to combustion engines and plug-in hybrids and even want to add a new fossil SUV to the electric Macan in 2028.
"Porsche boss can't be a part-time job!"
With the new strategy, Porsche wants to shift its focus upwards in the price segment, regardless of what drive the cars have. “The upper market segments combine rapidly growing customer demand with high exclusivity and attractive profitability,” is how the Porsche boss puts it. Expensive special requests should also bring more sales: In the special requests program, customers can have their vehicles designed according to their own ideas. The program's sales are expected to increase sixfold in the medium term.
The proportion of particularly expensive models is expected to rise from around a third to almost half, and the average price of the most expensive 10,000 cars sold is expected to rise from 270,000 to 330,000 euros by 2030. In addition to luxury versions of the classic 911, Porsche is testing an SUV that will be larger and more expensive than the Cayenne. A two-door super sports car above the 911 is also likely to be added. To ensure that the range remains manageable, Porsche wants to reduce the number of model variants elsewhere by around 20 percent.
The experts Schwope and Bratzel both consider this approach to be fundamentally correct. They criticize the fact that Porsche is only now taking countermeasures. According to Bratzel, the group underestimated the changes in electromobility, China and cost competition for too long. Schwope accuses former boss Oliver Blume of neglecting problems in his dual role at VW and Porsche: "Porsche boss cannot be a part-time job!"
Contrary to the group trend, more Porsche 911s were delivered in the first half of the year. In the first half of 2026, Porsche handed over 30,534 units to customers - 19 percent more than a year earlier. According to Bratzel, the 911 is less about making cuts than about maintaining the icon: exclusivity, special variants and a close bond between customers and the brand must be maintained. For the Macan, Cayenne and Panamera, however, he calls for fewer variants and clearer drive strategies. When announcing the new strategy for the 911, Porsche boss Leiters made it clear: "The 911 will never be electric."
