Michael Reiters, CEO of Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer Porsche, stands next to a Porsche 911 GT3 SC at the Porsche Development Center.
Bernd Weisbrodt | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
German sports car manufacturer porsche said it had significantly reduced its exposure to China as operating profit recovered in the first nine months of this year despite a decline in sales and vehicle deliveries.
The Volkswagen-owned company announced its third-quarter results on Tuesday, reporting an operating profit of 1.74 billion euros ($1.94 billion) for the first nine months of 2026. In comparison, operating profit was 40 million euros in the same period last year, when strategic restructuring costs of around 2.7 billion euros were recorded.
Meanwhile, sales revenue decreased by 5.9% to 25.28 billion euros, and vehicle deliveries continued to decline by 16% to 178,532 vehicles. North America continued to be Porsche’s largest sales region in terms of unit sales.
China has historically been an important market for German luxury automakers, but they have struggled with increased competition from domestic brands, particularly in electric vehicles.
Porsche’s sales in China have fallen significantly in recent years amid increasing competition from brands such as BYD, Geely and Xiaomi.
“Our geographically balanced sales footprint continues to provide resilience across our various markets,” Porsche Chief Financial Officer Jochen Breckner said during Tuesday’s earnings webcast.
“As you know, we have significantly reduced our exposure to China. This makes our entire business less dependent on developments in this difficult market environment.”
Porsche shares were most recently trading up 2.3%.
Porsche is also cutting thousands of jobs as part of a broader restructuring aimed at cutting costs and responding to weak demand.
City: Porsche’s underlying profit exceeds German luxury brand
Citi analysts said in a note Tuesday that Porsche’s performance in the first nine months was in line with expectations, despite challenges in China and elsewhere.
“Despite the challenging conditions, including unusually low vehicle deliveries, high costs and high deliveries of battery electric vehicles, Porsche’s underlying EBIT remains highly resilient and outperforms its German luxury peers,” the analysts said.
Additionally, Porsche plans to return to double-digit underlying operating margins, adding that the recovery is expected to begin in 2028 and net cash flow to return to above IPO levels by 2031.
“FY27 will still be a trough year, but unlike many of its peers, the multi-year EBIT and net cash recovery from FY28 remains solid, well-supported and credible,” the analysts said.
