Porsche Job Cuts 2035: 5,000 Jobs Gone, 2.1 Billion Euro Investment

In addition to the cuts now announced, 3,900 jobs had already been decided last year, and in February 2025 a further around 1,900 positions through 2029 in the Stuttgart region were approved. In addition, 500 jobs at three subsidiaries that have been or are being closed will be affected. In total, around 8,900 employees will leave the company, which at the end of 2025 still employed just under 41,800 people worldwide.

CEO Michael Leiters, who has been in office since the beginning of the year, described the package as "gut für Porsche". The package had been "hart erkämpft", Leiters added. With a view to the future product strategy, he continued: "Die deutliche Verbesserung unserer wirtschaftlichen Leistungsfähigkeit wird vor allem mit unseren künftigen Produkten kommen".

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General works council chief Ibrahim Aslan sees the agreement as having a signaling effect. The company had been convinced that an investment at the two sites was an opportunity. "Jetzt müssen wir es gemeinsam mit dem Vorstand umsetzen", Aslan said. The Future Package is intended to significantly reduce personnel costs and make work at the sites more flexible and productive.

The background to the drastic savings program is a severe collapse in earnings: in 2025, operating profit plunged to 413 million euros from 5.6 billion euros the previous year, while group net profit fell by 91 percent to 310 million euros. In the first half of 2026, the MDAX-listed group earned 1.35 billion euros at a margin of just 7.8 percent, compared with around 15 percent in the boom years.

The sales crisis is above all a crisis of the China business: between 2021 and 2025, sales figures in the People's Republic more than halved. Global sales dropped by a tenth in 2025, totaling 279,400 vehicles — the lowest level since the Covid year of 2020. Until the record high three years ago, Porsche had still sold around 320,000 vehicles, and the production network had once been designed for 350,000 to 400,000 vehicles per year.

China Remains the Achilles' Heel

The company also expects burdens in the high triple-digit million euro range in 2026. The annual forecast was lowered to revenue of 58 to 63 billion euros — five billion euros less than projected in April. Analysts had on average expected revenue of nearly 117 billion dollars.

With the Future Package, Porsche aims to leverage the cost side. Specifically, this means: 3.5 percent of current and future collective wage increases are to be withheld. The Christmas bonus will drop from up to 100 percent to 60 percent of one month's salary, and the voluntary company share will fall from 45 to five percent by 2035. The employee bonus will in future be more strongly tied to the company's success.

Members of the IG Metall trade union will in return receive an annual bonus of 200 euros as well as a 411 euro supplement to a one-off transformation payment of 1,500 euros. In addition, there is an additional day off per member per year, as well as a voucher worth 200 euros per year. Porsche's employment guarantee until the end of 2035 is more generous than those at Volkswagen and Audi.

Employees Must Forgo Christmas Bonus and Wage Increases

Management is also contributing to the program: in upper management and top management, basic salary increases will be reduced in 2027 and 2028. Porsche is thus one of the few German automakers to demand immediate salary concessions from its executives.

Jobs have also been cut at the Leipzig plant; a plant with around 350 employees in Nördlingen, Bavaria, is to be closed this autumn. Three subsidiaries with a combined workforce of around 500 employees have been or are being closed as well.

The strategy carries the name "Sportwagenschmiede 35" and is to be presented in full in October. Plans include a new two-door sports car, internally called S1, which will be based on the 911, equipped with a flat-eight boxer engine, and cost around 500,000 euros. The electric version of the Panamera (G4), on the other hand, has been pushed back by Leiters into the next decade.

New Sports Cars Instead of E-Offensive

The CEO does not expect a return to dream margins near 20 percent: in the medium term, 10 to 15 percent of revenue should remain as profit. This range roughly corresponds to the level that was customary at Porsche from the late 1980s to the early 1990s.

In Weissach, a municipality of 7,000 inhabitants in the Böblingen district, the news is causing considerable unease. Around 600 Weissach residents currently work at the development center, which, with approximately 7,000 employees, is one of the most important employers in the municipality. In the record year 2009, Porsche paid 222 million euros in trade tax to the municipality. Residents speak of a "Not" and "großer Sorge" about the future of the automotive industry in the region.

Concern in Weissach and the Stuttgart Region

The workforce had grown by 75 percent since 2015 to just over 42,000 jobs before the harsh austerity measures now kicked in. At the end of 2024, Porsche still had around 22,200 employees in the Stuttgart region; a year later, there were only around 20,600.

At parent company Volkswagen, the struggle over cutting up to a further 50,000 jobs and possible plant closures continues. Four German sites of VW and Audi, as well as up to 50,000 jobs worldwide, are at risk, in addition to the 50,000 jobs that are already due to be cut group-wide by 2030. VW CEO Oliver Blume, who was also Porsche chief in a dual role until the end of 2025, said regarding possible plant closures: "Es gibt intelligentere Lösungen, als Werke zu schließen. Das ist immer die letzte Option."

VW and Audi Also Under Pressure

The MDAX-listed preference share of Porsche moved little after the announcement and was last down 0.1 percent. With the Future Package, the group is banking on adjusting its cost structure to the lower sales volume and gearing up for intensified competition with Chinese manufacturers.

At the same time, Porsche is hopeful that the site package will set the course for a long-term future. Leiters said the company can now realign itself with the "Sportwagenschmiede 35" strategy and invest in its competitiveness. "Wir schauen nun wieder nach vorne - für die Stammbelegschaft und die Marke Porsche", said the CEO.