Porsche's Big Shift: 15% Workforce Reduction, EV Struggles, and a Focus on Combustion Engines

[Administrator]

Interesting article about Porsche and EVs:

Porsche & EVs

Here's a quick summary:

• Porsche, a Volkswagen-controlled luxury brand, plans to reduce headcount by 15% at two German sites (Zuffenhausen and Weissach) by 2029.
• The reduction will be achieved through voluntary measures like early retirement and severance packages.
• The company will adopt a "restrictive approach" to new hires.
• Job security for German employees will remain until 2030, with voluntary measures in place until then.
• Porsche is facing challenges with the drop in EV demand and has scaled back its EV targets.
• The company will incur an €800 million loss this year related to developing products.
• Porsche will focus on combustion engine and plug-in hybrid models due to EV struggles, particularly in China.
• Volkswagen and other brands within the group are considering updates to their combustion engine lineups, including models like Golf, T-Roc, and Tiguan.
• Volkswagen’s plan to phase out combustion engines in Europe by the early 2030s remains unchanged, though they will remain flexible to market changes.

I’m still on the fence about EVs. Full disclosure: I work for GM, and my role as the Program Engineering Manager involves overseeing the design, development, and production of EV vehicles. While I can see the merits of EVs for daily commuting around town, I believe legislation will likely push us toward EV powertrains in the near future.

That said, I view EVs as a bridge technology—an important step toward alternative energy sources like hydrogen fuel cells and possibly even micro reactors (think Iron Man). For now, though, I’ll stick with my gas-powered truck and plan to buy the last diesel truck GM produces.

For the fun side of things, I’ll have my GT3 RS for the track, my E30 M3 for mountain drives, and maybe the ms. will get an EV for her daily commute.

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