REPORT: Porsche expects to book $979.5 million in profits for fiscal year
Porsche may have gotten in over its head when it tried to take over Volkswagen outright, but that doesn't mean the German automaker is struggling to sell premium sports cars. The Stuttgart-based automaker is planning on selling 80,000 units in 2009 at an astounding profit margin of 12%. That's $979 million in US currency, and more profit than most automakers several times its size will likely achieve during the global economic downturn.
The news of Porsche's healthy booty comes as a bit of a surprise considering its flirtation with bankruptcy back in March. Porsche has 9 billion euros in debt hanging over its head, though it told Reuters it can cope with the red ink. Porsche had to borrow 700 million euro from Volkswagen to get itself out of an earlier jam, and it's now discussing a merger with Europe's largest volume automaker.
Claus Schmiedel, a member of parliament in Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany, says that Porsche intends to increase sales in 2010 to 100,000 units, and that it intends to again eclipse 1 billion euro in earnings. Not too shabby for an automaker pushed to the brink of insolvency.
[Source: Reuters | Image Source: Michael Latz/Getty]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
nguyenhm16 9:09AM (6/02/2009)
Porsche has turned into a hedge fund that happens to make cars... that's why they were in the pickle they were in. Kinda like GE, where the financial services part ended up dwarfing the part that actually made stuff.
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tankd0g 10:16AM (6/02/2009)
I wish I was in that pickle.
JZeke 9:11AM (6/02/2009)
They've nearly been bankrupt a few times, now. Shame they didn't teach seminars to other auto execs on this back in the day...
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sparrk 10:58AM (6/02/2009)
Wiedeking knows his sh*t.
BigMcLargeHuge 9:27AM (6/02/2009)
"a state politician told a German newspaper."
"Porsche, whose fiscal year ends July 31, declined to comment."
To me, this is like Hillary Clinton telling a newspaper that GM will sell a million cars this year.
Apparently, it's every government's job to sugarcoat bad economic news of automakers.
Even if it's accurate, why is this guy doing PR for Porsche?
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fujia 9:55AM (6/02/2009)
Very true. Merkel is scrambling to get Porsche a large gov donation to survive. The rosy outlook is pure BS.
Zamafir 9:56AM (6/02/2009)
it's amazing how quickly an car company can recover when they run their business like a business.
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Mike 10:17AM (6/02/2009)
They didn't recover. Read the above comment....this article is merely propaganda and guesses by fools with nothing better to do. A non-story.
".....a state politician told a German newspaper."
zamafir 11:00AM (6/02/2009)
boo, thanks.
Jay Evans 10:25AM (6/02/2009)
From the article:
"Porsche (PSHG_p.DE) will sell around 80,000 cars in the current fiscal year
In the following year Porsche aims to sell more than 100,000 cars "
A 25% increase in sales??? Man I want some of what they're smoking!!!!
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sparrk 10:54AM (6/02/2009)
it's the Panamera , they estimate to sell 20.000 per year
jimmy glick 11:33AM (6/02/2009)
None of these Porsche stories make any sense. They're up..No, they're really down..You kidding me! They're way up!...On second thought, they're actually close to bankruptcy. Can't wait to see where they are next week.
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Cougs 11:46AM (6/02/2009)
Porsche's healthy booty...lol.
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Keith 12:12PM (6/02/2009)
Well, they're going to have to retrain their sales force to do that. I haven't seen a group so adept at avoiding potential customers since BMW in the mid Nineties.
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wushu 12:15PM (6/02/2009)
Every time I hear how much profit Porsche AG makes, I think it's actually a reflection on its customers. To wit:
A fool and his money are soon parted.
There's a sucker born every minute.
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Patrick 12:23PM (6/02/2009)
Just more fodder to show that Porsches are way overpriced.
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sparrk 2:02PM (6/02/2009)
...says the BMW guy.