FRANKFURT: Porsche said Friday it will close three subsidiaries, including an EV battery developer, with the loss of more than 500 jobs, in the latest sign of strains for the German luxury auto manufacturer.
The maker of the 911 sports car has seen profits collapse due to plunging Chinese sales, US tariffs, and a costly decision to hit the brakes on its troubled electric transition.
As well as the outfit that developed electric vehicle (EV) batteries, a software-making subsidiary and one making systems for electric bikes will be shuttered, said Porsche, a subsidiary of Volkswagen.
“Porsche must refocus on its core business,” said Michael Leiters, who took over as the manufacturer’s chief executive at the start of this year.
“This forces us to make painful cuts — including our subsidiaries.”
A total of 360 of the job cuts are at the e-bike company, in both Germany and Croatia, with the rest at the other two subsidiaries.
The cuts amount to around one percent of the group’s global workforce of some 42,000.
Its shares were up 1.7 percent in Frankfurt after the announcement.
The carmaker had already announced 1,900 job cuts in February last year.
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