The global corona crisis is a major challenge for Porsche.Oliver Blume
Lutz Meschke, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board at Porsche AG and Member of the Executive Board responsible for Finance and IT: "At €6 billion, the company was even able to achieve a slight increase in sales revenues as compared to the previous year. This was due to a positive model mix, and the business units besides the car business also developed positively." As a result of the coronavirus crisis, a drop in volume and costs related to continued high investments in electrification and digitalization both worked against the positive developments. In addition to these costs was an increase in overheads from the introduction of new models – particularly the all-electric Taycan. Due to the coronavirus crisis, these expenditures were not able to be offset by increased earnings in the first quarter.
"The global corona crisis is a major challenge for Porsche. It is important to maintain an essentially optimistic overall approach and systematic management so that when the crisis is overwork can be resumed at full speed. We are committed to our investments in the future in terms of electrification and the digitalization of our cars," says Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche AG. "In times like these, it is also our intention to be true to our social responsibility. We are helping with donations and supporting the government with, for example, the procurement of medical protective equipment. Beyond that, many of our employees are volunteering their services."
"We are determined to make responsible decisions in response to the crisis, and to see it as an opportunity," says Meschke. "Now we are concentrating completely on managing costs, liquidity and cash flow, in order to protect our business and to be prepared to return to fully implementing our strategy when the crisis is behind us."