Porsche has confirmed plans to slash thousands of jobs from its workforce over the next nine years as it rolls out a huge restructuring of its operations.
The German supercar manufacturer has agreed to a “Future Package” with its Executive Board and General Works Council to ensure it remains competitive.
Porsche said the package includes the “socially responsible” reduction of 5,000 jobs by 2035, amid other work-based changes.
The job cuts will be achieved through “natural attrition, demographic effects, the expansion of the special partial retirement programme and voluntary severance agreements”.
These measures will ensure employees avoid compulsory redundancies, and follow other job cuts of 3,900 in February 2025.
It announced plans earlier this year to close three subsidies – Cellforce Group GmbH, Porsche eBike Performance GmbH, and Cetitec GmbH, which represented more than 500 job losses.
Porsche’s Future Package has also extended employment and site protection until the end of 2035.
As part of this, compulsory redundancies have been ruled out, and its Zuffenhausen and Weissach sites will be boosted by a €2.1billion (£1.8billion) investment.
Porsche has announced plans to remove 5,000 jobs from its workforce by 2035
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This will ensure that two-door sports cars continue to roll off the production line in Zuffenhausen and increase volume in Sonderwunsch.
Dr Michael Leiters, chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche AG, said the Future Package was good for Porsche and allowed it to realign the company.
He said: “We are laying the foundation for our ‘Sportwagenschmiede 35’ strategy with this Future Package. Now it is up to all of us to deliver.
“Because one thing is clear: only by achieving our goals and being economically successful, we can also give our employees the security they need.”
Porsche said it would invest more than €2billion into two of its German facilities
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PORSCHEPorsche said it would present additional details of its Strategy 2035, of which the Future Package is a key measure, at its Capital Markets Day in October.
It has also announced plans to limit mobile working to eight days a month, change break arrangements and amend production cycle times.
The measures aim to “significantly reduce personnel costs” while also increasing flexibility and boosting productivity among staff.
Ibrahim Aslan, chairman of the General Works Council of Porsche AG, described the Future Package as being “hard-fought”.
Porsche sold more than 120,000 new cars in the first six months of the year
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PORSCHEHe added: “Beforehand, few people would have thought that it would be possible that we could reach an agreement on a Future Package extending to 2035 – especially given the current environment.
“The fact that compromises had to be made is part of negotiations. We are now looking ahead again – for the core workforce and the Porsche brand.”
In the first half of the year, Porsche sold 122,306 sports cars, marking a stark decline of 16 per cent compared to the same time last year.
Porsche said this was down to the end of production of the ICE 718 and the removal of tax incentives for hybrid and electric cars in the United States.