After the surprising separation of two board members, the sports car manufacturer has Porsche New bosses for finances and IT as well as for sales. On February 26, Jochen Breckner (47) took over the position of CFO Lutz Meschke (58), shared the Volkswagen-Daughter on Tuesday. At the same time, sales director Detlev von Platen (61) by Matthias Becker (54) is replaced.
Both have been working on Porsche for a long time. Breckner, who has been working for Porsche since 2000, recently headed the General Secretariat and the company development of the DAX group. Becker led the sales in the region overseas and growth markets and was at Before moving to Porsche in 2015 Audi, Skoda and Volkswagen entrusted with sales and marketing.
Porsche had the separation from Meschke and from Platen Announced at the beginning of February. Vice-Porschechef Meschke is said to have born around the post of VW and Porsche CEO Oliver Blume (56). Of Platen had been because of the weak China-business under pressure.
Supervisory Council leader Wolfgang Porsche (81) paid tribute to the achievements of Meschke and Platen. Meschke leaves the sports car smithy after 24 years, and Platen even worked for 28 years as a manager for Porsche. Meschke, however, remains a member of the board with the VW and Porsche main shareholder Porsche SE, as the Holding also explained. He should advance the participation management department and further develop the investment strategy.
Lower return on sales
The new managers start in a difficult phase: the VW subsidiary has been in the crisis for some time. In October, Meschke had to announce a drop in profits for the first three quarters of a good quarter and explained that Porsche expects a weak China business longer. The Swabians sold 28 percent fewer vehicles in the world’s largest car market last year than in the previous year because wealthy customers afford less luxury due to the real estate crisis. Porsche also pursued the strategy of deliberately not meeting weak demand with lower prices in order to protect profitability.
In February, the sports car manufacturer announced that the return on sales will be sacked to 10 to 12 percent this year. For years 15 percent for Porsche were the minimum, medium -term goal is even more than 20 percent. But the China debacle dropped the margin to 14 percent in 2024. Porsche could also hit the US import duties hard.
Porsche boss Blume has now launched a savings program: Around 1900 jobs will be dismantled in the coming years at the Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen headquarters and in the Weissach development center.