For months, the German auto industry has been hoping that it will be relieved at least a bit in the global storm. But instead, it seems that the difficulties pile up. The business figures of the two luxury manufacturers Mercedes and Porsche show little bright spots, and the bosses of both companies made it clear on Wednesday that despite the agreement between Trump and the EU there is no reason to take a deep breath. 15 percent will be due for imports to America in the future. This is less than the 27.5 percent, which has been temporary since April, but significantly more than the level of previous years. In China, the crowding-out competition is raging, and in Europe electromobility is still behind previous hopes. That is “not easier,” said Mercedes boss Ola Källenius in a conference call. And Oliver Blume, who leads the Volkswagen Group and its listed subsidiary Porsche at the same time, insisted on further cost cuts in order to be able to cushion the impacts better. “We do not see the whole thing as a storm that passes at some point”, the manager summarized the situation. Beiide, Mercedes and Porsche, suffered a significant decline in profit in the first half of the year – the result of Mercedes fell by 55 percent, the Porsche even almost 70 percent. Additional expenses through the tariffs on the returns. At the same time, special costs for the renovation of the companies, both of which plan or implement a significant job cuts. On the other hand, investors seem to be so used to bad news on the stock exchange that the price reactions behave or even slightly positive if it does not get worse than feared. Mercedes’s share price only slightly gave up by two percent on Wednesday. Porsche was even almost two percent. Further messages from the industry are expected on Thursday, even if BMW reports on the half-year. In Germany and Europe, the sports car manufacturer has delivered significantly fewer vehicles to customers. In China, sales are still in free fall. They dropped by almost a third to 21,300 pieces in the half year after they had already dropped vigorously. Above all, the fully electric models like the Taycan do not sell well in the People’s Republic. Because they are expensive compared to local competition, and the luxury segment in China is generally under pressure. In North America, Porsche sales have increased in the first half of the year, but obviously at the expense of profitability. In order not to endanger the business in the United States, management kept the sales prices there stable for a long time despite new tariffs and therefore had to bear around 400 million euros in additional costs. In the meantime, the prices have been raised slightly, further increases are to be followed. At the same time, in Europe, where all Porsche models for the world market come from, the costs should continue to decrease. In December and February, a total of 3,900 jobs was announced, and discussions are now underway about another savings package. CFO Jochen Breckner expects “painful” and “far-reaching” interventions. In fact, CEO Blume had hoped that he could make a special treatment in America with the Porsche mother group VW. The group brand Audi, which, like Porsche, has not yet had its own factory, wants to build its own work on site. And this investment in billions, according to Blume’s previous expectation, would make US President Trump enacted part of the tariffs. Now the U -turn follows. The manager no longer considers a special deal to be likely. So VW has to help himself differently, and on Wednesday it initially remained unclear what that means. It was only held on the expansion plans in overseas, it was just said. That means: A new Audi factory will continue to be considered. Finally, with local production, at least for the Audi models produced on site, all tariffs accounted for, and perhaps states even give subsidies for new factory construction. Coverage space: In Sindelfingen, new cars from the Mercedes production with freight trains. In contrast to Audi and Porsche, the company has been producing many vehicles in the United States for decades and exports expensive city off -road vehicles from there to other countries. CEO Källenius would have liked to be offset by American exports with imports, but nothing turns into it. “Deal is deal,” he admitted on Wednesday. An additional agreement is not to be expected. After all, in Europe, Mercedes benefits from the abolition of import duties for cars produced in America, just like the rival BMW, which is similarly positioned in overseas and also exports many vehicles from there. The benefits due to the lower tariffs in Europe are “rather small” compared to the burdens of American tariffs, according to CFO Harald Wilhelm. After the company had gone to the automotive business for the automotive business of six to eight percent, but had decreased and no longer decreased in April because the Trump’s announcements changed again, Wilhelm now dares to do a concrete way Outlook too. Mercedes is therefore aiming for a return on sales of only four to six percent for the current financial year – after 8.1 percent in 2024 and 6.2 percent in the first six months of the current year. In addition to the tariffs, Mercedes most recently had to fight in China and posted costs for the savings program “Next Level Performance”, which had been running since December, and the task of van production in the Argentine Virrey del Pino. More on the subject of further ads, Porsche also lowers the outlook for the overall year. After a first correction in April, the goal is now with an operational return return of five to seven percent. The bandwidth has thus further removed from the 20 percent, which Porsche had promised during the IPO a few years ago and which one still considers in the long term – provided that the environment also brightens again. But there should now be a ray of hope. CEO Blume said that from next year there will be a “positive economic momentum”. So he wants to walk through the valley of tears quickly, also thanks to new models that are supposed to drive longer than originally planned with an internal combustion engine.
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