Porsche Helps Keep Volkswagen Group’s Doors Open

By Adam Pockross - October 28, 2016

Macan

Raise your hand if you were worried that Volkswagen’s diesel scandal would adversely affect Porsche’s earnings?

For the Pollyannas among us, kudos for saying no. But the realists probably saw some potentially terrible writing on the wall when Porsche’s parent company tried to pull a fast one on the American public by lying about how many pollutants their diesel engines were emitting. However, as of the latest earnings reports, we can see that Porsche has somehow remained above the polluted VW fray.

According to Fortune, VW’s operating profits have been cut more than half during the last quarter, but thanks to a strong showing by Porsche — particularly with sales of the Macan SUV — the Volkswagen Group “raised its full-year profit and revenue forecasts.”

While Porsche remains a bright spot, VW needs to figure out ways to cut costs. They’ve been negotiating with labor leaders to try and figure something out, but those talks have apparently stalled. And though lip service has been paid to cutting R&D expenditures, those costs rose nearly 2% from January through September.

Besides Porsche sales, another bright spot for the group is that VW sales have actually climbed 6.7% year-over-year, the strongest growth in two and a half years.

But with the scandal’s price tag rising to 18.2 billion euros, the entire group has its work cut out, if they hope to remain profitable. Good thing seemingly everyone wants a Porsche.