Porsche achieves new sales and profit but warns of downturn

The iconic sports car maker warned however that although it had been able to create new jobs, it was not able to escape the significant slump in demand which has hit the entire automotive industry this autumn and therefore expects a decrease in sales in the current business year 2008/09. Porche said 2007/08 was the most successful year in its 60-year history with pre-tax profit increasing by 46 per cent to 8.569 billion Euro. Sales increased by 1.2 percent to 98,652 vehicles; a growth Porche said was fuelled by the Cayenne series. The Porsche Group workforce rose to more than 12,200 employees - up 5.5 per cent. However, looking ahead, Porsche said it expected a significant drop in sales in the current business year. The signs of a severe decrease in demand in the automotive industry were unmistakable the world over. Porsche would not be able to escape this downward trend and turnover in the first four months of the new business year would be slightly above two billion Euro following 2.36 billion Euro in the same period last year. It said its Zuffenhausen plant, where production stopped on 21 November, would remain closed until the end of January 2009, after production ceased on 21 November 2008. However, employees’ working time accounts were well filled due to the high level of production capacity last year so the balancing act could be performed without them losing working hours.