Porsche’s multi‑billion dollar electric vehicle gamble just imploded, while Ferrari’s old‑school, gasoline‑first discipline stands as a quiet rebuke to green central planning and corporate “woke” groupthink.[4][5]
Story Snapshot
- Porsche’s operating profit collapsed roughly 99%, driven by a massive write‑down tied to its electric vehicle push and subsequent reversal.[1][4][5]
- Management is now pausing EV expansion, cutting jobs, and shifting back toward combustion and hybrid models after acknowledging “overly aggressive” goals.[1][5]
- Weak demand in China, rising tariffs, and cooling global luxury spending turned a once “can’t‑miss” EV narrative into a $4–5 billion mistake.[1][4][5]
- Ferrari, with low volumes and a cautious EV strategy, avoided the same trap—offering a stark contrast in how to resist political and market fads.[4]
Porsche’s 99% Profit Collapse Exposes the EV Bubble
Porsche went from one of the world’s most profitable automakers to posting a roughly €966 million (about $1.1 billion) quarterly loss and a 99 percent drop in operating profit for the first nine months of 2025, a fall from about €4 billion to roughly €40 million.[1][3][4] The company openly tied the collapse to a costly product “realignment” after an aggressive electric vehicle push faltered, with write‑downs and restructuring swinging results deep into the red.[4][5]
According to Porsche’s own communications, the company is booking extraordinary expenses of about €3.1 billion for 2025 to reset its product strategy, including delayed electric vehicle launches, changes in battery activities, and organizational restructuring.[5] Reporting by European outlets adds that total write‑downs and related charges have reached roughly €3.9–4.7 billion, cutting automotive profit by around 98 percent as Porsche shifts away from its previous electric vehicle trajectory.[5] These are real losses, not just paper accounting tweaks.
How “Overly Aggressive” EV Targets Turned Into Billions in Write‑Downs
Porsche had targeted making about 80 percent of its lineup electric by 2030, a goal widely celebrated by climate activists and European regulators but now described as “overly aggressive” by the company itself.[1] Its first major electric model, the Taycan, suffered from software and battery issues, while the Macan electric vehicle arrived more than a year late due to software problems, undermining sales and leaving expensive tooling and research stranded on the balance sheet.[1][4][5]
Video and print analyses of Porsche’s financials show that the company absorbed an estimated $3–4.4 billion in asset write‑offs tied directly to electric vehicle tooling, research, and investments once management conceded the strategy no longer made economic sense at current demand and cost levels.[4] Porsche is now explicitly pivoting back toward internal combustion and hybrid models that buyers actually want, with executives “consciously accepting” weaker near‑term results to rebuild a more balanced lineup.[5] That is corporate code for unwinding a political fad at a very high price.
Tariffs, China Slowdown, and the Luxury Squeeze Made a Bad Bet Worse
On top of the electric vehicle reset, Porsche ran straight into the brick wall of geopolitics and global slowdown, particularly in China, which had been one of its most important profit engines.[1][3][4] Reports show global revenue down about 6 percent, roughly €2 billion, while vehicle deliveries slipped by about 13,000 units as Chinese demand cooled and overall luxury spending softened after years of easy money and “revenge” consumption.[1][3][4]
U.S. and European tariff battles added hundreds of millions of dollars in extra costs, with Porsche paying an estimated $784 million in tariffs over the year as trade tensions hit German exports.[4] Analysts describe the result as a perfect storm: an expensive technology shift toward electric vehicles, political pressure and trade policy distortions, and a cooling luxury market all converging on a company that had stretched too far from its core gasoline performance identity.[1][3][4] In other words, the market finally pushed back on central‑planner dreams.
Ferrari’s Cautious Path: Small Volumes, Strong Margins, Less Ideology
Against this chaos, Ferrari offers a study in conservative strategy and resistance to hype, even as some of its management flirts with six‑figure electric concepts.[4] Ferrari produces only around 13,000 to 14,000 cars per year, compared with Porsche’s roughly 250,000 to 311,000 units, deliberately capping volume to protect exclusivity and pricing power while keeping its customer base focused on traditional high‑performance driving.[4] That limited scale reduces exposure to sudden demand swings and regulatory whiplash.
Analysts contrasting the two companies note that Ferrari has moved far more cautiously on electrification, using hybrid systems where they make engineering sense while refusing to bet the entire brand on unproven mass electric demand.[4] That restraint looks wise as Porsche shutters electric bike and battery subsidiaries and cuts about 500 jobs to contain losses from its electric vehicle detour. Ferrari’s approach underscores an old lesson: serve loyal customers first, political fashions last, and you are less likely to wake up billions poorer.
Sources:
[1] YouTube – Porsche Lost $5 Billion – Ferrari Ignored WARNING Signs
[3] YouTube – How Porsche Went Full EV And Ended Up Destroying Its …
[4] YouTube – ‘This is a major crisis:’ Why Porsche puts the brakes on EVs | DW News
[5] Web – Behind the Porsche $1.1 Billion Quarterly Loss in Q3 2025
