“Value creation must primarily take place in Europe”

Porsche Holding Salzburg grew internationally despite the automotive industry’s difficult economic environment and became Austria’s highest-revenue company, according to managing director spokesperson Hans Peter Schützinger.

The company sold more than one million new and used vehicles worldwide, exceeded 40 billion euros in revenue for the first time and expanded or defended market share in many countries. Schützinger attributed much of its 2025 sales and revenue growth to entering Italy and Sweden as an importer.

He cautioned against being misled by satisfactory figures from the first half of 2026. Geopolitical conditions and the wider economy hang over the business, he said, while growth has already slowed in some markets.

Schützinger described the automotive industry as undergoing its biggest transformation in history. US tariffs, a sharp decline in the Chinese market, geopolitical conflicts, the shift to electric mobility, tougher competition in Europe and extensive regulation are affecting the entire industry. He said this is not a normal economic downturn that will disappear after a few years, but a deep industrial change taking place at an unprecedented speed.

He also criticized what he called excessive implementation of climate and bureaucratic rules, saying it harms the economy, competitiveness and employment. On electric vehicles, Schützinger said the industry had used combustion-engine models for more than a century, so the transition could not happen overnight. “It does not work to impose a change in technology through politics,” he said, arguing that policymakers had failed to bring consumers along because consumers ultimately decide.

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It does not work to impose a change in technology through politics.