2019: Porsche Holding continues its growth path

• The markets for passenger vehicles are stagnating

• Porsche Holding increases new car sales to 757,200 vehicles (+ 1.9%)

• Number of dealerships and employees is rising

• Volkswagen Group brands are increasing their market share in Austria

• Unique ranking of the brands: Volkswagen followed by ŠKODA and SEAT

• Record year for both ŠKODA, SEAT, Porsche and Exclusive Cars and for Porsche Bank

Overall market development is stagnating in many regions. Vienna,13 December 2019 - Despite facing some challenging conditions, Porsche Holding Salzburg (PHS) is able to look back on another successful financial year in 2019.

On the occasion of the traditional annual press conference just before the end of the year, Dr Hans Peter Schützinger, CEO of the PHS Management Board, today presented the provisional sales figures achieved by the company in 29 countries around the world.

The automotive industry is undergoing radical change. Alternative drive systems, increasing digitalization and networking as well as ambitious climate protection goals and CO₂ targets are the great challenges of our time.

"Although the steady growth in the new car markets relevant to us is cooling off, this year we succeeded in maintaining or even expanding our market performance with the Volkswagen Group brands in wholesale and retail", emphasised Dr Schützinger.

Review 1-12 2019 

Performance of PHS is at last year's high level. 

Austria

In Austria, PHS expects a new car market for the full year of 2019 of around 326,000 vehicles, which is 4.4% less than in the previous year.

It should be noted that 2018 was the third largest in the history of the Austrian market for passenger vehicles. The overall passenger car market in 2019 will remain at the average level for the last ten years.

The overall decline in the Austrian market is attributable, among other things, to the slight slowdown in the economy and the renewed changeover of the exhaust gas measurement process (WLTP 2) with temporary restrictions on the availability of individual model, engine and transmission variants. In addition to this, the late decision on the adjustment of the standard fuel consumption tax (NoVA) led to uncertainty and reticence on the part of purchasers.

However, with the Volkswagen Group brands in Austria, PHS has succeeded in further expanding its market share. At the end of November, this figure stood at 34.9%, representing an increase of 0.6 percentage points.

CEE region

In the CEE region, where PHS is represented in the wholesale in 12 countries, the individual passenger vehicle markets developed differently - in a range from plus 18.1% in Romania to a minus of 10.7% in Albania compared to the previous year. In total, the overall passenger vehicle markets in the CEE countries will show an increase of around 3.5%.

In 2019 PHS will achieve an average market share of just under 17.3% in the CEE region. The majority of the PHS importers in the CEE countries were able to maintain their market performance or to increase it further. Decreases were only evident in the Czech Republic and Ukraine.

South America

In Chile and Colombia, the markets for new passenger vehicles have thus far declined by 8% in 2019. Continuing unrest and rioting have considerably slowed down the economies in these countries over the past few weeks. Thanks to a very good start to the year, PHS was nevertheless able to increase its market share in these two countries by 0.3 percentage points to 5.5%. 

ASEAN

The passenger vehicle market in the ASEAN region remains at the previous year's level. In Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, PHS deliveries receded slightly due to model changes and limited availability.

Key figures for 2019 

New and used car sales are higher than in the previous year.

The number of employees and the number of retail dealerships has increased.

At the end of the year, PHS expects a new vehicle sales volume of 757,200 vehicles and thus an increase of 1.9% compared to the previous year.

The wholesale volume will amount to almost 365,000 vehicles which corresponds to a minus compared to the record previous year of 1.9%. In retail, on the other hand, it proved possible to increase the volume by approximately 5.8% to 392,400 vehicles. A large part of the growth in volume in retail can be traced back to new acquisitions in Italy, Japan and China.

In addition to the increase in the volume of new cars, PHS also increased its used car sales by 3.6% to 221,000 vehicles.

The number of employees increased to 32,000 (previous year 30,883). The number of dealership locations operated worldwide by PHS also increased in the current year to 494 (+37).

The PHS wholesale trade volume for 2019 can be divided up as follows:

Austria: 34%

CEE region 55%

South America: 9%

ASEAN: 2%The following volume breakdown can be found for PHS retail:

Austria: 12.5%

CEE region 20%

Rest of Europe/world^*): 57.5%

China, Japan: 10%

*) Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Sweden, as well as Singapore and Chile

Market in Austria: January to November 2019

Over the past three months, the Austrian passenger vehicle market grew by 9.7% compared with the same period of the previous year with 306,681 new registrations and reduced the gap to the strong previous year to 4.7%. 

Volkswagen Group brands continue to maintain their high level

With a 34.9% market share, by the end of November the Volkswagen Group brands had increased their market performance by 0.6 percentage points. From the beginning of the year, the company succeeded in having three Group brands occupy the top 3 positions - with the long-term market leader, Volkswagen (continuously the Number One brand in the Austrian market since 1957), being ahead of ŠKODA and SEAT.

Dr Schützinger adds: "To my knowledge, such a ranking is not found in any other country in the world. It makes us very happy that Austrians value our brands and models so highly and that they buy them as well."

A similar picture can be observed in terms of popularity. No fewer than seven models from the Volkswagen Group rank among the most popular models in Austria: the first four places are taken by the ŠKODA Octavia followed by the VW Golf, VW Polo and VW T-Roc; with the ŠKODA Fabia (6), VW Tiguan (7) and VW Bus (8) also ranking close behind.

This high level of acceptance of the Volkswagen Group brand models is reflected in all vehicle classes: from small cars to the sporty top-range segment, from A-SUVs to passenger buses. In almost all vehicle categories, one or several models produced by the Volkswagen Group are to be found in leading positions. 

Development of different drive systems

The share of the overall market occupied by diesel models continued to decline in 2019, but not to the same extent as in previous years.

By the end of November, it amounted to 38.2%, around 2.8 percentage points less than in the previous year. At 54%, the share occupied by petrol models, on the other hand, remained unchanged. The alternative drive systems increased their share to 7.7%, representing an increase of 2.9 percentage points.

Over the same period, the Volkswagen brands managed to again increase their diesel share. At 53.4% (+ 2.8 percentage points), Volkswagen's diesel share lies significantly above the market average.

Alternative drive systems

By the end of November, 23,766 new cars with alternative drive systems had been registered in Austria, an increase of 51.7% compared to the same period last year.

The largest share is taken by models with hybrid technology, whose market share is currently 4.8% (+ 2.0 percentage points). The purely electric vehicles also increased their market share by 0.8 percentage points to 2.8%. No growth has yet been shown by the models with natural gas drive systems, which remain unchanged at a 0.2% market share.

2020 to see the Volkswagen Group brands launch a new era of e-mobility

Building on the new MEB (modular electrification system), the Volkswagen Group brands will launch an e-mobility offensive from 2020.

The Volkswagen ID.3 will be the first model to roll off the production line towards the middle of the year. It will be available in three different battery sizes, allowing ranges of up to 550 kilometres (WLTP). Further model variants of the ID have already been announced and will follow, as will all-electric models from ŠKODA (Vision IV) and SEAT (el-Born).

The premium brands of Audi and Porsche have also announced further models to join the already existing e-tron and Taycan models.

With the commencement of the mass production of electric vehicles, the Volkswagen Group will make a decisive contribution to the democratisation of this environmentally-friendly drive technology and help it achieve a breakthrough.

The ID.3 will be available in Austria from April 2020. With a starting price of around 30,000 euros it will be on a par with comparable diesel models and thus appeal to a broad section of the population.

"We are already intensively preparing our dealers and service partners for e-mobility. With our MOON brand, we are also offering individual charging solutions for private and business customers as well as the municipal sector and even shopping centres", says Dr Schützinger.

With MOON Power, PHS has developed an offering which allows tailor-made charging solutions for private and commercial users. This involves:

• future-proof charging hardware
• decentralised, sustainable power generation
• cost-effective storage systems
• advice, service and installation

PHS activities in 2019

Opening of MOONCITY

On 6 December, PHS opened its MOONCITY - an innovation centre for new and electric mobility. "The MOONCITY is a flagship project of our company and illustrates in an innovative manner our path to the mobility of the future. It enables our customers and interested parties to experience it in real terms," said Dr Schützinger in his opening speech.

Market entry in Portugal

At the beginning of October 2019, PHS assumed importer responsibility in Portugal for the Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Audi, ŠKODA, Bentley and Lamborghini brands as well as for eleven retail dealerships in Lisbon and Porto. With around 550 employees in wholesale and retail, in the medium-term PHS plans to get the new car volume back up to approximately 30,000 vehicles.

Expansion of activities in the ASEAN region with the acquisition of
12 Volkswagen retail dealerships in Japan

At the beginning of January 2019, PHS launched the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand in Tokyo/Japan with 12 retail dealerships. With 310 employees, around 3,000 new cars and 4,200 used cars will be sold annually.

Porsche Wien-Liesing

The largest PHS investment project in retail in its final phase

Since the start of construction in the spring of 2016, the first two phases have produced new showrooms for the Audi, SEAT, ŠKODA, Porsche and Das WeltAuto brands. A new bodywork centre has also been completed on an area of 3,500 m² and a parking deck with more than 360 parking spaces. New social spaces and a canteen for up to 400 employees have also been built.

The third and final phase, which is currently being implemented, involves the construction of the showrooms for Bentley and Lamborghini and the building of the new Volkswagen showroom. Further modernisation and conversion work will also take place in the service areas.

The completion of this, the largest single investment project in retail in the history of PHS, is planned for the end of 2020.

Collaboration with OMV to promote CNG

In June PHS and OMV signed a collaboration agreement, in which measures for the development and promotion of CNG mobility were agreed. Among other matters, OMV announced that it would invest up to 10 million euros in the CNG network. The Volkswagen Group brands offer a wide range of natural gas-powered vehicles. These have the advantage of causing up to 25% less CO₂, 75% less nitrogen oxides and 98% less particulate matter.

OMV and Porsche Holding will provide free CNG fuelling at OMV filling stations for the first year.

PHS HR strategy with new training priorities and a major apprentice offensive

PHS is to set itself new priorities in terms of its HR strategy with a view to positioning itself as an attractive employer with a new employer brand.

This will involve, for example, the following priority programmes:

• Professional MBA in "Mobility Management" in co-operation with the University of Economics and Business (WU) in Vienna
• Development of the "Porsche Holding Careers" international employer brand, also on LinkedIn
• New training priorities in the service department focussing on e-mobility technicians and high-voltage experts
• Introduction of "Mobile Working" and the opening of a company kindergarten at the Porschehof Salzburg location
• Increased focus on apprenticeships involving ten occupations. Every year, 200 TOP apprentices are accepted from around 600 applicants.

Porsche Bank - a continued success story

2019 was also a successful year for Porsche Bank. The Salzburg-based company is now represented in 15 countries.

This year, the portfolio of customer contracts for financing, insurance and maintenance amounts to 1.83 million. This represents an increase of 10%.

Looking at the Austrian market, in 2019 it proved possible to achieve a 10% increase in financing contracts. The portfolio grew to 227,000 units as a result.

Porsche Bank finances 45% of the Volkswagen Group brands. The total assets of the Porsche Bank Group amount to 6.6 billion euros.

In 2019, Porsche Bank

• continued to be the clear market leader for vehicle financing and
• the Number 1 in terms of fleet management.

2020 market forecast

PHS expects the market environment to remain virtually unaltered in 2020 and has set itself the following targets:

• continuation of the growth strategy
• maintaining or increasing market performance in the countries where it is active
• launch of an extensive e-car offensive beginning with the Volkswagen ID.3 in the middle of the year and simultaneous promotion of all drive systems
• Numerous new models from the Volkswagen Group will stimulate the market:
• • Volkswagen: Golf 8, ID.3
  • Audi: e-tron Sportback, A3
  • SEAT: Leon, el-Born and Cupra Formentor
  • ŠKODA: OCTAVIA, CITIGO^e iV
  • Porsche: Taycan

Porsche Holding Salzburg: Salzburg-based Porsche Holding GmbH has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Volkswagen AG since 1 March 2011, managing automotive wholesale and retail operations and providing financial services as well as IT system development. The company was founded in 1949 and, as of the end of 2019, operates in 29 countries including Austria, Western and South-eastern Europe, Colombia, Chile, China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.