• Difficult global conditions made for a challenging automotive year
• Sales of new cars worldwide averaged 691,758 vehicles (-7.5%) over five years; the market share in Austria was maintained at 39%
• Sales of used cars rose to 221,401 vehicles (+4.2%)
• Number of dealerships worldwide updated to 498 due to consolidations
• Number of employees in 29 countries increased to 37,361 (+4.0%)
• Outlook for the 2025 automotive year: the overall situation will remain challenging as competition intensifies; Porsche Holding is starting the new year with a high order backlog; efficient management and cautious investment remain imperative
• Additional 250,000 new passenger car registrations possible in the domestic market in Austria

Porsche Holding Salzburg (PHS) has once again achieved a solid result in a year marked by political, economic and social challenges. In doing so, Europe’s largest and most successful automotive distribution company has added a new chapter to its unique success story in the “75 years of Porsche Holding in Salzburg” anniversary year. It all began in 1949 in Alpenstraße with the delivery of the first 14 VW Beetles.

“Overall, the anniversary year 2024 was another good year. Thanks to our robust business model and the excellent sales performance by our employees worldwide, we were able to demonstrate our effectiveness and crisis resilience yet again,” summed up Dr Hans Peter Schützinger, CEO of the PHS Management Board, at the annual press conference in Vienna.

“However, we should not be misled by the solid results,” Dr Hans Peter Schützinger went on.“The fact is that we were also not immune to the regional crises and market volatility. They left their mark on our results and will remain with us in 2025. Efficient management, cautious investment and value-added growth remain imperative.”

For the first time, Porsche Holding Salzburg saw a trend reversal in China, previously a growth market. “The economy in China is currently also running out of steam in the luxury segment, and we and our dealers are feeling the impact of this crisis,” Dr Hans Peter Schützinger explained.“We are now breathing new life into the market with the new electric Macan, among other things, but the crisis will not simply disappear. That is why we are remaining flexible in our approach in China and entering a consolidation phase. We are also countering this downturn by strengthening value-added areas such as servicing and used cars.”

Dr Hans Peter Schützinger commented on the current economic developments in Europe and the bad news from Austrian companies: “We must all do our bit to ensure the future viability of the company. But our jobs are secure and there will be no workforce reduction programme. So far, demographics and natural turnover have done the job for us. However, to be able to respond to changes, we need greater flexibility and mobility within the company – also among employees.”

• Wholesale and retail trade: Sales of new cars were down 7.5%, but deliveries are within a good five-year average at 691,758 vehicles.
• Used car trade: Global sales of used cars rose by 4.2% to 221,401 vehicles in 2024.
• Dealerships: The number of dealerships fell to 498 (-29) compared with the previous year due to consolidation and a new form of recording.
• Employees: The number of employees in the 29 PHS countries rose to 37,361 (+4%) as a result of new acquisitions and consolidations in individual countries as well as in the IT sector.

Porsche Holding Salzburg can be pleased about another significant milestone in its anniversary year. On 1 July 2024, the Volkswagen Group transferred management responsibility for the two importers’ markets, Italy and Sweden, to the Salzburg-based automotive distribution company.

“Italy and Sweden are two strategic and exciting markets that have a major role to play both now and in the future. The transfer of regional responsibility is a reflection of the trust placed in us as distribution experts,” said Dr Hans Peter Schützinger.“With Porsche Holding’s entrepreneurial and decentralised approach and the implementation of Porsche Informatik’s IT solutions, we will make distribution activities in both countries even more efficient and more resilient and capitalise on the numerous development and growth opportunities.”

This step will allow Porsche Holding to scale new heights. The passenger car market in Italy is one of the five largest car markets in Europe with around 1.56 million vehicles; Sweden has around 290,000 vehicles and is one of the flagship markets in Europe in terms of electromobility and digitalization.

In 2022, the Porsche Inter Auto Group launched OutletCars.at, a pilot operation for trading “used vehicles” of up to ten years old, in order to market leasing and fleet returns through its own channels at an attractive fixed price. And with success. “Since it launched two-and-a-half years ago, we are now represented in 13 countries with OutletCars. Through the platform, we are addressing target groups who want a reasonably priced used vehicle – quickly and easily. This really captures the spirit of the times,” said Dr Hans Peter Schützinger.

“The next rollout of OutletCars is already in the pipeline and will take place in early 2025,” he added. “We will open the first OutletCars branch outside Europe in our retail market Japan.”

New owners across Europe found around 7,000 used vehicles through OutletCars in 2024. At Porsche Wels and Porsche Linz-Leonding, OutletCars combines perfect car cleaning and electric charging as an additional new service aptly called “Clean & Charge”.

Porsche Holding Salzburg serves the entire value chain in the automotive trade – from wholesale and retail to the financial services offered by Porsche Bank and Porsche Informatik’s IT solutions. Connecting all these areas allows us to focus even more on the needs of our customers worldwide and offer them tailor-made services.

The Porsche Bank Group also further expanded its leading position as a mobility financial services provider over the last year, with more than 1.5 million contracts in its portfolio by the end of 2024 (+4% growth). The consolidated balance sheet total of the Porsche Holding subsidiary, which has 1,556 employees in 15 countries, is 8.2 billion euros. Around 47% of all Group vehicles delivered by Porsche Holding Salzburg are financed by the Porsche Bank Group.

Porsche Informatik is one of the largest software development companies in Austria today with over 1,000 employees and operates in five countries with eight locations (including Salzburg, Hagenberg and Vienna in Austria). No fewer than 180 customised solutions for the automotive wholesale, retail and financial services sectors are now in daily use by millions of users in 35 countries. Around 30% of its services are already being provided for the Volkswagen Group – and the two new PHS countries Italy and Sweden will also benefit from this.

MOON POWER continued its growth course despite the difficult market environment and expanded its revenue to 65 million euros (+30%) with intelligent energy and charging solutions. With around 70 employees, the Salzburg-based company operates in 24 markets. In October 2024, MOON, together with Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Verbund, launched a pioneering pilot project on bidirectional charging, where electric cars – in this specific case a VW ID.Buzz – act as energy storage devices and feed this energy back into the grid when needed.

The TVZ (parts distribution centre) guarantees smooth-running mobility. Porsche Holding Salzburg’s competence centre for spare parts and accessory logistics, which opened 40 years ago at the location in Wals-Siezenheim, supplies the Volkswagen Group brands with spare parts in 18 countries in Central and Eastern Europe. More than 102,000 items are stored in an area of 77,000 square metres and dispatched by around 360 employees. Revenue for 2024 came in at around 690 million euros.

The domestic passenger vehicle market shows slight signs of recovery in this automotive year and, with 232,100 new registrations from January to November, is 5.2% higher than in the same period in the previous year. The market for all-electric vehicles, on the other hand, is down on the previous year – 40,359 new registrations represent a decline of 7.4%; the share of electric vehicles in the overall market is currently 17.4% (19.8% 1–11/2023).

“Depending on the figures for the respective brands at year end and the tactical registrations to achieve the annual targets, we will probably finish well up on the targeted 250,000 vehicles,” said Dr Hans Peter Schützinger. “It is also clear that the tactical registrations at the end of the year distort the actual state of the market,” he added.“A closer look at the figures shows that the automotive market is still slowing down due to the overall economic situation, with a shortfall of around 50,000 vehicles for the fifth time in a row – vehicles that we also don’t receive for servicing.”

In 2024, the Volkswagen Group brands consolidated their exceptional market position with a market share of 39.5% after the first 11 months; unit sales rose to a high level with 91,645 new vehicle registrations (+5%). In the electric vehicle segment, the Volkswagen Group brands account for almost a quarter of all new registrations this year (24.3%).

“We are optimistic that we will be able to maintain our good market position and end the automotive year again with a market share of around 39%. But it is more important that we are starting the new year with a good order backlog. We are still on track with our balanced brand and model portfolio. Thanks to the dynamic market, we were also able to compensate for the declines in the e-mobility segment with PHEVs,” said Dr Hans Peter Schützinger. “Nevertheless, we are fully committed to pushing ahead with e-mobility, as reflected in our large number of new models,” he added.

The Volkswagen Group brands are once again among the drivers in this automotive year – above all the Volkswagen brand itself. The car manufacturer from Wolfsburg not only dominates the brand ranking, but is also the undisputed number one in the model charts with the VW Golf, which is celebrating its 50th birthday this year. This success is rounded off by the Škoda brand, which follows in second place in both the brand ranking and model ranking with the Octavia and, together with Volkswagen, takes the top two positions in the domestic car market.

The Porsche sports car brand can also look back on a successful year: the car manufacturer from Stuttgart will finish with a new record for deliveries and new registrations as well as its second-best sales year. Austria, where Porsche has a market share of 0.7%, is one of the strongest Porsche countries in the world.

Porsche Holding Salzburg expects market conditions worldwide to remain challenging. In addition to the volatile economic situation and loss of purchasing power, increased competition, tackling buyer reluctance and boosting e-mobility will be the dominant themes in the 2025 automotive year, together with the CO2targets to be met.

“We are optimistic about the new automotive year and are confident that we can achieve a comparable result to the one for 2024,” said Dr Hans Peter Schützinger.“The signs are good, because we are entering the new year with a solid order backlog of more than three months,” he continued.“In addition, the brands’ many new electric and combustion engine models are also fully available with a return to normal delivery times.”

Electromobility remains a focus, because it can only pick up speed again with a growing and affordable range of BEVs and PHEVs, which is also essential to achieve the short-term and long-term CO2 targets. “The future is electric and there is no way around it. However, the roadmap to achieve this will take longer than politicians originally thought. At the same time, e-mobility will remain the strongest driver of growth.”

Of course, Porsche Holding Salzburg is not immune to the developments in the automotive industry. Dr Hans Peter Schützinger sees an advantage not just in the robust and broad-based business model, but also in the powerful organisational structure: “Over the past few years, we have continuously worked on our cost structure, efficiency and crisis resilience and invested in our employees, which will prove to be a competitive advantage in 2025 and beyond in what remains a volatile economic environment.”

Given the prevailing conditions, the domestic car market will not grow much in 2025. “Against this backdrop, we expect the new car market in 2025 to be at a similar level to this year. However, realistically we should be able to exceed the 250,000 mark,” said Dr Hans Peter Schützinger, estimating the market potential for the coming automotive year. A sustained return to pre-COVID-19 levels in terms of unit numbers is not to be expected any time soon.

From a pull to a push market: the Austrian automotive market will be completely transformed into a buyer market again in 2025. “This trend already become apparent this year and will gain momentum in the coming year with increasing numbers of discounts and incentives. These will particularly be offered for electric vehicles, to make consumers excited about e-mobility and to achieve the CO2 targets,” explained Dr Hans Peter Schützinger.

Positive political signals from the new government are also needed for e-mobility to pick up speed again in the long term. Economic volatility, but also the recurring discussion about the future of the combustion engine, make the transformation towards e-mobility more difficult for the entire industry. “We will continue to use a variety of formats such as the ‘Wiener Elektro Tage’ event to win over people’s hearts and minds for e-mobility. This event will be held again on Vienna’s Rathausplatz from 25 to 28 September 2025,” concluded Dr Hans Peter Schützinger.