Why legacy car companies should go goodwill hunting

VOLKSWAGEN is having a miserable year largely thanks to Porsche, which it listed in 2022 while keeping a 75 per cent stake. In September, VW took a six billion euro (US$6.7 billion) goodwill impairment on Porsche, the biggest item in a profit warning that cut its margin forecast to 1 per cent at most.

Porsche’s first-half performance was grim. Year-on-year deliveries fell 16 per cent to 122,306 cars. Sales in China, once its biggest market, sank 32 per cent. Every Porsche model line saw numbers decline – except one.

Sales of the 911, the iconic sports car whose name and silhouette have been around for 62 years, rose 19 per cent to 30,534 units, enough to account for a quarter of Porsche’s overall sales.