Porsche Holding Salzburg achieves further revenue growth in 2021 thanks to its robust business model

• Improved performance despite challenging environment
• Revenue at Porsche Holding Salzburg reached a new record of 24.2 billion euros (+12.5%) in the past automotive year
• New car sales of 674,800 vehicles (+3.2%) slightly above previous year; focus on higher-margin vehicles had a positive impact on results
• Sales of used cars remained slightly below the previous year at 213,100 vehicles (-3.0%) due to a shortage of supply
• Broad strategic position with 525 retail locations in 29 countries on three continents; number of employees increased to 34,000 (+3.4%)
• "We remained on course for the second exceptional year in a row and were able to sustainably continue our transformation and growth. We set the strategic path early on, which is now reflected in our ability to generate value and in the best revenue result in our history," says Dr Hans Peter Schützinger, CEO of the Porsche Holding Management Board.

Salzburg, 31 March 2022 - In the past financial year, Porsche Holding Salzburg once again consolidated its profitability and position as one of the companies with the highest revenue in the country, despite difficult conditions resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, semiconductor shortages and the resulting supply bottlenecks. At 24.2 billion euros (+12.5% on 2020), revenue reached a new record high, proving the robustness of the business model of Europe's largest automotive retail dealership even in economically volatile times.

"We remained on course for the second exceptional year in a row and were able to sustainably continue our transformation and growth. Our sustainable and internationally broad-based business model with attractive brands, innovative products and services, as well as a high-performance sales organisation led to a good operating result and positive development in all areas. We set the strategic course early on, which is now reflected in our ability to generate value and the best revenue result in our history," says Dr Hans Peter Schützinger, CEO of the Porsche Holding Management Board, summing up the 2021 financial year.

Porsche Holding Salzburg delivered a total of 674,800 new cars (+3.2%) in wholesale and in retail during the past financial year, while sales of used cars/vehicles were 3% down on the previous year at 213,100 vehicles due to a shortage of nearly-new, demonstration and used cars.

"The positive buying mood in our global markets and the great sales potential is demonstrated by the backlog of orders, which is twice as high as in an automotive year with normal supplies, accumulated through the microchip crisis and supply bottlenecks," says Dr Hans Peter Schützinger. "The focus on higher-priced and therefore higher-margin models has had a positive impact on the revenue and more than compensated for the fall in sales."

The number of employees continued to rise with the new acquisitions in wholesale and retail: almost 34,000 employees (+3.4%) are currently working worldwide under the umbrella of Porsche Holding Salzburg. Overall, the number of locations declined due to new structures and restructuring measures as well as the creation of alliances and a change in the way that they are counted, for example, in Austria and China. As at the end of 2021, the Salzburg-based car dealership operated 525 locations in 29 countries on three continents.

Outlook 2022: Porsche Holding Salzburg expects the market conditions and the rest of the year to remain challenging and volatile, which will also have an impact on the operating business. "We can't say exactly how much at the moment. A great deal depends above all on how the Ukraine crisis continues," says Dr Hans Peter Schützinger.

Experiences from 2021 have shown that Porsche Holding Salzburg can build on a robust and therefore crisis-proof business model. "However, economically we still have extremely challenging months ahead of us. We are therefore continuing to proceed with caution in the first half of the year, with a particular focus on performance improvements and cost discipline in all business areas. At the same time, we will continue to pursue our strategic investments," adds Dr Hans Peter Schützinger.

For the second half of 2022, it can be assumed that the semiconductor supply will gradually ease, and the supply of new vehicles will improve. It will then become important to start reducing the high order backlog in all our markets as quickly as possible in order to meet the pent-up mobility needs of our customers. "Unfortunately, many customers often have to wait six months longer than usual for their vehicle," says Dr Hans Peter Schützinger, who is well aware of the challenge.

Nevertheless, the noticeable trend towards car purchases is expected to continue, driven by a number of attractive new releases in conventional as well as in alternative and purely electric drive systems. Particularly in all those countries where subsidies are making a switch to e-mobility attractive, this will continue to gain popularity and will therefore achieve further market growth.

"Our roadmap to the future is set: we are consistently driving the transformation forward and focusing even further on the core topics of electrification, digitalisation, growth and internationalisation as well as sustainability. Among employees in particular, the social and ecological responsibility of their employer is becoming increasingly important," says Dr Hans Peter Schützinger, thus indicating a clear direction. "That is why we launched our 'evolve 2030' strategy at the end of last year, which is essentially based on and also pays into the Volkswagen Group's NEW AUTO strategy. We have therefore set the guiding principles for our sales organisation in order to position ourselves sustainably for the coming years and to also remain confident of a positive future." In addition, the topic of mobility services is moving even more into focus.

The 2021 business divisions at a glance:

Wholesale

With 319,900 new cars sold in the 2021 financial year, Porsche Holding Salzburg was able to exceed the previous year's result by 8.3% in the wholesale business, despite ongoing production and delivery bottlenecks. Almost all 21 markets in which Porsche Holding is active as an importer showed a robust, and in some cases, even improved performance. The new markets in particular contributed significantly to growth here, i.e. Portugal (+70%), Colombia (+60%) and Chile (+98%). The number of employees in wholesale remained at a constant level of 3,775, while wholesale revenue rose by 16.1% to 8.99 billion euros.

Retail

In the 2021 financial year, a total of 344,200 new cars (-1.2%) were delivered to customers in the retail sector in 26 countries despite a strained supply situation and challenging economic conditions. The number of employees increased by 3.9% to 27,900, and revenue grew to 17.27 billion euros (+11%) in 2021.

At the same time, Porsche Holding Salzburg continued its course of growth and investment with a sense of proportion in the second year of crisis in a row, and further expanded its presence in strategic markets with the acquisition of the two Italian automotive retail groups, Rinaldi S.p.A in Piedmont and Baistrocchi S.p.A in Emilia-Romagna, the Suffren car dealership in Paris, France and the Möbus car dealership in Berlin, Germany. 

"The decision to retain our strategic investments and to stay on course despite volatile market conditions paid off. Global positioning, tailor-made local strategies and innovative products have brought us additional growth. Strong retail business in China again made a major contribution to the good result," says Dr Hans Peter Schützinger in summary, "We are currently in the process of further expanding our presence in China and positioning ourselves even more broadly with the brands we sell."

In the important retail market of China, Porsche Holding Salzburg was able to increase both revenue (3.2 billion euros (+18.3%)) and sales of new cars (40,300 vehicles, +2.5%) in 2021. The number of employees rose to 3,400 (+15.7%) in the same period. Porsche Holding Salzburg currently has 38 locations in China; four more will follow over the course of 2022.

In addition, around 10,700 new car sales (+2%) were handled directly by the importer companies in the retail sector, e.g. in Chile, Singapore or in small CEE countries.

Used cars

Porsche Holding Salzburg sold a total of 213,100 used cars in 2021, falling slightly short of the previous year (-3%). Customer demand would have allowed for a much better result, but production and delivery bottlenecks for new cars have led to a shift to the used car market and limited availability of demonstration and nearly-new cars, thinning out the supply here as well.

Porsche Bank

In the 2021 financial year, the Porsche Bank Group - active in financing, insurance and maintenance contract business in 15 countries - was able to expand its leading position as a mobility financial services provider. A new all-time high was achieved with about 2 million contracts (1,960,220) in the portfolio (+3.2% on 2020). Almost every second Group vehicle delivered in these countries by Porsche Holding Salzburg was financed by the Porsche Bank Group.

There are 1,450 people employed in Austria and in the foreign markets. Total assets of the entire Porsche Bank Group amounted to approximately 7.7 billion euro in the 2021 financial year.

Porsche Informatik

Porsche Informatik is a subsidiary of Porsche Holding Salzburg with 800 employees in 32 countries and operating on four continents. It offers around 180 solutions to its millions of users every day, combining its decades of expertise in IT and car retailing with a holistic vision for the digital transformation that the industry is currently undergoing. Porsche Informatik was also able to continue its strategic growth course in 2021 and opened a new lab in the prestigious Softwarepark Hagenberg in March 2021. In July 2021, the establishment of two development hubs was also started in Romania (Iași and Bucharest) in order to serve the rapidly growing demand for customised IT solutions.

MOON Power GmbH

Porsche Holding founded the MOON brand in 2019 as a subsidiary of Allmobil GmbH in order to drive forward future and innovation topics across all brands. Following a successful development and start-up of business activities, a new independent organisation was created in autumn 2021 with MOON Power GmbH in Salzburg. MOON Power GmbH Deutschland, based in Eching, was also founded as a wholly owned subsidiary in order to be able to develop the focus market of Germany in an even more targeted manner.

The young MOON brand currently has companies in two countries and operates in a total of 18 countries. MOON now employs 35 people and has generated revenue of almost 40 million euros (including almost 16 million euros in 2021) since it was founded. In Germany, eleven additional employees are already working for MOON in the first expansion phase.