On May 8, 2026, Porsche AG announced the shutdown of three subsidiaries and the elimination of more than 500 additional jobs as new CEO Michael Leiters delivered his first restructuring moves since taking over. The three units being closed are Cellforce Group (battery cell manufacturing), Porsche eBike Performance (electric bike drive systems), and Cetitec (specialized data-communication software). The 500 cuts come on top of the prior 1,900-position reduction plan Porsche disclosed last year for completion by 2029, putting the cumulative announced reduction at roughly 2,400 jobs against a global headcount near 42,000.
Cellforce accounts for around 50 of the affected employees. Porsche eBike Performance is the largest single hit, with about 350 employees at sites in Ottobrunn (Germany) and Zagreb (Croatia). Cetitec adds 90 layoffs split between Germany (60) and Croatia (30).
CEO Michael Leiters framed the moves in unusually blunt terms for a luxury automaker. "Porsche must refocus on its core business. This is the indispensable foundation for a successful strategic realignment," he said, adding that the company is "forced to make painful cuts, including our subsidiaries." The framing is meaningful because each of the closed subsidiaries was a strategic side bet that Porsche, under the prior CEO, had positioned as growth optionality outside the core 911/Cayenne/Macan/Taycan portfolio.
The pivot follows a brutal stretch in China, where Porsche deliveries fell sharply in 2025 amid both broader luxury demand softness and intensifying local competition from Xiaomi, Nio, and BYD. The Taycan sedan and electrified Macan have also underperformed early sales projections. Leiters's strategy reverses several pieces of the previous EV-forward roadmap. Porsche has signaled it will keep combustion and plug-in hybrid options in production longer than originally planned, and the Cellforce closure means the company is exiting in-house battery cell development entirely, falling back on third-party suppliers.
Porsche's 2,400 cumulative number is modest in absolute terms against parent Volkswagen Group's 50,000 reduction, but it is one of the clearest signals yet that even the premium end of the German auto industry has lost confidence in the original EV-first roadmap. Cellforce was once positioned as Porsche's answer to the lithium-ion supply problem; eBike was the brand-extension play; Cetitec was the software differentiation. All three are gone in a single day.
The Bugatti Rimac and Rimac Group equity divestitures Porsche completed in April 2026 sit alongside this restructuring as evidence Leiters is materially shrinking the portfolio. Watch for whether subsequent quarters surface additional non-core asset sales or further cuts inside the 1,900-position plan, particularly at Stuttgart and Weissach.