Chief Executive Oliver Blume has said the sports carmaker will focus on petrol/gasoline, hybrid and all-electric vehicles. Porsche and its parent Volkswagen have seen their image take a beating in the wake of Dieselgate.
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Porsche will not make diesel cars in the future, the automaker's Chief Executive Oliver Blume said in an interview with Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
Blume said the Stuttgart-based sports carmaker wants to focus on what it's good at — gasoline (petrol), hybrid and electric vehicles.
Blume's statement comes months after Porsche stopped taking orders for its diesel variants in February, roughly 10 years after its first diesel car hit the roads.
Porsche is the first major German automaker to withdraw from the diesel market. That said, it never made its own diesel engines, using Audi motors for the few diesels it offered.
Porsche and its parent Volkswagen have seen their image take a beating after VW admitted to rigging diesel cars worldwide to fool emissions checks in a scandal widely known as "Dieselgate."
"We have never developed and produced diesel engines ourselves. Nevertheless, Porsche's image has suffered. The diesel crisis caused us a lot of trouble," said Blume.
Porsche has recently faced allegations that its executives were aware of the so-called "defeat devices" being used by Audi engines to deliver misleading emissions figures during tests. Soon after the Dieselgate scandal broke out, then-Porsche CEO Matthias Müller was moved up to be the head of parent company VW, replacing the now-indicted Martin Winterkorn. In the mean time, though, Müller has passed the VW baton to Herbert Diess.
'In future Porsche will be more Porsche'
Blume said the withdrawal was also aimed at sharpening its core sporty brand.
"It is important for us that engines can be driven in a sporty way," Blume told the newspaper. "Petrol engines are well suited for sporty driving. In the future, Porsche will be more Porsche than it was in the past, catering to greater performance and efficiency. The diesel engine is aimed at a different driving experience.
The withdrawal from diesel is not likely to hurt Porsche's business much, considering only 14 percent its cars run on the fuel worldwide. In Germany, it is 32 percent, significantly lower than rivals BMW and Daimler, according Germany's Handelsblatt business newspaper.
Cars made by Porsche have enjoyed cult status for decades. Never before has the sports car maker done so well in terms of sales and profits — despite its involvement in Volkswagen's emissions-cheating scandal.
Image: Porsche
The first of its kind
A cult brand is born: On June 8, 1948, the 356 No. 1 Roadster received its operating permit. It was the first vehicle to wear the name Porsche. 50 years later, that car was damaged when it fell off a plane pallet. Luckily, it survived the drop from a height of several meters. Today, the refurbished Roadster can be admired in the Porsche museum in Stuttgart.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/b. Hanselmann
The father of the 356 is...
...Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche, nicknamed Ferry. Without him, neither the 356 nor the 911 would exist. Over five decades, Ferry shaped the sports carmaker as CEO and chairman. His father, Ferdinand Porsche, also built vehicles — for Volkswagen. Ferdinand's biggest task was to develop the predecessor of the VW Beetle, which Hitler thought would mobilize the masses.
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Luxury in times of need
The first Porsche was presented to the public only a few years after World War II. Needless to say, sports cars weren't exaclty what people needed in those trying times. Over the years, however, Ferry Porsche and his brand were able to assert themselves. "We build cars which nobody needs, but everybody wants," he said.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Porsche Schweiz AG
Popular all over the world
It took Porsche almost half a century to sell 1 million sports cars. from then on, though, production accelerated rapidly: The latest million Porsches didn't even take five years to leave showrooms. In 2017 alone, more than a quarter million vehicles left the assembly lines, and over the last decade, Porsche sales have more than tripled.
Image: picture-alliance/U. Baumgarten
David vs. Goliath
In the mid-2000s, the small carmaker tried to hit it big by attempting to take over Germany's Volkswagen giant. The plan, however, didn't pan out. Today, a holding company called Porsche SE owns the majority of VW, while Porsche Corporation, which builds the cars, was incorporated into the VW Group.
Image: AP
Dark clouds gathering
For decades, Porsche cars relied on diesel engines. That changed with the rise of SUVs, which also had diesel models fitted with engines from VW brand Audi. This is how Porsche, too, was sucked into the dieselgate scandal.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/U. Zucchi
In the crosshairs
Former VW bosses Matthias Müller (left) and Martin Winterkorn were suspected of fraud and market manipulation as share holders of Porsche SE Holding were allegedly informed too late about the pollution scandal. Porsche SE is a holding company of the Porsche and Piëch families who together hold 52.2 percent of voting rights of VW's ordinary shares.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Betting on electricity
Porsche's first electric model is to hit the market in 2019, with a range of more than 500 kilometers (310 miles) and fast-loading capability — at least that's what the sports carmaker has promised. Further models are expected to follow, also in cooporation with VW Group brand Audi. Porsche wants to invest €6 billion ($7 billion) in e-mobility by 2022,
Image: Porsche
Record sales
Porsche expects 2018 to be another record-breaking year in terms of sales. After all, more and more people seem to share Walter Röhrl's sentiment: The legendary German rally driver once called a garage without a Porsche 911 a "dull, empty hole."
