Porsche will launch new gas-powered cars, because profits come first (for now)
Porsche will launch new gas-powered and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) cars as its EV models fail to gain traction. The sports car maker warned that the new combustion engine models and battery development expenses would hurt profits this year, sending share prices plunging.
Porsche plans new gas-powered cars to boost profits
After announcing that it expects profit margins to be between 10% and 12% this year, Porsche said it’s taking “extensive measures” to boost short and medium-term profits.
The forecast is well below Porsche’s long-term goal of an operating return on sales of more than 20%. To boost profits, the company announced plans to add new gas-powered (combustion engine) and plug-in hybrid vehicles to its lineup.
Porsche warned the new models and additional battery investments would take a hit on profits this year, costing an extra 800 million euros ($830,000).
The shift comes after Porsche’s deliveries fell 3% last year, with China, one of its most important markets, leading the downfall. Deliveries in China plunged 28% as it failed to keep up with domestic EV makers like BYD, Xiaomi, and XPeng.
Last week, Porsche said it was in talks over ending contracts for CFO Lutz Meschke and Detlev von Platen, head of sales and marketing.
After introducing the upgraded 2025 model last year, Porsche delivered just over 20,800 Taycan models, nearly 50% fewer than in 2023.
Porsche also began deliveries of its second electric vehicle, the Macan, at the end of September. This vehicle should help provide some relief this year. The company said the Macan EV launch “literally electrified us” after delivering over 18,000 models by the end of 2024.
Following the updated guidance, Porsche’s stock suffered one of its worst days since listing in 2022. Porsche, which was once valued higher than parent company Volkswagen, has watched its market cap dwindle in half from an all-time high in May 2023.
Electrek’s Take
Porsche wants to improve profits by adding new gas-powered cars, but this will likely only set it back further. The sports car maker is already struggling to keep up with BYD and others in China, which was its second-largest sales market in 2023, behind North America.
Taycan sales fell to just 4,747 in the US last year, 37% less than Porsche sold in 2023. Although the new model year rolling out is part of the reason, even Q4 sales were over 40% lower than the year before, at just 1,353 units.
With pure EV makers like Lucid and Rivian gaining momentum and others like Volvo, Genesis, and GM’s Cadillac launching new models, Porshe could lose out in the long term.
The situation is even more severe in China, where BYD, Xiaomi, and other domestic automakers are squeezing foreign brands out of the market.
Xiaomi, which began delivering its first self-developed EV, the SU7, last April, delivered over 135,000 models in 2024. This summer, it will launch its second EV model, the YU7.
Meanwhile, recent reports suggest Porsche could delay more electric models, including the Cayenne EV, due out in 2026.
Putting short-term profits ahead of long-term brand building could set Porsche up for failure. The company has already backtracked on its goal of having 80% of global deliveries electric by 2030, so what’s next?
Will Porsche turn things around? Or will it continue losing market share as the industry shifts to EVs? Drop us a comment below and let us know your thoughts.
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Rivian has posted a job listing for a steering engineer, specifically mentioning work on a future steer-by-wire system for the company.
Steer-by-wire is an automotive concept that has been around for a long time, but hasn’t yet reached mass adoption. The idea is to replace (or supplement) mechanical linkages between the steering wheel and the wheels with electronic actuators instead.
There are a number of potential benefits to this, like allowing more customizability or adaptability to a steering system, reducing mechanical complexity, or adding speed-sensitive variable steering ratios.
Although there are also disadvantages, like a reduction in steering feel (although, since most cars are moving to electronic power steering, that was already gone anyway).
But few cars have implemented steer-by-wire systems, or at least not fully committed to them, given that mechanical steering racks are a relatively solved problem and the general inertia of the car industry which would rather stick with a solution they know than switch to something better (haven’t we here, at this EV publication, heard *that* one before…). There’s also the matter of regulations, which have often been written to require mechanical steering systems, and may need updating to allow for steer by wire.
But, steer by wire made it into mass production with the release of the Tesla Cybertruck. This was big news when Tesla committed to this – at the time, it was the only thing on the road to exclusively use a steer by wire system, though there are other cars with partial steer by wire (for example, mechanical front wheel steering, and steer by wire rear-wheel steering).
But it seems to have opened the floodgates, as a number of other companies are working on or have since released steer by wire systems (Lexus, for example).
And now, it looks like Rivian is one of those companies – though we don’t know if it’s for the front or rear.
The company posted a job listing for “Sr. Staff Technical Program Manager, Steering Actuator System,” based at its Irvine, CA headquarters (spotted by Rivianforums). This wouldn’t be so exceptional, except that the job posting also specifically points out that “you’ll have full cradle-to-grave ownership of the SBW subsystem.”
So – we know they’re working on steer by wire, to some extent.
But a few other EVs, particularly large EVs like the Rivian R1 platform is, use steer by wire just for the rear wheels – for example the Hummer EV and Rolls-Royce Spectre. These systems are particularly helpful for giant vehicles, because it allows them to be more nimble and make turns that otherwise would require a lot more… negotiation in a giant land yacht.
So it’s possible that Rivian is only working on rear wheel steer by wire here, but we’d like to think there’s a chance it’s working on steer by wire for the full vehicle.
We also don’t know if this would show up on all of Rivian’s vehicles, or only on certain models – the R2 and R3 are in development, and the R1 just got a big refresh. But, perhaps even more interestingly (and very speculatively), VW has invested heavily in Rivian for technology help, so we wonder if we might end up seeing this in VW group vehicles, or Scout vehicles eventually…
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Hyundai’s electric sports car just got a whole lot cheaper. The 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 N now costs $150 less per month to lease after another unexpected price cut.
How much is it to lease the 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 N?
The new and improved 2025 IONIQ 5 is coming off its best US sales month yet in July, but that isn’t stopping Hyundai from wanting more.
After Hyundai cut lease prices on all trims last month to as low as $179 per month, it’s now offering even more savings.
The 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 N is now listed for lease at just $549 per month. The offer is for 36 months, with $3,999 due at signing. At an effective monthly rate of $660, Hyundai’s EV is $150 cheaper a month than it was in July.
Hyundai is currently offering some of the best deals on electric cars, with the 2025 IONIQ 5 SE Standard Range listed for lease at just $179 per month.
The Standard Range model has a driving range of 245 miles. If you’re looking for more, the Extended
Range SE, with a range of 318 miles, is available to lease from $199 per month.
You can even lease the rugged new XRT trim right now for under $300 a month. All deals are for 24 months with $3,999 due at signing and end on September 2
| 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 Trim | EV Powertrain | Driving Range (miles) | Starting Price* | Monthly lease price July 2025 |
| IONIQ 5 SE RWD Standard Range | 168-horsepower rear motor | 245 | $42,500 | $179 |
| IONIQ 5 SE RWD | 225-horsepower rear motor | 318 | $46,550 | $199 |
| IONIQ 5 SEL RWD | 225-horsepower rear motor | 318 | $49,500 | $209 |
| IONIQ 5 Limited RWD | 225-horsepower rear motor | 318 | $54,200 | $309 |
| IONIQ 5 SE Dual Motor AWD | 320-horsepower dual motor | 290 | $50,050 | $249 |
| IONIQ 5 SEL Dual Motor AWD | 320-horsepower dual motor | 290 | $53,000 | $259 |
| IONIQ 5 XRT Dual Motor AWD | 320 horsepower dual motor | 259 | $55,400 | $359 |
| IONIQ 5 Limited Dual Motor AWD | 320-horsepower dual motor | 269 | $58,100 | $299 |
| IONIQ 5 N Dual Motor AWD | Up to 601-horsepower dual motor |
221 | $66,200 | $549 |
With the $7,500 EV tax set to expire at the end of September, Hyundai is offering savings across its entire electric car lineup.
Even Hyundai’s new three-row electric SUV is surprisingly affordable. The 2026 INIQ 9 is listed with monthly lease prices as low as $419 per month.
Looking to test drive one out for yourself? We can help you get started. You can use our link to find deals on the 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 at a dealer near you (trusted affiliate link).
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In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Elon Musk getting a sweet $26 billion payday from Tesla while the company gets flooded with lawsuits and Dojo is dead.
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