A week after a successful public listing, ringing the bell at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as Europe’s largest IPO by market capitalization, Porsche Group can add another title to its trophy case. Despite an initial fall earlier this week, Porsche’s shares rose on Thursday to give it a market valuation of €84 billion, thus overtaking its former parent company Volkswagen Group as the most valuable in Europe.
Up until its recent public listing, Porsche has existed as part of the Volkswagen Group, which saw an executive shakeup this past July when then CEO Herbert Diess stepped down to be replaced by the CEO of Porsche Group, Oliver Blume.
Since then, the market has been keeping a close eye on VW Group to see if it would go through with the public listing of Porsche, a strategy the German automotive company has been teasing for quite some time now.
Before the IPO, Porsche’s valuation was fluctuating quite a bit during a period of uncertainty in Europe surrounding supply chain issues and inflation. Despite these poor market conditions, Volkswagen Group proceeded with the listing, helping Porsche group garner the top end valuation of its now former parent’s guidance, around $73 billion. As a result, the German automaker received about €9.6 billion ($9.37 billion) in proceeds.
Although the market dipped shortly after that, it has bounced back, skyrocketing Porsche up to an even higher valuation. As a result, Porsche has dethroned Volkswagen Group as the automotive leader in Europe.
Latest Porsche valuation sits at €84 billion
On Thursday, Porsche shares rose to €93 ($91.95), boosting the German automaker’s valuation up to a beefy €85 billion ($82.9 billion). Later in the day, shares leveled at €91.04, setting Porsche’s valuation comfortably just below €84 billion.
Part of the reason for Porsche’s tremendous bounce back was thanks to investment banks that purchased nearly 3.8 million shares totaling €312.8 million – part of the “greenshoe option” intended to specifically support the young listing.
The shares purchased between September 29 and October 4 represented roughly 11% of the total trading volume since the listing, which is around 34 million shares. Via the greenshoe option, as many as 14.85 million shares worth a total of €1.2 billion will be available in these four weeks following the listing as a stabilization measure. It appears to be working quite well so far.
Even with the dips, Porsche remains significantly more valuable than Volkswagen Group, which is currently valued at €77.7 billion ($75.9 billion). Porsche Group now leads a pack of automakers in Europe that are all household names, and a majority of them are rooted in Germany.
Porsche Group – €84 billion
VW Group – €77.7 billion
Mercedes-Benz – €57.2 billion
BMW – €47.5 billion
Stellantis – €39.7 billion
In addition to becoming the most valuable automaker in Europe and 25th most valuable stock overall, Porsche’s current valuation slots it in as the fifth-most valuable company in all of Germany. Time will tell if the German automaker can keep this momentum in a rather volatile market and maintain its current crown. We think an all-electric 911 could certainly help please investors, but that’s just our opinion.
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The UAW union’s Stellantis Council met yesterday to discuss the beleaguered carmaker’s “ongoing failure” to honor the agreement that ended the 2023 labor strike, and their latest union memo doesn’t pull many punches.
In an email sent out by the UAW earlier today (received at 4:55PM CST), UAW President Shawn Fain wrote, “For years, the company picked us off plant-by-plant and we lacked the will and the means to fight back. Today is different. Because we stood together and demanded the right to strike over job security—product commitment—we have the tools to fight back and win … We unanimously recommend to the membership that every UAW worker at Stellantis prepare for a fight, and we all get ready to vote YES to authorize a strike at Stellantis.”
Kia promises the new EV9 GT will have “enormous power,” but that’s not all. For the first time, the Kia EV9 GT was caught with an active spoiler, giving us a sneak peek at potential new upgrades.
The brand’s first three-row electric SUV is already making its presence known in the US, helping push Kia to back-to-back record sales months. Meanwhile, a more powerful, sporty variant is on the way.
Kia confirmed the EV9 GT will top off the electric SUV’s lineup in April. Packing “enormous power,” the high-performance GT model can accelerate from 0 to 62 mph (0 to 100 km/h) in 4 secs.
With a “high-output” dual-motor (AWD) system, the EV9 GT can quickly pick up speed despite weighing over 5,000 lbs.
Kia also equipped it with other high-performance features, such as a reinforced suspension and electronic braking system, for better control and stability.
We’ve already caught a glimpse of the performance electric SUV out testing, revealing aggressive new bumpers and wheels. Now, a new design feature has been spotted.
Kia EV9 GT could come with an active rear spoiler
The latest video from HealerTV shows the EV9 GT with what appears to be an active spoiler. As the reporter noted, it could be similar to the one spotted on the Genesis GV70 Magma.
Tesla’s Model X also used to come with an active spoiler until it was dropped a few years back. Although the GT model was spotted with one, Kia could just be testing new features, so don’t get too excited yet.
Earlier this week, a video from HealerTV showed the front row of the EV9 GT, comparing it to the current GT-Line model.
Several differences can be immediately noticed, including a more aggressive, all-black design with a yellow stripe down the center of the seat.
Kia is set to launch the EV9 GT in early 2025. It will rival other performance SUVs like the Tesla Model X Plaid.
Although prices have yet to be confirmed, the GT model is expected to sit above the current GT-Line at $73,900. In comparison, Tesla’s Model X Plaid starts at $94,990 and can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 2.5 secs.
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Consumer Reports and EV charging app Chargeway are working together to give drivers a better way to rate public chargers, report uptime, and address maintenance issues.
The technical collaboration with Chargeway is part of a larger effort called the EV Charging Community, which engages with a number of different EV advocacy groups including Plug In America, GreenLatinos, and Generation 180, and leverages the mobile app to rate public EV charging experiences based on various factors, with the findings reported back to industry stakeholders like EVSE manufacturers, CPOs, and utilities.
Be heard
“We are very excited to be partnering with Consumer Reports,” says Chargeway founder, Matt Teske. “From day one, Chargeway has focused on a driver first app design to provide easier EV charging experiences as well as transparency for what drivers can anticipate at (the) station they choose … we share Consumer Reports’ goal to give drivers a voice in the public EV charging reliability conversation. Now, instead of posting complaints on social media and feeling ignored, EV drivers can use the Chargeway mobile app to provide their feedback to the leading consumer advocacy organization.”
Consumer Reports says it’s already seen nearly a third of its 1,600 enrolled community members experience a problem with public charging, so it’s a real problem. “Charging stations are critical services, but when they’re out of order or barely functional, it wastes consumers’ valuable time,” explains Drew Toher, Consumer Reports’ sustainability campaign manager.
Consumer Reports points out that EV drivers who don’t use Chargeway can also enroll to be part of the community at this link.
Electrek’s Take
Chargeway founder Matt Teske is an old friend. He’s a good friend, too, so it’s great to see his top-shelf EV charging app starting to get some of the recognition it deserves. The CR tie-up and added visibility these ratings will give to industry stakeholders are only going to make things better for EV drivers everywhere.
That up there? That’s one of my early interview episodes of Quick Charge featuring a walkthrough of Chargeway+, another collab between Matt and Austin Energy. Enjoy!
SOURCE | IMAGES: Chargeway, Consumer Reports.
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