Porsche posts record profits, mulls listing

Porsche posted record earnings for 2021 despite challenges such as the pandemic and chip shortages.

The German sports car maker made 33.1 billion euros ($36.53 billion) in sales, with growth at a clip of 15 percent year-on-year. Operating profit was 5.3 billion euros, up 27 percent year-on-year.

Porsche's operating return on sales was 16 percent, underpinning its position as one of the world's most profitable automobile manufacturers.

The strong performance has led to a possible public listing of the company.

"2021 has made clear that with our business model we are weatherproof even in stormy times.

"In view of successful development, the Volkswagen Group has decided to examine a possible listing of Porsche on the stock exchange," said Oliver Blume, chairman of the executive board at Porsche, on an earnings call Friday.

Porsche expects great development potential as a company, which will put it in a first class position for the future, Blume said.

The carmaker announced that it is further accelerating its electrification efforts, with the intention of being carbon neutral by 2030.

Porsche predicts that half of all of its new car sales would be electric vehicles, including pure electric and plug-in hybrid, by 2025.

The share of all new vehicles with an all-electric drive would be more than 80 percent by 2030, the carmaker said.

Global deliveries of its first pure electric car, the Taycan, more than doubled to 41,296 units last year.

Porsche plans to offer its mid-engined 718 model exclusively as all-electric by the middle of the decade.

Total deliveries last year was 301,915, an increase of 11 percent year-on-year.

Sales in China reached 96,000 units, up 8 percent year-on-year, making China the largest single market for Porsche for the seventh year in a row.

"China is one of our most important strategic markets – not only due to the sales volume, but also thanks to its excellence in digitalization and innovation," said Lutz Meschke, deputy chairman to the executive board at Porsche.

Two derivatives of the Taycan, which are the GTS and the Cross Turismo, will make their Asian debuts at the Beijing auto show in April.