Porsche scraped back into profit in 1994-95 after losing $315 million over the previous three years, and said it planned to move production of its next new sports car outside Germany for the first time.
Wendelin Wiedeking, the chief executive who joined the company in 1991 and has overseen one of the most radical shake-outs in German industry, said the company had made a net profit of $1.4 million in the year ending July 31, a turnround from a loss of $103 million a year earlier.He said he expected Porsche to earn a similar profit in the coming year and that the company would see significantly better results in 1997 after the launch of its new model, the Boxster, due out next September.
About 10,000 customers have already put down deposits for the Boxster, expected to cost between $48,00 and $55,000.
Wiedeking said the turnround had been achieved by strong growth in foreign sales, lower sales prices, technical improvements and productivity increases of about 10 percent annually.
He said Porsche now stood "on the threshold of a new era" which would see it expand its core production of sports cars and increase its international presence. Early next year the company expects to announce the results of seven feasibility studies into new models.
Porsche is looking for a partner to produce these new sports cars and will for the first time move production away from its plant near Stuttgart because the cost of building a new plant in Germany has become prohibitive.
The company already has two development centers abroad, in the United States and Japan, but said it will open another one in Asia which will take over work done at the existing facilities at Weissach, near Stuttgart.
Porsche has also set up several subsidiaries to market its special skills and one of them, a 50-50 joint venture with Mercedes-Benz to produce roofs for convertibles, is already working for other clients like Saab, the Swedish automaker.
Porsche said it had made productivity gains of 8 percent this year, helped by new working methods introduced by two former Toyota engineers, and expects a further 10 percent rise.
In the five years to September 1997, the company will have increased productivity by 50 percent, enabling it to build a Porsche 911 in 60 hours.
Sales rose 12 percent to $1.8 billion in 1994-95, and Wiedeking said the company was again enjoying a "boom" in U.S. sales which more than compensated for the strength of the D-Mark against the dollar.
The company sold 17,268 cars, 9 percent up on the 15,843 sold last year.