In late 2023, General Motors started to roll back its aggressive EV plans, a move that was soon followed by Volvo in mid-2024 as the Swedish firm shelved its ambitious 2030 EV-only sales plan. That coincided with similar moves from Ford, Mercedes-Benz and Honda, who all scaled back their EV-only plans in the face of softening EV demand, high costs and the market’s preference for hybrids and plug-in hybrids.
Tougher Chinese competition has put Porsche on back foot
Now another major player has joined the ranks—Porsche. Even though the German brand’s recently launched Macan EV is selling well, leading Porsche’s growth by accounting for nearly 60% of Macan sales in Europe and the US in the first half of 2025, slowing global EV demand, particularly in its largest market of China, and intensifying competition from Chinese brands has put the Germans on the back foot.
In fact, Volkswagen’s luxury sports car brand, Porsche, announced this week that it will no longer build EV batteries in-house. Porsche’s high-performance EV battery company, Cellforce, will shrink and only concentrate on research and development, rather than production.
In a statement, Porsche explained that, “Due to the slower ramp-up of electromobility and changed framework conditions in China and the USA, the sports car manufacturer is realigning its battery activities.”
Porsche no longer pursuing in-house battery production
Confirming the news, CEO Oliver Blume commented, “For volume reasons and a lack of economies of scale, Porsche is no longer pursuing its own production of battery cells.” The brand’s staff reductions, will be handled in “a socially responsible manner,” Porsche said.
Yet another reason that has persuaded Porsche to roll back EV plans are the fact that cars like the Taycan and Cayenne have significant depreciation rates, lowering their resale values considerably. In the US for example, a new $100,000 base model Taycan’s resale value after one year can fall to as low as $60,000, according to Taycan forums. This is another reason why Porsche is rolling back its EV plans.
On the back of these developments, Porsche does however plan to maintain its internal combustion engine (ICE) and hybrid lineup, as well as all-electric models across every segment “well into the 2030s.”
Hot on the footsteps of the Taycan and Macan Electric, Porsche is planning to launch the all-electric Cayenne and 718 models. The German automaker promises buyers that future models will still “bring trend-setting technologies in electromobility into series production.”