Hello, and welcome to our analyst and investors call on the Q3 2024 results. My name is Bjoern Scheib, and with me is our CFO and Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, Lutz Meschke. Today, we would like to give you a brief insight of our business performance in the first nine months of 2024. All materials, such as the investor deck, are available in the investor section of the Porsche website. Before we begin, let me remind you that any forward-looking statements we will make during this call are subject to the risks and uncertainties mentioned in the Safe Harbor Statement included in the Porsche materials. This intro will also be governed by this language. With that said, I'd like to hand it over to Lutz.
Thank you, Bjoern. Thank you for joining us for our Q3 disclosure call. Today, we want to inform you about our performance in the first three quarters of 2024, and the rest of the year that lies ahead of us. Porsche has a strong foundation with an exclusive and individual brand. We attract and inspire people from all over the world and across generations. Our customers, our product portfolio, and our services are and will be our key assets with a wide range of emotional drivetrains, attractive design, and service offerings. Reflecting the changing demand in China and the slower BEV transformation, we are reviewing our product offering, our ecosystem, as well as budgets and cost position, to even further increase our flexibility and resilience. Porsche is starting to recalibrate and reprioritize projects and products, and we also have a clear vision for software.
With first-class hardware, software, and digital services, we create exciting experiences for our customers. As my colleague, Sajjad, outlined at our Silverstone event last week, this will not happen overnight. It will happen steadily and incrementally. In 12 months, you will already see the first advances and momentum will build. Before we take a look at our 2024 performance so far, let me say, like any racetrack, each year has slower and faster sections. In the Q3, we were slowed down and were a little slower. Now, we can accelerate again and start the final sprint. Our business year-to-date, and in particular in the last three months, has been characterized by primarily three effects. First, our four product changeovers and ramp-ups, which have caused temporary gaps in individual markets and model series. From a quality and timing perspective, these are fully on track.
And second, the disciplined management of demand and supply in the Chinese market according to our 'value over volume strategy'. And third, the relatively lower parts availability from our supply chain. This year, we have had to manage many supply chain disruptions due to the volatile environment. Our team have been working continuously to mitigate potential supply shortage risks. For example, as one of many difficulties in our supply chain, the bottlenecks resulting from the flooding of a production facility of an important European aluminum supplier, as of now, have been largely compensated. However, other risks in the supply chain still exist and need to be managed accordingly. All of this significantly impacted our results. But as we have previously mentioned, with Q3 behind us, our performance is expected to improve from here.
As already communicated, we delivered slightly above 226,000 vehicles to customers in the first nine months. On wholesale level, this resulted in more than 221,000 units sold, a decline of 12% to previous year. With a share of 18% from China sales year-to-date, more than 80% of our global sales were from Europe, North America, and overseas, and emerging markets. We have a more balanced sales footprint than ever.
Let's now turn to the financial results. Group revenue in the first nine months was EUR 28.6 billion, a decline of 5%. As mentioned earlier, this development is mainly reflecting the lower wholesales, also resulting from fewer vehicle availability. On the other hand, we benefited from a better product mix. Pricing again was also positive, benefiting from the price increases last year, as well as the higher degree of individualization. Thus, we accounted for an under proportional decline of group revenues compared to our vehicle sales. Group operating profit was EUR 4 billion at a margin of 14.1%. The earnings per preferred share for the first nine months amounted to EUR 3.04.
Let's now talk about our customer demand. This shows that we are very much satisfying our customers' expectations with our new models. Overall, in all regions, with exception of China, order intake stays encouraging, with a strong mix and pricing. This trend is very much supporting our strategy of value-oriented growth. Not to forget, the demand for the new 911 is, as expected, quite satisfying, even above expectations, especially for the GTS. Also, the demand for the new Macan remains robust.
Overall, our global order book stays strong, already reaching well into 2025. The mix and quality of our order book nicely illustrates that our customers appreciate our exclusive product offering and very much make use of the opportunity to personalize their vehicle. This we also recognize with the incoming orders for the new Macan. Here, we see an increase in the revenue per vehicle from individualization. Those of you who are more interested in our individualization strategy or our Sonderwunsch and Exclusive Manufaktur program, can find more details in the deck from our Silverstone event on our website. The average sales price on retail at the end of Q3 2024 was EUR 115,000. The average sales price on wholesale amounted to EUR 117,000. These numbers reflect our 'value over volume strategy' and long-term trend.
Automotive revenues amounted to EUR 25.9 billion year-to-date. The operating return on sales for automotive was 14.6%. The automotive segment's operating profit in the first nine months of 2024 was at EUR 3.8 billion. We have outlined in our Q2 call, we had to deal with limited product availability after the summer break. This was a function of the product changeovers and ramp-ups, the relatively lower parts availability from the supply chain, and the production summer break in Zuffenhausen and Leipzig in August. On the cost side, we still face higher material costs from the inflationary environment in our supply chain, the regular quality and customer satisfaction, as well as CO2 initiatives, plus the inflated startup costs in connection with the renewal of the model range, resulting from higher D&A on capitalized R&D and CapEx.
We also accounted for higher sales and marketing expenses resulting from our digitalization strategy, motorsports, as well as higher costs for strengthening our customer-oriented services. The seasonal lower product availability triggered in Q3 a very unfavorable fixed cost coverage. As discussed earlier, we will continue to inspire our customers with a very young and attractive product portfolio, as well as with iconic and emotional sports cars. In order to further achieve even more in the exclusive segment and to further advance our strategy of value-creating growth, we stay committed to a combination of three types of powertrains: efficient ICEs, exciting plug-in hybrids, and innovative all-electric models. Thus, we spent more than 3.8 billion EUR on CapEx and research and development year-to-date. Capitalized R&D amounted to around EUR 1.6 billion this year so far.
D&A of capitalized development costs amounted to more than EUR 800 million. Thus, the expense of R&D was EUR 500 million higher than last year, equaling around 6% of automotive revenues. Last year, it was 3.9%. Automotive EBITDA year-to-date was EUR 5.95 billion, corresponding to an automotive EBITDA margin of 23.0%. This year, we have earned an automotive net cash flow of EUR 1.2 billion so far. The net cash flow is mainly the result of the following four factors: First, the cash flow from our operating business, which we outlined before. Second, higher working capital resulting from temporary effects, mainly in connection with the launch of the new Macan and other vehicles.
Third, the continued disruptions in our supply chain and elevated cash flow from investing activities, which reflects our continued spending on the development of our brand and ecosystem. Fourth, the cash flow also includes our investments in partnerships for the digitalization of our vehicles from Q1 2024. Here we invested a mid-three-digit million amount in digital and software partnerships. You can find more information on the automotive net cash flow in our quarterly reporting. Financial services revenue amounted to around EUR 2.9 billion in the first three quarters. The operating profit of the financial services segment was EUR 210 million. As in the last two quarters, the result is mainly driven by the valuation of interest rate, hedging transactions, and derivatives outside hedge accounting in the context of regular refinancing activities. Overall, the credit quality of our financial services book is unchanged and very strong.
At the end of September, our automotive net liquidity was at EUR 6.2 billion. Let's move on to the outlook for 2024. As already discussed in the Q2 call, reflecting our robust order book, an improved availability of our product offering, and the expected drivers supporting the sequential improvement in Q4, we confirm our full-year 2024 return on sales outlook of 14%-15%. Our forecast for the automotive segment is an EBITDA margin between 23% and 24%, and a net cash flow margin in the range of 7%-8.5%. This range includes our continued investments in the upcoming product portfolio, digitalization, brand and other strategic projects, and partnerships. In the remainder of the year, we will also continue with the stringent but flexible execution of our strategy.
We will continue our investments in our ecosystem to boost the quality of customer service and ultimately, the Porsche brand. Since the beginning of the year, we have been boldly forging ahead with our product offensive. With the new Panamera, Taycan, Macan, and 911, we are putting ourselves in a strong position for the years ahead to exploit our structural growth potential. At the same time, as outlined earlier, we have to deal with many supply chain disruptions. The current environment also shows that we have to be prepared for supply risk beyond our influence. Stringent to our 'value over volume strategy', we will consistently focus on aligning demand and supply, specifically in the Chinese market, where challenges persist. Based on the most recent global developments, we have to remain attentive to tariff, regulatory, and macro risks on our business, which are outside of our control.
We expect to have more clarity on these factors when we publish our full year 2024 results. Here, we will also communicate our full year 2025 outlook. At Porsche, we take challenges as an opportunity to excel. Porsche is switching to sport mode to further boost our resilience and to be able to better counter global uncertainties. This will provide us with a strong foundation for the years to come. Before we come to the end, one more statement on our capital allocation strategy. Based on our strong industrial net liquidity and the generated cash, we intend to strengthen our balance sheet by partly funding our pension plan. Our commitment for a dividend payout ratio of 50% of net profit mid-term stays unchanged. Thank you very much for your attention.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome, and thank you for joining the analyst and investor call regarding the Porsche AG Q3 2024 results. This call will be hosted by Lutz Meschke, Deputy Chairman and Member of the Executive Board for Finance and IT. Since you have been provided with the intro statement in advance, we will jump directly into the question-and-answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchtone telephone. You will hear a tone to confirm that you have entered the queue. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Please press star key followed by zero for operator assistance in case of any technical difficulties. Participants are requested to use only handsets while asking a question.
Please ensure that all other devices, which you may be watching the video stream in parallel, are completely muted to avoid interference. In the interest of time, please limit yourself to one or two questions. As mentioned, anyone who has a question may press star and one at this time. And now, I would like to turn over to Bjoern Scheib, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.
Hello, and welcome to all of you for our Q3 conference call. I'm quite happy to have Lutz Meschke, our CFO and Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, today with me to answer your questions. Before we start, as you all know, the Safe Harbor Statement, all materials, such as the investor deck or the Q3 report, are available in the investor section of our website, and before we begin, any forward-looking statement that we will make during this call is subject to the risks and uncertainties mentioned in the Safe Harbor Statement included in our materials.
Now, before this, we give the first two in the queue. The first one is George of Goldman's, and the second is then Tim of Deutsche Bank. George, please go ahead.
Thank you. Good evening, Lutz and Bjoern, and thank you for taking my questions. The first question I had was just with respect to demand. Since you lost from a large number of players across the sector due to weaker demand, can you comment at all in terms of what developments Porsche has seen with regards to demand over the course of Q3, and as we look forward to Q4 and the first half of 2025?
The second question I had was with respect to the supply chain and the product launches. I think you always described this year as being V-shaped, and it feels like Q3 is the bottom of that V. How comfortable are you with your suppliers as we think about the Q4 and the ramp of the new products into next year, and specifically, Varta and the supplier who caused you to issue the profit warning back in July? Where are you with both of those names? Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you, George, for your questions. Let me start with the demand situation and the product availability situation for the Q4 now. As expected, we have seen a quite weak Q3 due to the model changeovers for the 911 and the eMacan, which yeah mix which is not very satisfying for the 911 because the GTS will start now in the Q4. And therefore, we expect also with the new eMacan in addition a better Q4 compared to the Q3. Yeah, we are quite sure that we can reach our outlook for 2024 when it comes to return on sales, a corridor of 14%-15%, and also our net cash flow margin corridor of 7%-8.5%. When it comes to order intake, we have a quite robust situation, except of China.
We have already spoken about the situation in China several times. The situation is still very challenging, first of all, when it comes to the BEV segment, and we cannot expect a significant recovery in the upcoming years when it comes to the BEV segment, the luxury, the premium and luxury BEV segment in China, for the European OEMs. What’s very important for us is the strong demand over the entire model range in the other world regions, and therefore we are absolutely confident that we will see a better 2025. We have a much better product availability, also a better mix when it comes to the 911. The GTS will start now in the Q4, and then we will have a very steep ramp-up curve in the first half of 2025.
In the second half of the year, also the 911 Turbo will start with the battery cells from Varta. From the technology point of view, it’s the Varta cell is very stable. Now we are in the industrialization process, and the ramp-up curve works quite well so far, and therefore, yeah, we are sure that we can achieve our 911 mix for the Q4, which we have expected also a couple of months ago. As already mentioned, in 2025, the situation will be much better when it comes to the 911 mix and the entire product availability also for the eMacan in the different world regions. You asked for the situation in our supplier base. It's still very challenging. The flooding of the Novelis plant could be handled quite well. There is no significant damage in our production capacity happened in the last weeks.
But on the other hand, we have seen additional challenges, other suppliers, and therefore, in general, I can say it's still a very challenged situation to get the entire supply chain stabilized. But when it comes to the Varta cell, we are quite confident that we could solve all the residual items in order to make the steep ramp-up curve.
Very good. Thank you, Lutz. The next one in the row then would be Tim of Deutsche, and thereafter, we have José of J.P. Morgan.
Yeah, thank you very much, Bjoern and Lutz. Can we just follow up to what you just said on the 911, given the importance for the mix next year? So the GTS is in Q4, and then which other versions do you progressively get throughout next year, and when will you be done with the full ramp-up for the 911? That would be the first question. And then the second question, I obviously, curiously noticed your comment in the, presentation deck that says, "Reflecting the changing demand in China and the slower BEV transformation, you are reviewing your product offering, the ecosystem, and the budget and cost position." Is there anything that you can already tell us about this, specifically when we think about future models like the K1, for example, when we think about your cost position, how will you address this? When can you tell us more about that? Thank you.
... Yeah, thank you, Tim. Let me start with the 911 question. Now we start with the GTS in the Q4, then the ramp-up curve in 2025, and we will also start with the production of the 911 S. It's a normal, so-called normal combustion engine without the battery cells from Varta. And then in the second half of 2025, also the 911 Turbo will start with the Varta cell on board. And therefore, the mix for the 911 will be quite satisfying next year. Your second question, yes, our cost structure is under review, and of course, the potential ramp-up curve for the BEV transition is changing significantly, not only in China, but also in the States and in Europe.
We have seen challenging situations in China. We see, of course, a steep ramp-up curve for the BEVs, but there is still missing luxury segment within the BEV segment in China. Therefore, it's challenging not only for Porsche, but for all the European OEMs which are playing in premium and luxury segments. And in the rest of the world, in the States and in Europe, we see yeah, a slowdown in the BEV transition. And the customer demand is yeah, not satisfying overall. And a lot of customers, first of all, in the premium and luxury segment, are looking in the direction of combustion engine cars. There's a clear trend right now in this direction, first of all, when it comes to luxury cars.
And of course, we have to find the right answer on this acceleration, and therefore, we will react also in our product cycle. We will refresh also our combustion engine cars, for instance, the Panamera and the Cayenne. And of course, we will rely also in plug-in hybrids and also on our electrified cars. I mentioned already that we are very flexible when it comes to our production footprint. We can produce combustion engines and plug-in hybrids and electrified cars in one production line in Leipzig. And when it comes to research and development, then we— And then you will see also flexibility in the upcoming years in the direction that we will develop also new combustion engine derivatives, in order to give the right answers to the customer demand in the different world regions.
Thank you.
Very good. The next one then will be José, and after José, we have Patrick of UBS.
Thank you very much, Bjoern, and hello, Lutz. A couple of questions, please. I was wondering if you could give us some indications towards the pickup in deliveries, when we think about the Q4 versus the Q3, and which regions do you expect to contribute to this growth into year-end? And second, I'd love to understand a little bit better. You're obviously protecting pricing power. You're showing strong pricing power across a lot of the vehicles, as we have seen also in the last presentation you did, where you flagged the different car solutions to the market.
I would like to understand a little bit better, how much are you adjusting the fixed cost base to the lower level of deliveries, which in turn is also protecting pricing power? Any actions you have already taken, and which actions should we expect, from Porsche in the coming quarters? Thank you.
Yeah, thank you, José. Let me start with the deliveries for the Q4. Of course, we will see a much better Q4 compared to the Q3 due to the better product availability. I mentioned already the 911 GTS, but also the Macan will be in place now in the Q4, and therefore, it will be a much stronger quarter compared to, or than, quarter three. And that will lead us in the direction of our forecast return on sales corridor of 14%-15%, and the net cash flow margin between 7% and 8.5%. And your second question is going the direction of a new cost structure.
We already addressed that we want to keep our organization healthy in the future, and it's part of our D&A that we try to improve our processes every year. In addition, as the right response of the challenges in the Chinese market and the trend in the Chinese market, we are proactively driving our company in a cost structure, which gives us certainty to be highly profitable also with car sales of just 250,000 cars per year. And that will be reflected in every cost position. In all the fixed cost position, we have clear targets for reductions over 10 percentage points. Of course, you will see it also in our research and development and CapEx ratio in the upcoming years. You will see significant reduction when it comes to research and development costs.
Very good. Thank you so much.
So the next one then will be Patrick, and after Patrick, we have Horst of Bank of America.
Yeah. T hank you, g ood evening. Two questions also from my end. So you no longer expect the 17%-19% corridor to be reached next year, or at least you kind of withdraw that as an official statement. I want to understand, is that just due to the uncertainties around, you know, U.S. elections, et cetera, et cetera. O r do you already see today that basically on, you know, the maybe weaker EV demand situation, the China situation, that 17%-19% is no longer achievable? And actually related to this, is it actually just gone for good? Because obviously there are headwinds that, you know, have come up that won't go away quickly.
And my second question, related to the volume outlook, you, I think, still expect positive volume growth next year. Now, as we look at the China situation, it might yet be another down year. The eMacan, what we hear, North America, Europe, sorry, North America and China, doesn't look that great either. So I'm wondering, you know, how to square your comments on the one hand, that you wanna be highly profitable at 250,000 units, and on the other hand, you're still striving for volume growth next year, which might not even be the right thing to do, given the issues around the eMacan and price points and demand situation in those regions. Thank you.
Yeah, thank you, Patrick. Let me start with your first question. Yeah, but please understand that at the moment, we will not communicate any expectations for 2025. As already mentioned, we are in a very challenging situation in the automotive industry, not only in the automotive industry, but also when it comes to geopolitical topics, the discussions about the election in the U.S.A., potential tariffs, other regulatory measurements. It's very difficult to give a clear outlook for the upcoming years because all these topics which I mentioned are beyond our control, and therefore, please understand that we cannot give an outlook at this point in time for 2025.
When it comes to volume next year, then we will see a quite flat situation due to the situation in the Chinese market. We cannot expect a recovery when it comes to our sales figures in China in the upcoming year. But on the other hand, we see, of course, a very positive mix when it comes to the 911. I already mentioned the GTS, the S, and the turbo models, and also the eMacan will be available in all the different world regions. And therefore, yeah, we can expect a sound sales situation in general, also in 2025, despite the challenging situation in China.
Okay, thank you.
Very good. The next one then is Horst, and after this we have Anthony from ODDO, and then we have one, two more after this, and then we are done. So Anthony. Oh, sorry, Horst and then Anthony.
Yeah. Hope you can hear me. It's Horst here from Bank of America. Thanks for taking my questions. I would have two, please, as well. The first one is again picking up the weaker BEV sales, and we get always the impression that you are quite flexible in this BEV sales. You can do more, you can do less, you have pool emissions with Volkswagen. I'm asking myself in that context always, how flexible are you regarding the CO2 emissions? Because if you sell less BEVs, then your CO2 emission profile is higher, and I think Volkswagen is not paying for free. I mean, it's kind of internal calculation then, but since they know you are now separately listed, I would assume that you have to pay something.
Maybe you can explain this procedure, how that works, if you need to compensate Volkswagen if your CO2 emissions are higher. That would be great, number one. Number two, I try it, but I know it's a difficult question with regard to U.S. elections. In case that there comes a situation when tariff's gonna be raised and you don't have any U.S. production, do you have really any contingency plans for such a scenario? What can you share at this moment? How would you act on that? Or it's for you just too early to tell, and you wanna wait until that really happens. But anything that you can provide regarding U.S.A. and potential tariffs will be great. At least maybe you can say what is your exact— or not exact, but roughly your U.S. revenue exposure. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Horst, for this golden bridge. I said our crystal ball is not better than yours. This is obviously the million-dollar question right now. If we would have knowledge about this, we are quite sure this would be market-sensitive information we are not allowed to share. No, without joking, please understand, this is a Q3 conference call of Porsche, and as such, we don't want to speculate about any political outcome from the U.S. election as such. This would be neither to the benefit of yours nor to the benefit of us. Therefore, Lutz now obviously will rather stick with the CO2 question.
Okay. Thank you.
Yeah, you already mentioned it, Porsche is part of the emission pool of the VW Group, and we are not separately assessed. Therefore, we have clear goals within the VW Group for the different brands. As I mentioned, also, Porsche takes part in this group. Of course, our product portfolio for the upcoming years is clearly steered in the direction that we will meet these targets for Porsche. But nevertheless, of course, at the end, one thing counts, and that's the customer demand. Therefore, we are prepared to fulfill our targets, but the customer has to accept it also, that we are all running just in one direction, in the direction of electrification.
And therefore, my personal opinion is that we should be more flexible in future to reach CO2 targets, that we should work technology open. But, that's to address in the direction of the government. It's not part of your question, but we are prepared to fulfill the targets. We will see. But at the end, we are part of the VW Group, and if we are not able to fulfill the targets, then of course, we have to pay the bill also as Porsche.
Okay. Maybe can I try just a follow-up, just because I couldn't ask you this question. Any comment on eMacan order situation? I get the feeling it's maybe not as great as wanted, but you shared until April some numbers on the order intake. Can you also share at this point of time some numbers on order book?
No, we don't want to share our order book due to competitive reasons. But it's still a very robust order intake situation, except of China.
Okay, thank you.
So the next one then will be Anthony, and then it's Henning, and then it's Stephen, and obviously, after this, we are done and full with the list.
Yes, hi. Thank you for taking the question. The first one for me is on China. I think you mentioned China was 14% of your wholesales in Q3. I was just wondering if this is if you consider this to be now a normal, a satisfying level, basically, considering the level of demand in the market, or if there's also, you know, some difference between wholesales and deliveries that we should take into account. And then, you know, on that new level now that you're doing in China, you mentioned a couple of times now the need, the requirement to adjust the dealer network in the country. Could you just update us on how that's going, and what kind of costs could that incur for Porsche? I don't know if you had any supplier, dealer compensation, in Q3, and to what extent that impacted results and could impact them going forward. Thank you.
Yeah. China's sales in 2025 are expected to be on a similar level than in 2024. Of course, our dealer network and also our wholesale organization is more oriented in the direction of sales figures towards 100,000 cars a year, and therefore, it's right that we have to rightsized our dealer network. We are in the starting phase right now. Of course, we will also have an impact in our own wholesale organization. Yeah, we are just in the starting phase, but we expect a significant reduction in our dealer organization and also in our wholesale organization.
Very good. The next one then will be Henning.
Yeah, thanks so much. And, Horst tried on the Macan order intake. Maybe I can try it as an angle. If you could maybe just conceptually speak a little bit, you said flat volume for 2025. If we try and reconcile that, you know, you've mentioned a few times you don't expect recovery in China. The Macan is obviously a big part of the group volume, right? It was historically an 80,000-100,000 unit vehicle. I'm just trying to understand. Yeah, I'm trying to bypass the order book question, right? But how much do you think of that can be sustained in an electric variant, or with respect to your comments of potentially developing more PHEV and ICE variants, can we sort of conclude that you have now decided to develop a Macan ICE or PHEV successor? That's my first question, please.
I think it's very important to consider that we have a parallel offer in many markets with the combustion engine Macan and the eMacan. And therefore, despite the weak situation or the weakening situation in China, we are quite confident that we can reach our sales goals for the Macan in total. We have a very good order intake situation for the combustion engine Macan in the different markets, and also for the eMacan when it comes to Europe and the U.S. And therefore, we are quite sure that we can reach our original targets when it comes to Macan sales in 2025.
Okay, thank you. And please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think we're aware of your sales goals. These are internal, right? You've never shared those, so that is still an element of big uncertainty in the client and sales side base. Is that correct? Unless you would share those, that would be great. And the second question I had was on the 250,000 unit statement, right? I think we're also trying to understand this one as well, in the sense that, you know, do you want to lower the cost base to the point where at 250,000 units, you could achieve the original 17%-19% margin corridor, or the ultimate North Star, which was 20% at the time?
Is that the case, or and everything that will come on top will help you further, or does the significant profitable mean it's still outside, but it doesn't get worse if it were to go as low as two fifty? If you could just discuss your thinking around that again, please. Thank you very much.
Henning, unfortunately, here I need to step in again. Beyond what Lutz said earlier, that the company is working in all areas, be it top line, be it product offering, be it at the same time, cost, budgets, and structures, we at the moment stay pretty tight-lipped. Because we have specifically said, next year, we don't have a crystal ball, we don't know around the framework, nor do we want to speculate at the current stage about potential outcomes of this evaluation and the initiatives that we undertake, because it's crystal clear that there are stakeholders involved, and this is a company that first talks to the stakeholders and then communicates with capital markets. So thank you very much, for your understanding on that matter, but that's basically what we can say as of today. But you see that the company works on it.
Thank you, beyond that, let me summarize. Of course, we want to increase our resilience. That's the clear goal behind the program. You will see continuous cost efficiency improvements in order to enable innovative investments in the upcoming years. The focus will be on the reduction of production and material costs, of course. And in addition, we will review also all the administrative areas. It's very important that we optimize our internal cost structures in general.
Okay.
So-
Thank you both. Had to try.
Thank you very much. A nd as the last in the row, now it's Stephen of Bernstein.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Two questions, please. We talked about eMacan on your BEVs, but could you talk about the Taycan briefly? We've obviously the phase two, where is it in terms of its market launch? Because clearly, still, the year-on-year comparisons are still very, very poor, with a decline of 39% in the Q3, 52% decline in the first half. My second question is, maybe I missed a briefing in the meantime, but the news about the 911 Turbo with the hybrid, with a battery from Varta coming in the second half of 2025, I had thought it was coming earlier than that. Are you able to keep producing the combustion versions, the 992 point zero versions, so there's not a drop-off in 911 sales before you actually have the hybridized versions out? Thank you very much.
Yeah, you mentioned it, the situation is the Taycan is very challenging also in 2024. Yeah, first of all, due to the situation in China, the weak market situation in China, we had to adjust our production program for the Taycan. And, yeah, it's a situation which is not satisfying because it's a fantastic car when it comes to product content, when it comes to driving dynamics, and also when it comes to the new software. It's, yeah, it's a huge step in the right direction compared to the first generation, but of course, we have to convince our customers that we made our homework with the Taycan.
You know, we had a lot of warranty situation with the first generation. We need to earn again the trust of our customers when it comes to the Taycan. But the product itself, it's fantastic, and therefore we are confident that we will see a recovery for the Taycan in 2025. When it comes to your second question, the 911, yeah, I already mentioned that we will have also the 911 Turbo in place in the second half of 2025, and in the first half of 2025, you will see the 911 S with the normal combustion engine, and therefore, you will see then the entire model range in place when it comes to the 911, except the so-called Sonderm odelle.
Thank you very much, Lutz. Thank you very much to all of you joining us on this analyst and investors call on our Q3 results. As you may have seen, we just distributed the invitations for the Icons of Porsche event, which is one of the most vibrant Porsche fans, supporters, and lovers event in Dubai at the end of November. If the one or the other of you has the chance to join us, we have a quite interesting program down there, which also gives you a very good opportunity to come down to the heart of Porsche and see the love that our customers have for our brand and will enjoy it. With this, to all of you, have a lovely evening, lovely afternoon, a lovely morning, wherever you listened in or joined us. I am for sure at your disposal. Stay healthy, and we speak soon. Bye-bye.