Porsche trims top leadership as new CEO Michael Leiters reshapes company

Porsche sharpened its management structure and cut one of its top executive board seats as new chief executive Michael Leiters pushed the German sports-car maker deeper into a cost and strategy reset. The board will shrink to seven members from eight, and the Car IT division will be folded into research and development on July 1, a move that removes Sajjad Khan from the board and leaves no replacement in place.

Khan will continue to run Car IT until June 19 and then remain available to Porsche for software development under a partnership model. Michael Steiner, the deputy board chairman, will take charge of the expanded R&D division and continue to lead the engineering side of the company, preserving continuity in Weissach even as Porsche trims the number of top decision-makers.

The reshuffle is the clearest sign yet that Leiters, who became Porsche AG chief executive on Jan. 1, 2026 after leading McLaren Automotive and serving as Ferrari’s chief technology officer, is moving to simplify a company under strain. At Porsche’s annual press conference in March, Leiters said he would streamline management, reduce hierarchies and cut bureaucracy. He also said Porsche was sticking to a “Value over Volume” approach, especially in China, where demand has weakened and premium carmakers face fierce local competition.

The numbers show how much is at stake. Porsche reported 2025 group sales revenue of 36.27 billion euros, operating profit of 413 million euros and an operating return on sales of 1.1%. The company said recalibration measures in 2026 would keep creating one-off effects in the high three-digit-million-euro range, underscoring that the reset is still expensive. Porsche is also facing tariff-related costs and the lingering hit from missteps in its electric-vehicle transition, pressures that have squeezed margins across the luxury car sector.

Wolfgang Porsche, chairman of the supervisory board, described the company’s situation as a challenging phase of transformation and said Porsche was adapting its structures under Leiters to changed circumstances. Khan said he was proud of what his team had achieved over the past two and a half years, but added that structures and processes must be continuously reviewed and adapted to keep pace with the transformation.

The latest cut followed earlier board changes in 2025, including the appointments of Vera Schalwig and Joachim Scharnagl and Steiner’s elevation to deputy chairman. Porsche is also weighing expansion above its current two-door sports cars and above the Cayenne as part of Strategy 2035, a sign that the company wants more profitable products even as it works through a difficult EV and China backdrop. The leadership trim suggests Porsche is trying to move faster, but it also reflects how much pressure luxury automakers are under as the market shifts around them.