{"id":35097,"date":"2025-10-13T17:43:43","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T21:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=35097"},"modified":"2025-10-13T17:44:18","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T21:44:18","slug":"porsche-penske-exits-le-mans-race-effort-as-automakers-woes-deepen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/porsche-penske-exits-le-mans-race-effort-as-automakers-woes-deepen","title":{"rendered":"Porsche Penske exits Le Mans race effort as automaker’s woes deepen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Braselton, Georgia<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Auto racing is experiencing a Golden Age with motorsports benefiting from big investments from brands across the globe including Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford, Porsche, BMW, Acura, Toyota, Aston Martin, Mercedes and more.<\/p>\n

The beneficiaries are series as diverse as international sportscar racing \u2014 Formula One, NASCAR, and the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia. But success depends on a healthy auto industry.<\/p>\n

That reality was brought home at the season finale of IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Series this week when German powerhouse Porsche shocked the paddock by announcing it is pulling out of the 2026 World Endurance Championship hypercar championship and its signature race, the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France.<\/p>\n

Porsche\u2019s move came as it faces revenue challenges after its bet on an electric future \u2014 under pressure from a European Union mandate \u2014 has failed to produce desired results and the Volkswagen-owned brand faces headwinds in the Chinese market where sales have declined.<\/p>\n

\"2025<\/figure>\n
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2025 24 Hours of Le Mans – #5 Porsche Penske 963 leads the Whelan Racing Cadillac in a quest for Roger Penske’s first Le Mans win. Porsche, Porsche<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The decision impacts Detroit\u2019s legendary motorsports racing enterprise, Team Penske, which manages Porsche\u2019s WEC\/Le Mans race program. Porsche said that it will continue to partner with Penske in the North American IMSA series, but the withdrawal from Le Mans complicates the hopes of Team Penske Chairman Roger Penske to add the coveted title to his trophy case.<\/p>\n

\u201cPorsche has been a strong partner with Penske for a variety of reasons both on race track and production world,\u201d said Penske Racing President John Diuguid, who declined comment on Porsche\u2019s WEC decision in an interview here. \u201cMaintaining that relationship is very important to us and we\u2019ve had great success \u2014 not just over the last three years \u2014 but historically as well. Our focus is to continue racing with Porsche.\u201d<\/p>\n

To that end, Duiguid said Penske is focusing on the task at hand \u2014 namely, it has the chance to win the driver\u2019s and manufacturer titles both in IMSA and in the WEC in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe (WEC) team is looking to finish on a high note, that\u2019s the best thing we can do,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely achievable. The structure for next year hasn\u2019t been determined yet. We\u2019re trying to win the championship here, then we have three or four months to figure out how we\u2019ll go racing in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Porsche narrowly missed notching its 20th<\/sup>\u00a0Le Mans win this year (and Penske\u2019s first) when it finished second to Ferrari. Porsche has built its brand on motor racing \u2014 in particular its dominance at Le Mans, where it has amassed more overall wins than any other manufacturer since its first win in 1970. Porsche Penske has led a renaissance in international prototype racing this decade that has attracted a historic number of manufacturers.<\/p>\n

\"Porsche<\/figure>\n
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Porsche Penske leads the title quest in IMSA with driver Matt Campbell (right) seeking the driver’s title. Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Industry insiders here have no doubt Porsche will be back at Le Mans, but the millions needed to compete at the pointy-end of motorsports has taken a back seat to shoring up the brand\u2019s soft bottom line.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m surprised that Porsche would abandon its top international sportscar series because so much of their image is tied into motorsports,\u201d said veteran motorsports writer and Hagerty Special Projects Editor Steven Cole Smith. \u201cThis is a real blow to WEC, though I\u2019m glad the IMSA program was spared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite investing billions in battery technology to dovetail with the EU\u2019s ban on gas engines by 2035, Porsche EV sales have fallen short of expectations. As a result, it\u2019s reversed course on its promise to sell 80% electric vehicles by 2030. That means ploughing capital back into internal combustion engine technologies to make parallel model lines for EVs and gas power.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re realigning Porsche across the board,\u201d said VW CEO Oliver Blume last month in announcing the delay of electric plans. \u201cIn doing so, we want to meet new market realities and changing customer demands \u2014 with fantastic products for our customers and robust financial results for our investors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision to abandon the WEC\/Le Mans came in conjunction with Porsche announcement this week of weaker sales in China, where Chinese automakers are winning over nationalist buyers with sales at the expense of foreign automakers.<\/p>\n

The U.S. market is a bright spot for Porsche despite increased prices this year due to tariffs imposed on EU imports. Sales are up 5% so far this year. Racing insiders speculated that, if Porsche Penske wins the IMSA title this weekend that the team may still get an at-large bid to race at Le Mans next year.<\/p>\n

\"Road<\/figure>\n
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Road Atlanta finale: #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963, GTP driven by Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy, and Laurens Vanthoor. Brandon Badraoui, Lumen Digital Agency<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cEverybody at Penske really wants a Le Mans title,\u201d said Cole Smith. \u201cBut it\u2019s a real crapshoot like any 24 hour race.\u201d<\/p>\n

European automakers\u2019 struggles were foretold by Lynn Calder, CEO of English automaker Ineos in an interview with The Detroit News earlier this year. \u201cIt\u2019s insane. It\u2019s important for the industry to be regulated, (but) there is something about this particular industry that has gone a bit mad,\u201d Calder said of European emissions regulations banning the sale of gas-engine cars. \u201cIn Europe and the UK right now they want it to be one-size-fits-all, and it\u2019s breaking the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Porsche\u2019s parent, VW, has pushed back on the EU\u2019s mandates as its performance brand re-commits to an ICE lineup.<\/p>\n

The current ICE Cayenne SUV will remain on sale alongside the upcoming electric Cayenne, as will the Macan ICE and EV SUVs. A new three-row SUV positioned above the Cayenne, once envisioned as electric-only, is being redesigned to include ICE powertrains. Initially planned to be EV-only, the next-generation Cayman\/Boxster 718 sports car will also offer ICE engines.<\/p>\n

Porsche sales worldwide in the first nine months of 2025 slid 6% from a year ago \u2014 foreshadowing back-to-back annual declines for a brand that has been a sales juggernaut. In 2024 Porsche delivered 310,718 vehicles, down 3% from 2023.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/figure>\n
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The body shell of an all-electric Porsche Taycan. Krisztian Bocsi, Bloomberg<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

A steep decline in China sales, a key growth market the last decade, is the main culprit. Porsche\u2019s deliveries are down 26% there this year, paralleling declines for German peers BMW and Mercedes.<\/p>\n

While pulling back on its expensive globe-trotting WEC\/Le Mans series, Porsche will continue to support Porsche 911 GT3 and GT4 cars entered in competition across the globe. It will also continue its factory effort in the electric open-wheel series, Formula E, where it has won consecutive titles.<\/p>\n

\u201cRacing is part of their brand DNA and it is blended across the board with dealerships and even the main website,\u201d said Diuguid. \u201cPorsche builds race cars and its build high-performance cars for the road and they are definitely integrated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Braselton, Georgia\u00a0\u2014 Auto racing is experiencing a Golden Age with motorsports benefiting from big investments from brands across the globe including Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford, Porsche, BMW, Acura, Toyota, Aston Martin, Mercedes and more. The beneficiaries are series as diverse as international sportscar racing \u2014 Formula One, NASCAR, and the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35097"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35097"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35099,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35097\/revisions\/35099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}