Porsche (P911.DE) is betting that buyer appetite and a pivot to more gas-powered vehicles will help its turnaround, but it may not be enough.

Current CEO Michael Leiters has been in place at the German automaker since January and is slowly rolling out his turnaround plan. Part of that is betting a return to gas engines for the luxury brand will cure what ails Stuttgart-based Porsche.

Shares are down more than 5% this year, and down nearly 50% since its IPO back at the end of 2022.

Porsche phased out the gas-powered Macan SUV, its top seller, in favor of a pure-EV version this year. High prices and lack of EV demand have hurt sales, particularly in the United States. Leiters said in an interview with the Financial Times this week that Porsche is righting that wrong by bringing back a gas version, but not until 2028.

“We think it makes sense for the company to pivot its product strategy to better fit the prevailing tastes, but the transition is proving both painful and slow,” HSBC analysts led by Michael Tyndall wrote last month.

Leiters plans to bring back the combustion-engine Macan to sell alongside the electric version while ruling out a fully electric 911 sports car, something Porsche has said in the past it is unwilling to do. He told the FT that calling him an EV skeptic is “unfair.”

“We have to recover our petrol strategy, but I’m very positive that once we have the Macan with the petrol engine, we have a very balanced offer for our customers on electric and petrol cars,” Leiters said.

Electric Macan sales dropped 40% in the first half of 2026, and Taycan EV deliveries fell 25%, according to Porsche. The 911 was the only model line to grow, up 19%.

HSBC said, “the weaker trajectory of BEV [battery electric vehicle] adoption caught the group off-guard (as did the collapse of sales in China).”

Production of the outgoing gas Macan was slated to end in July, and its replacement isn’t due until 2028, creating a big gap in timing.

HSBC estimates that the gap will cost Porsche around 25,000 units and 500 million euros ($563 million) in profit in 2027, and it forecasts operating profit will fall 8% that year.

“Future products are cause for optimism, but portfolio pivot is slow and cost savings are not enough to fill the near-term void,” the analysts wrote.

Then there’s China. Deliveries there have fallen for four straight years, per CnEVPost, sliding to around 41,900 vehicles in 2025 from 95,700 in 2021.

‘Down boatloads’

This year is worse. China deliveries sank 32% in the first half to around 14,500 units — fewer than Porsche delivered in its home market of Germany.