[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ theme_builder_area=”post_content” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” type=”4_4″ theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text module_class=”article-title” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”|800|||||||” header_text_align=”center” header_font_size=”44px” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text module_class=”fp-byline” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_orientation=”center” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
Words<\/b><\/span> Ben Miller<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/10\/374_CAR_LEITERS_0603.jpg” title_text=”373_RML_facility” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text module_class=”text-with-dropcap” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Sharply dressed and twinkly eyed, Dr Michael Leiters isn\u2019t your typical engineer. But behind the immaculate suit and the petrolhead passion sits a brain the size of a cruise ship. And Leiters\u2019 LinkedIn profile is the biggest flex on the planet.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″ custom_padding=”||0px|||”]<\/p>\n One of the biggest hitters in car making, the German has worked for Porsche, Ferrari and McLaren. Now he\u2019s set to return to Porsche \u2013 to run it.<\/p>\n The task? Steer the company back to success. The golden child for as long as anyone can remember, Porsche has struggled in recent years. It\u2019s still making a lot of money, with an operating profit of just over a billion euros in the first half of this year. But it made three times that in the second half of 2024, and its share value has spent much of the last two years sliding the wrong way. Slow EV uptake, an expensive shift back to combustion engines and disappointing sales in China and US import tariffs have all hurt.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/10\/374_CAR_LEITERS_1351.jpg” title_text=”373_RML_facility” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Clearly, Porsche reckons Leiters is the man for the job \u2013 he\u2019ll start as CEO on 1 January 2026. And it\u2019ll feel like coming home for both parties. In Leiters\u2019 first stint at Porsche, he helped create the German sports car maker\u2019s first SUV, the controversial Cayenne.<\/p>\n The stakes couldn\u2019t have been higher. If Porsche had screwed that car up, failure would have been hugely expensive and damaging. Fortunately, Leiters nailed it. The Cayenne felt and drove like a proper Porsche, opened the door for the smaller (and equally successful) Macan, and is now fundamental to Porsche\u2019s business model. As Cayenne vice president Michael Sch\u00e4tzle pointed out recently: \u2018The Cayenne is the most important model for Porsche. The Cayenne sells 100,000 cars a year in a segment in which you can earn a lot of money, so it\u2019s the most important product for Porsche.\u2019<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/flatplan-plus-content.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/10\/374_CAR_LEITERS_1209-1.jpg” title_text=”373_RML_facility” align=”center” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n That result alone was enough to put a halo above Leiters\u2019 head. One by one, the premium and luxury brands \u2013 Bentley, Maserati, Lamborghini, Ferrari \u2013 were beginning to realise they needed an SUV. And who better to do yours than the guy who\u2019d done Porsche\u2019s?<\/p>\n Ferrari was quickest on the phone, and Leiters started an eight-year shift at Maranello in January 2014. His time in red was 99 per cent solid gold hits. Cars created on his watch include the sensational V8 F8 Tributo, 296 GTB and of course the car he was hired to deliver, the V12 Purosangue SUV. Ferrari floated on the stock market in 2016 and, with Leiters as chief technical officer, the next five years were a rock \u2019n\u2019 roll streak of soaring share values and sensational cars. The only real bum note was the hard-to-love SF90 Stradale plug-in hybrid.<\/p>\n If his subsequent time at McLaren was a little quieter, that\u2019s no surprise. He didn\u2019t have the time to put in place the same foundations for success, though the W1 hypercar \u2013 unveiled on his watch \u2013 is pure McLaren, demonstrating Leiters\u2019 ability to adapt effortlessly to every brand he\u2019s worked for.<\/p>\n And Porsche? He knows the brand\u2019s DNA like the back of his hand. Now to replicate the success he\u2019s delivered everywhere else.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#000000″ divider_weight=”3px” module_class=”divider-thin” _builder_version=”4.20.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||5px||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the biggest hitters in car making, the German has worked for Porsche, Ferrari and McLaren. Now he\u2019s set to return to Porsche \u2013 to run it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3000,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"kschwarz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/car\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/car\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/car\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/car\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/car\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2996"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/car\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3004,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/car\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2996\/revisions\/3004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/car\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/car\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/car\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flatplanplus.io\/car\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}