A Porsche supplier is facing collapse after losing its orders, and 140 jobs with it
When a big name tightens its belt, smaller firms pay the price
Not all the pain in the car industry is felt by the big names. Weber Magdeburg, a German firm that has supplied Porsche with cylinder heads, is now facing insolvency after the sports-car maker decided to cancel its orders, putting around 140 jobs directly at risk. It is a sobering reminder that behind every headline about a carmaker cutting costs sit real workers and their families.
What is happening to Weber
Weber Magdeburg makes cylinder heads, and Porsche was its main customer. According to German reports, Porsche will stop placing orders from 30 September 2026, and the company is expected to begin formal insolvency proceedings the very next day, on 1 October. Around 140 jobs at the Magdeburg plant are on the line, with further roles threatened at Weber's other sites in Markdorf and Neuenbaurg in Baden-Wuerttemberg. For a plant that once survived a closure threat back in 2004 after 52 days of worker protests, it is a bitter blow.
Why the orders went away
The reason stings. Reports say the work was awarded to a rival supplier based in Thuringia that offered lower prices, in part because it does not pay its staff under collective labour agreements. Adding insult to injury, that new supplier is reportedly run by a former Weber plant manager. Porsche had originally been expected to keep working with Weber all the way to 2032, so the abrupt change has left workers feeling betrayed after decades of service.
Anger from the union
Union IG Metall has reacted sharply. Its representative Andre Voss said the workers had performed excellent work for decades and helped build the company's success, adding that everyone involved must now take responsibility. Weber is far from alone in the region: several other suppliers in Saxony-Anhalt, including Boryszew, Bohai Automotive and the Schlote Gruppe, have recently run into serious financial trouble, underlining just how much strain Germany's parts industry is under.
AutoNext Take
This is a hard one. Carmakers are under genuine financial pressure and cannot be blamed for seeking better prices, but stories like this show the human cost of that squeeze. When a contract is lost not because of quality but because a rival pays lower wages outside collective agreements, it raises uncomfortable questions about a race to the bottom in one of Europe's proudest industries. Whatever happens to Weber next, our thoughts are with the roughly 140 people in Magdeburg now facing an anxious few months. We genuinely hope a rescue can be found.
It fits a grim wider picture: Porsche itself has launched a cost-cutting package, parent group Volkswagen is weighing up to 100,000 job cuts, and it is even reportedly considering selling Lamborghini and Ducati.
