Porsche takes 67% of Manthey as Olaf Manthey sells his last shares
Porsche bought more of the Nürburgring specialist it was said to be selling last year
Porsche now owns 67 percent of Manthey Racing, up from the 51 percent it bought in 2013, and announced the change on 8 October. The extra shares came from the two managing directors and from founder Olaf Manthey, who has left the shareholder register altogether. A year ago, the talk in the paddock was that Porsche wanted to get out.
Olaf Manthey, 71, sells his last 9% as the Raeder brothers drop to 16.5%
Olaf Manthey has given up the 9 percent he still held in the company he founded next to the Nürburgring in 1996, and at 71 he stays on only as an adviser. Nicolas and Martin Raeder, the brothers who run Manthey, each go from 20 to 16.5 percent, so together they keep 33 percent instead of 40. According to the German commercial register, the new split took effect on 11 August, almost two months before Porsche announced it. Neither side has disclosed a price.
Porsche weighed selling Manthey in 2025, then bought 16 more points in 2026
In October 2025, Motorsport-Total reported that Porsche had reviewed its holdings to save money and had considered selling its Manthey shares, and that a senior Porsche manager had openly discussed finding a buyer at a 24-hour race that summer. Neither company denied it. Porsche's profits were collapsing, and it was pulling its factory Hypercar out of the World Endurance Championship. Michael Leiters, chief executive since January 2026, has turned that around: Manthey is now one of the few holdings Porsche is adding to.
Manthey's 350 staff do far more for Porsche than race the Grello
Manthey employs about 350 people at Meuspath, and its racing team is not the biggest part of it. The company runs the Porsche Track Experience for customers, organises its own one-make series on the Nordschleife, and handles final assembly, delivery and parts support for Porsche's Cup and GT4 race cars. Since 2020 it has developed nine Manthey Kits with Porsche, from the 718 to the Taycan Turbo GT, and a 911 GT3 RS wearing one lapped the Nordschleife in 6:45.
Home of Sports Cars gives Manthey a seat beside Sonderwunsch
Under Porsche's Sportwagenschmiede '35 strategy, Manthey becomes the Performance arm of a new division called Home of Sports Cars, alongside Sonderwunsch and Exclusive Manufaktur under Exclusiveness, and Heritage. Leiters gives it three jobs: few-off special models, performance kits and exclusive track experiences. The same plan cuts 9,000 jobs and followed the sale of Porsche's stakes in Bugatti Rimac. Manthey's filed accounts showed a profit of €2.27 million in 2023 and €3.2 million in 2022, so Porsche is buying capability rather than earnings.
Two Manthey specials debut at Hockenheim on 9 October
Manthey shows the first results on Friday 9 October at 13:30 at the Hockenheimring, where it presents two special models for its 30th anniversary. Porsche has not said what they are. The same weekend can give Manthey its third DTM title in four years: Thomas Preining leads the drivers' standings by 23 points, and the team leads the teams' table by 20. Manthey has only raced in the DTM with Porsche since 2023, and already has two titles to show for it.
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A year ago Porsche was weighing Manthey as something to sell; in August it bought out the man who founded it. The reversal holds up on Porsche's own numbers. A firm that earned €2.27 million in 2023 is a small price next to the margin on a few-off car, and Manthey already assembles Porsche's Cup cars and runs its customer track days. The risk is one every independent tuner faces when its owner moves closer: a kit that people bought because it came from outside Weissach can start to feel like another option on the Porsche list.
The first complete Manthey few-off, a car rather than a kit, will appear before the 2027 Nürburgring 24 Hours in May, with its build slots allocated to existing Kit and Track Experience customers before the public sees it. If the two Hockenheim specials turn out to be liveries and wheel packages, Porsche will have paid for a stronger hand at the Nordschleife without yet playing it.
