Porsche is planning carry through its plans to have six Gen4 cars from next season’s Formula E season onwards, but not with the original model it had planned for a pair of factory teams.
Formula E Notebook can exclusively reveal that the German manufacturer, which acquired an extra licence to race last November from Formula E, could have six cars on the grid for the start of the Gen4 period. But the two outside the factory Porsche team and the customer CUPRA KIRO squad will be run by an outside service provider, and as a result will have a full customer team status.
The saga of if Porsche will or will not have two extra cars on the grid has gone on for several months with a late call in actually attempting to fully activate the two extra entries being accepted for review by the Formula E commision which sat only this afternoon.
The entry for review is designated as ‘NewCo Formula E Team’ and they are now invited to enter a registration for the first Formula E season, which is scheduled to begin on December 18.
A Porsche spokesperson confirmed to FEN today confirmed that “an additional team has applied to compete in Season 13 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship with two Porsche 975 RSE race cars.”
The statement went on to divulge that this was “done in consultation with Porsche Motorsport” and “we can also confirm that this is not a second Porsche factory team. As part of Porsche’s current strategic realignment, we have decided not to expand our current factory lineup. As the applicant is an external party, please understand that we cannot share any further details.”
It is not known whether or not the entity that is planning to race the two Porsche Gen4 cars this coming season have had a previous affiliation with the German manufacturer before.
Details of who the mystery team is, is not expected to be resolved until next month. Their entries are, like the other 11 teams planning to race in Formula E, currently in the stage of being processed for registration. The full list of accepted entries will be issued by the FIA next month.
Why the Porsche uncertainty on planned second team?
The uncertainty over if Porsche will have six cars on the grid has swirled around since the early summer period. The rumours intensified in early August when Nyck de Vries voiced his opinion that the team would not make it to the grid.
De Vries and others have been proved, to an extent at least, wrong in their assessment as Porsche make this late decision to have six cars in total entered.
The intricacies as to why the decision to switch its model and do it so late are presently unknown but what is known is that the delay in getting the deal done will significantly impact upon the new team’s first season in Formula E.
Porsche reduced its international motorsport programme at the end of 2025 with the cessation of its WEC programme which was run in conjunction with the Penske organisation. It continued with its IMSA, WEC LMGT3 (with Manthey) and Formula E projects.
At a similar time, it took the surprising decision to double down on its Formula E programme as it acquired an extra licence from Formula E to run what was positioned initially as a second factory team.
The backdrop to its marketing plans around Formula E was the restructuring it was undertaking across its business with Porsche AG’s executive board and general works council agreeing on an intensive streamlining programme ahead of the launch of the company’s ‘Sportwagenschmiede 35’ strategy programme in October.
Introduced under relatively new Porsche CEO, Michael Leiters, to address declining sales and changing global automotive challenges, the name literally translates to “Sports Car Forge 2035” impressed
The measures have been devised to address declining vehicle sales, particularly in China, US tariffs and the billions that have been invested in electrification that have yet to generate ultimate returns. In the first phase of 2026, Porsche’s operating margin fell to 7.8%, a significant decline from its previous level of profitability.
Within the restructuring programme is the reduction of 5,000 jobs by 2035. Porsche has stated that the cuts will be taken primarily via ‘voluntary departures, retirements and demographic change, partial retirement and voluntary termination agreements with severance payments.’
Opinions are divided as to whether the multiple manufacturer representation is a healthy situation for Formula E. But the fact is that a full 24 car grid for the first season of Gen4 looks now all but guaranteed, dispending on what is now an inevitability of being granted a slot on the Season 13 grid.
This indeed may have been an extra accelerant for Porsche to get a deal together to race the additional two cars this season. FEN highlighted some of this, but from the Fortescue Zero side of the equation last week HERE.
