Panamera and New Cayenne Drive Growth Forward

STUTTGART, Germany Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, has again achieved outstanding results in the business year 2009/10 (July 31). According to the preliminary figures, with a growth of 17.9 percent to 7.79 billion euros, Porsche achieved the highest turnover in company history. Sales also rose by 8.8 percent to 81,850 (previous year: 75,238) vehicles.

Michael Macht, Chairman of the Porsche AG Board of Management, foresees a further dynamic company development: "The record turnover dramatically demonstrates that Porsche has regained its former strength. Porsche will also follow up the positive trend in the current business year." Macht primarily bases this upon the vehicle series Cayenne and Panamera, along with the 911 Speedster and the 911 Carrera GTS. At the start of October, both of these new models will celebrate their world premiere at the Paris Motor Show.

At the same time, the announced change in Porsche AG top management will take place. Starting on October 1, the previous head of product planning, product management and model ranges for the VW Group and the Volkswagen brand, Matthias Muller, will become the Chairman of the Porsche AG Board of Management. Michael Macht will be joining the Volkswagen AG Board of Management, and he will have the functional responsibility for Group Production.

In the previous business year 2009/10, the Panamera, which was introduced on the worldwide market in September 2009, achieved sales of 20,615 units. The highest-volume model line remained the Cayenne with 29,855 sold. Despite the model changeover in the series in spring 2010, the decline only amounted to 12.9 percent. The entirely newly developed Cayenne, at retailers since May of this year, has already reached 11,618 units.

The sales of the 911 series were negatively affected by the continuing difficult economic conditions facing the sports-car market. In the business year 2009/10, according to preliminary figures, sales dropped by 27.4 percent to 19,663 units. It should be noted, however, that the model mix was improved. Porsche's total sales for the new 911 Turbo and the 911 Turbo S amounted to 4,055 units. The sales for the Boxster series declined by 10.8 percent to 11,717 units. Of these units, 6,865 vehicles were the Roadster Boxster and 4,852 were the Cayman.

The development of the Porsche Group fared differently in the world's most important sales regions. Sales outside the core markets in Europe and North America grew significantly by 25.8 percent to 25,283 vehicles. The Chinese market alone accounted for 11,724 units, an increase by 47.5 percent from the same period of the previous year. In Europe, sales showed a slight increase by 1.4 percent to 30,948 units. Of these vehicles, 11,857 were sold in Germany, 3.5 percent less than in the previous year. In the North American market Porsche sold 23,705 vehicles, an increase of four percent compared to the previous year. In the whole American market Porsche achieved sales of 25,619 units.

Production from the previous year amounted to a total of 89,123 vehicles, 16.1 percent more than in the same period of the previous year. In Leipzig, 32,215 units of the Cayenne series and 24,494 new Panamera vehicles rolled off the production lines. At the main plant in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, 20,159 vehicles of the 911 series were built, which was 27.4 percent fewer than in the previous year. The Boxster series reached a total of 12,255 units, a decline of 14.9 percent.

The number of employees increased by the end of the business year by one percent to 12,722 persons. The overwhelming majority of these, 10,880 employees, were domestic employees. 110 young people newly started apprenticeship training. In total, 340 trainees were thereby employed at Porsche.

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SOURCE Porsche AG