Porsche AG reported a gain in their profit for the first quarter 2011. The third generation Cayenne that was launched last year contributed to the increase in the demand and the firm made it a point to specifically mention that the earnings have increased more than twice over. The calculations which have been done before tax and interest reveal profit has gone up to 496 million euros or 728 million dollars. However, the company did not provide their last year’s revenue so a comparison was not possible. The company has its sales reach a level of 2.28 billion euros which marked an increase of 10 percent. This is for the first time that the firm revealed their sales reports for the first quarter after having shifted earlier to a calendar year agenda, a move that made its operations at par with Volkswagen AG. The fiscal year of the firm came to an end on the 31st of July.
As for the company’s model wise performance during the period, the bestselling model has been the Cayenne with 11,487 units sold, an increase of an impressive 62 percent. However, sales of the Panamera dropped as the four door coupe slid down by 5.5 percent to 4715 units sold. Sales of the 911 sports too remained largely negative with just 4750 units sold, a decrease of 17 percent. The company though has set itself lofty targets and aims to increase its sales to a whooping 200,000 cars worldwide by 2018. For this to becomes a reality, Porsche is adopting the twin strategy of shifting focus to the new emerging markets as well as adding fresh models to its line-up, such as a compact sports utility four wheeler.
Porsche SE has also recently received fresh funding of 4.9 billion euros in a rights offering by selling 49.9 percent of its car manufacturing units. The sale will be put to use in debt reduction and facilitate its integration with Volkswagen. In a strange twist of events, it was Porsche that had earlier tried to wrest control of Volkswagen, a move that resulted in it incurring huge debts to the tune of more than 10 billion euros. That that did not happen is not a secret and everybody knows the global recession is one prime reason for the debacle so that ultimately, its Porsche that has ended up being under VW’s control. On a different note, manufacturers of luxury cars like the Daimler AG’s Mercedes Benz and BMW AG are expecting better results this year as spending in the United States is rebounding while the increment in wealth in countries like China continues to be north bound.
Source: 4wheelsnews
