With the takeover battle between Porsche and Volkswagen now settled except for formal approvals and paperwork, VW has a profitable subsidiary.
Porsche AG in Stuttgart said today that during the first three months of the 2011 financial year sales were up 13% to 23,442 vehicles compared to the year before. As a result, the German luxury vehicle maker said that Q1 operating profits more than doubled to €496 million (~$728 million). Turnover was €2.28 billion, 10% more than the same period in 2010 for the Volkswagen subsidiary.
“First quarter progress was outstanding. Porsche continues on a profitable growth trajectory,” said Matthias Müller, Chairman of the Board of Management of Porsche AG.
Much of this growth is led by sales of trucks and sedans at what was once a sports car maker. The revised Cayenne SUV sold 11,487 units, which translates into year-on-year growth of 62%. This was followed by the Panamera sedan with 4,715 sold (2010 at 4,990 units).
Traditionalist can take some comfort in 911 sales of 4,750 sports cars, a decline of 17%, but it should be noted that the 911 is due to be replaced later this year. The mid-engine sports cars sold 2,490 models (2,949 units the year before). With Boxster at 1,512 vehicles, and Cayman at 978.
In Europe, Porsche sales increased by 25% to 8,099 vehicles in the first three months – of these 2,921 units (+17%) were sold in the German market. In America, traditionally Porsches’ largest market, Porsche increased sales 30% to 7,103 units – of which 6,341 were in North America. In Asia 8,240 vehicles (8,772 in 2010) were sold in Asia and the rest of the world.
Porsche remains optimistic about this year. Between January and March, Porsche produced 31,366 vehicles, an increase of 98% compared with the same period last year. In Leipzig, 15,189 Cayenne models rolled off the production line, more than six times as many vehicles as in the same quarter of the previous year from the old model.
Panamera sedan saw production of 6,172 units (+9%). And the venerable 911 had 6,044 copies of itself produced in the Zuffenhausen factory (+24%). Boxster and Cayman production also increase (+35%) to 3,961 sports cars.
Porsche raised €4.9 billion in a stock offering earlier this month. The money e will be used to pay down debt and continue a merger with Volkswagen, which currently holds 49.9% of Porsche. VW and Porsche agreed to merge in 2009 after Porsche recklessly accumulated more than €10 billion in debt during a failed effort to gain control of VW just as the world financial markets collapsed.
