Porsche Cayenne Orders Better Than Expected

Porsche Cayenne Orders Better Than Expected

By Michelle Krebs April 14, 2010

Porsche has received more orders than it expected of the new version of the Porsche Cayenne sport-utility that goes on sale in Europe next month and begins hitting U.S. showrooms in July.

Porsche CEO Michael Macht told reporters Tuesday at the automaker's factory in Leipzig, Germany, where Porsche builds the Cayenne as well as the new Panamera, that orders are exceeding expectations, but he didn't provide figures.

 

Porsche recently gave U.S. consumers their first close-up look at the 2011 Porsche Cayenne, at the New York auto show. Porsche said then that the North American model range will include four models: the 2011 Cayenne, Cayenne S, Cayenne Turbo and Cayenne S Hybrid -- Porsche's first hybrid. The S and Turbo models go on sale in July, with the Cayenne and Cayenne S Hybrid in showrooms this fall.The Cayenne lineup made its world debut earlier at the Geneva auto show.

The Cayenne needs a boost. Sales of the model have been dismal in the past year. In 2009, Porsche sold only 19,696 Cayennes in the U.S., compared with its high of 34,693 in 2007, according to Edmunds.com. In the first quarter of this year, Porsche sold a mere 1,586 Cayennes, the lowest number since its launch year of 2009 and a fraction of the 4,035 sold in the first quarter of 2004 -- the vehicle's best first quarter.

The Cayenne had represented the bulk of Porsche sales in the U.S., as high as 58 percent in 2004. The SUV dropped to 30 percent of total Porsche sales in the first quarter.

In Germany this week, Macht told reporters that Porsche plans to add models, with a goal of doubling yearly sales to as many as 150,000 vehicles over the midterm, and benefit from savings from a merger with Volkswagen, Bloomberg News reported. -- Michelle Krebs, Senior Analyst and Editor at Large

Photo by Porsche

The 2011 Porsche Cayenne begins arriving in the U.S. in summer.

Michelle Krebs:  is Editor-in-Chief of AutoObserver.com. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.