Porsche suvs prove a popular choice

PORSCHE has revealed its record global sales figures for 2018 and what’s interesting is just how big a percentage of its sales are made up by SUV models.

Of the 256 255 vehicles that Porsche sold around the world last year, 157255 were SUVS, with the Macan emerging as Porsche’s top seller with 86031 units sold and the Cayenne coming in second with a volume of 71 458.

Porsche sold twice as many Cayennes as it did 911s in 2018, the sports car racking up 35573 sales – and that has nothing to do with the current generation nearing the end of its product cycle, as it was still a 10% improvement on the previous year.

Macan sales were up 11% and Cayenne sales 12% and you can expect the former to reach new heights this year (no pun intended) as Porsche phases in the facelifted model.

And no need to moan or cry sacrilege: those juicy profits make Porsche rich enough to develop all those rip-snorting Gt-badged

911s that we love so dearly.

The 911 was not Porsche’s slowest seller.

That honour belongs to the 718 Boxster and Cayman entry-level sportsters, which notched up just under 25 000 sales.

The Panamera range slotted just above the 911 in the rankings, with 38443 finding homes, but it registered the highest yearon-year growth, at 38%.

Overall, sales improved 4% over 2017, which was also a record year.

China was by far the biggest market, accounting for 80108 sales (12% growth), followed by the US at 57202, up 3%. | IOL Motoring