Porsche car sales record a new high in Sri Lanka

Porsche car sales recorded a new high in Sri Lanka mainly due to the success of Cayenne and Panamera models, said Arthur Senanayake, Chairman of Euro Cars (Pvt) Ltd, sole authorized importer and dealer for Porsche vehicles in Sri Lanka,

A press release issued by the company quoted Mr. Senanayake as saying, “2011 has been an exciting year for Eurocars (Pvt) Ltd, Porsche Centre Sri Lanka. Based on the year end closing figures taken from 1 January to 31 December 2011, Eurocars has set a new record with sales of 52 vehicles,” he added.

The sales figures are attributed to the hybrid variants of both the Cayenne and Panamera model range with 37 units and 11 units respectively delivered to customers in Sri Lanka, he disclosed.

“We are pleased to announce the excellent sales results achieved by Eurocars in 2011; these figures reiterate our belief and confidence in our Porsche vehicle line-up, particularly with the Cayenne and Panamera model range. Despite the challenging conditions facing the sports car market in Sri Lanka, we are confident with the in- troduction of the new 911 and Boxster models this year that we can demonstrate that Porsche continues to create the everyday sports car by seamlessly merging form with function and performance,” the statement said.

Porsche Asia Pacific reports continued positive sales development in the region, it said. The recorded 2011 total sales are 3,930 vehicles (from 1 January to 31 December, 2011). The new all-time sales record in 2011 is an increase of 74% comparing to the same period in 2010 the company.

Christer Ekberg, Managing Director of Porsche Asia Pacific, noted that the current attractive line-up is boosting the growth of Porsche in Asia. Other than the fact that the Cayenne and the Panamera are always in high demand, the new iconic 911 and the new Boxster -- announced last week -will further strengthen Porsche’s position in the sports car segment in Asia Pacific.

The rising sales trend in 2011 was largely affected by the strong performance of markets such as South Korea with total sales of 1,301 vehicles and comparably strong performer, Taiwan, with 1,213 vehicles more than doubled from 2010).

Sales in Singapore were an alltime high of 472 vehicles while Malaysia reported 420 vehicles sold (almost tripled compared to the previous year).

Other important markets within the region, including Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam continue to grow, contributing to 116, 108 and 88 respectively to the regional sales. Brunei, French Polynesia, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Caledonia and Sri Lanka comprised more than 18% of the total regional sales, the statement added.

Meanwhile Porsche AG, Stuttgart's new sports car in the SUV segment has been named Macan. The name Macan is derived from the Indonesian word for tiger and combines suppleness, power, fascination and dynamics - core characteristics of the new off-road car, according to a company press re- lease.

It quoted Bernhard Maier, Executive Vice President Sales and Marketing of Porsche AG as saying "The Macan combines all sports car characteristics with the benefits of a SUV and is a genuine Porsche. The name of a new Porsche has to fit with the brand, sound good in very many languages and dialects and evoke positive associations."

As the fifth Porsche model line, the Macan is a central plank of Strategy 2018, by which the sports car manufacturer wishes to expand its model portfolio. Porsche intends the Macan to emulate the success of the Cayenne. The SUV will start coming off the production lines in Leipzig in 2013. To that end, the site in this city in Saxony is being expanded into a fully-fledged production plant including body assembly line and paint shop - with a 500 million euro investment, one of the biggest building projects in Porsche's corporate history. In the mediumterm, the sports car manufacturer will be creating more than 1,000 new jobs, the press release issued by Porsche Centre - Sri Lanka said.