Company Sold 11,724 Vehicles In China During Fiscal Year 2009-2010, 83% Of Which Were Cayenne SUVs#
This July, Jing Daily reported on the surging sales of Porsche's Cayenne SUV in China, which this year became the largest single Cayenne market in the world. As we noted at that time, the Chinese market has been very good to Porsche over the past several years, and the company has returned the favor over the last year and a half, debuting its Panamera Turbo at the Shanghai Auto Show, making inroads in second- and third-tier cities, launching a China-only version of the Cayenne at the Shanghai World Expo, and announcing that the company plans to build its 10th plant in China to double production capacity within four years.
This week, figures released by Porsche indicate why the company continues to plow into the China market. Although full stats for the year won't be released for another few weeks, Porsche announced that it sold 81,850 automobiles worldwide in the fiscal year 2009-2010 (a year-over-year increase of 8.8%), including 20,615 of its four-door Panamera. A good year, particularly in the aftermath of the global financial crisis that has dented Porsche sales in traditional markets like North America. But the figure that really stands out, even though it's no surprise for anyone who's kept a close eye on the market this year, is that Porsche sold 11,724 vehicles in China alone this year, a rise of nearly 50% over last year.
The vast majority, 83%, of the company's China sales over the past year came from the aforementioned Cayenne, but if Porsche is going to hit its goal of selling 16,000 vehicles per year in China by 2012, the company is going to have to push other models like the Panamera and 911 even harder, most likely in inland areas where the nouveau riche is looking for flash (and traffic is not yet at Beijing/Shanghai levels).