The new Porsche Macan promises to be a big sales hit even before deliveries have begun. Porsche CEO Matthias Mueller said demand for the Macan compact SUV, which goes on sale later this year, will drive Porsche deliveries to exceed 200,000 units in 2015, three years ahead of schedule.
According to Bloomberg, Mueller said Porsche is ready to increase annual Macan production beyond the 50,000 being planned should demand outstrip supply. The Porsche Macan is already nearly sold out in some European markets, with German customers having to wait as long as eight months for their Macan to be delivered.
Mueller said the Macan might also receive a GTS performance version in the future. The compact SUV goes on sale on April 5 in Germany with a starting price of €57,930 ($79,063) for the 340hp Macan S, which the Bloomberg report says is about 25 percent cheaper than a Cayenne SUV with similar equipment. For the record, in Germany, the 300hp Cayenne starts from €59,358, while the 400hp Cayenne S from €76,613.
This may lead some potential Cayenne buyers to choose the Macan, with Porsche’s CEO estimating that between 10 to 20 percent of current Cayenne buyers might switch to the smaller model.
The Macan and the bigger Cayenne are expected to make up 64 percent of Porsche sales next year, while the share of sports cars will drop to 24 percent of deliveries, according to IHS. Before Porsche introduced the Panamera four-door coupe in 2009, sports cars accounted for the majority of Porsche sales.
Porsche sold 162,145 vehicles in 2013, up 15 percent over 2012, as demand for the redesigned Boxster and Cayman models more than doubled.
By Dan Mihalascu
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