Porsche quarterly sales crash 40 percent

Berlin – German luxury sports car maker Porsche saw unit sales sink 40 percent on the year in its first fiscal quarter and turnover plummet 30 percent but on Friday forecast a better year ahead.

The company said in a statement it sold 11,385 cars from August to October in a severely weakened high-end auto market, with its Cayenne model, minus 57 percent, and iconic 911 models, down 64 percent, performing worst.

It saw a 51-percent drop in sales in the United States and a 34-percent decline in Germany. Total first-quarter turnover crashed 30 percent to EUR 1.1 billion (USD 1.6 billion).

Porsche, which German giant Volkswagen is buying, was nonetheless bullish for the rest of the year because November sales had picked up sharply.

"The worst is over and improvement is in sight," it said.

"Porsche expects sales not only to stabilise but to rise slightly in 2009-2010."

AFP/Expatica