Porsche’s brand sales have increased significantly over the past decade. While the 911 and Boxster have increased too, the gains have mostly been powered by the Cayenne SUV. Purists have never liked it, but the Cayenne no doubt has added new buyers to the brand.
Previous Chief Executive Officer Wendelin Wiedeking oversaw development of the car in order to ensure Porsche would remain an independent automaker. He said the company wouldn’t be able to survive with the 911 and Boxster alone.
His leadership transformed Porsche into a highly profitable company – one that Volkswagen has now taken over. Today, Porsche is celebrating 10 years of the Cayenne, and 100,000 examples of the second-generation model.
The second-generation Cayenne 100,000 is a Pure White V-8 model, on its way for delivery to a customer in Brazil. The second generation Cayenne has hit the 100,000 figure at a much faster rate than the original. Sales are continuing to go up too – at the end of this month Porsche will add a third shift at the plant. The current Cayenne went on sale in May of 2010. Last year, a total of over 93,800 Porsches rolled off the line, a record amount.
The 10 year milestone includes the anniversary of the Leipzig plant where the Cayenne is built. Porsche built the factory 10 years ago on a greenfield site specifically for production Cayenne. Leipzig is the plant that purists hate – it also added the Panamera a few years back. Since it started production, over 70,000 Panameras have been built. That makes it a startling success.
What’s more is that the small crossover Cajun will be coming on line at the end of 2013. If history is any guide, the Cajun should follow in the footsteps of the Cayenne and Panamera. While they’re on a kick increasing models though, we’d like to see a new small roadster, 928 GT successor and a flagship super car.
