Cayenne Helps Porsche Increase Profits by 59%

We know that Porsche has plans for its SUV offering, as a smaller Cajun will hit the market in coming years in both two- and four-door versions, yet the existing Cayenne is doing just fine on the market right now, as it has helped the German carmaker increase its profits by 59 percent in the first half of the year, according to Bloomberg.

During the same period, demand for the German SUV more than doubled, so the expected 20 percent increase in production for next year might not be enough to lower the waiting list to under half a year. Demand must have caught even Porsche execs by surprise, because it’s rumored that customers in places like China are having to wait as much as a year for their Cayenne to arrive.

With strong backing from Volkswagen, Porsche wants to double all its sales by 2018 to about 200,000, which would make the 911 figures look positively enormous compared to other lesser sporscar makers.

Porsche shifted 28,000 in the first six months of the year, reinforcing the company’s pledge to sell more than 100,000 units this year, from 97,000 in 2010. With the way things are shaping up, the figure could be surpassed by at least 10 percent.

China gobbled up the Cayenne and 911 at an incredible pace, reporting a 47 percent increase to 11,712 sportscars and SUVs.

“Profit and margin are both above expectations,” said Juergen Pieper, a Frankfurt-based analyst at Bankhaus Metzler. “Porsche has excellent products with the Cayenne and Panamera and the overall environment for premium cars is very solid.”

Virtually all the current models will be replaced, revised or will get a new configuration in the next two years, so Porsche’s future looks secure.