Porsche to Apply for 1.75Bn Euro Loan

Although the company's officials repeatedly said Porsche is not going to apply for government loans, it might seem the German manufacturer will indeed ask for 1.75 billion euros from the German state bank KfW. According to autocar.co.uk, a Porsche spokesman has already confirmed the news but did not mention whether the loan application would be granted.

"There is no application with the fund. There is only a normal loan application with KfW," a Porsche official was quoted as saying last month. "And KfW did not make a decision on the loan application yesterday."

Porsche last week borrowed 700 million euros ($980 million) from Volkswagen, the company it owns, with media reports that a merger between the two companies is the most likely scenario.

Separately, Porsche yesterday announced that May represented the best sales month in North America so far in 2009, with 2,140 new cars delivered to consumers in this region. 1,979 units were purchased in the United States and 161 in Canada, according to figures given by Porsche, which shows a decline of 29 percent compared with the same month of the last year.

"The market development in the USA is responsible for this positive trend where Porsche has been able to increase the monthly sales figures for the third time in a row," the company said in a release.

The most popular Porsche in North America is still the Cayenne, as consumers bought 918 units of this particular model, while 911 series came second with 772 cars. Sales from the Boxster range totaled about 450 units; of those 198 were the Cayman and Cayman S models. Compared to May 2008, this is a drop of almost 48 percent, Porsche explained.