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Porsche Macan sales may push brand past 200K unit goal early

In late 2010, Volkswagen announced that it would spend the equivalent of $71 billion through 2015 to beef up its product lineup, determined to overtake Toyota in overall sales and profitability by 2018. Each of VW's many brands, in turn, would play its part contributing to a goal of 10 million sales per year. VW-owned Porsche was expected to sell 200,000 vehicles per year by 2018, but with the imminent arrival of the Macan small sport utility vehicle in 2014, the automaker is poised to meet that goal years ahead of schedule, Automotive News reports.
Porsche sold 143,096 cars in 2012, and IHS Automotive predicts Porsche will sell 63,000 Macans in 2014, according to Automotive News, which would make it the brand's best-selling vehicle. Do the math and you can see how Porsche could easily beat original expectations ahead of schedule. But Porsche's sales and marketing boss Bernhard Maier says not so fast: "We will not offer [63,000 Macans] in 2014 as we will still be ramping up production and introducing models top down," he told Automotive News Europe. Whether Porsche surpasses the 200,000 mark early or not, he said, the company will not set a new sales target and will remain committed to its business model.
The Macan shares its architecture with the Audi Q5, but Porsche will be able to charge more for its SUV. Tim Urquhart, a senior analyst at IHS Autmotive, told Automotive News that Porsche can charge 10 to 20 percent more, for what is basically the same SUV, than other VW Group brands. How's that for brand value?

Porsche to introduce new Boxster Spyder, Macan GTS this year

Dig the new Porsche Cayman GT4 but really wish it came in open-top form? Love the Boxster GTS but wish it had more punch? Well we've got good news for you, friend, as that seems to be precisely what Porsche has in store. Among the new models the Volkswagen Group has lined up for this year will be a new Porsche Boxster Spyder. Although no details were announced along with the name, there are a few elements we can look forward to. The new Boxster Spyder is tipped to be essentially an open-top version of the Cayman GT4, but just how many of the latter's components will make the jump from coupe to convertible remain to be seen. The GT4 packs the 3.8-liter flat six from the 911 Carrera S with 385 horsepower, channeled to the rear wheels through an old-school six-speed manual transmission. It also has carbon-ceramic brakes, revised aero, and a stiffened suspension. The Spyder version of the previous Boxster arrived in 2009 with a modest 14-horsepower boost, a retuned suspension and a good 176 pounds trimmed off its curb weight thanks to the elimination of the motorized soft top, air-con and other components. That's not all Porsche has in store for 2015, though. The German automaker has also confirmed a Macan GTS is in the works that promises to explore the little crossover's performance potential. Projecting just what Porsche will do to Macan to give it the GTS treatment, though, is a little tricky. Sure, the German automaker already offers GTS of the rest of its lineup, but just where that model slots in to each line varies. On the Boxster and Cayman, it slots in between the S and GT4/Spyder. For the 911, it serves as a mid-point between the Carrera S and the GT3. And with the Panamera and Cayenne, the GTS bridges the gap between the S and Turbo models. Considering both the Macan S and Macan Turbo pack twin-turbo V6s, the Macan GTS could serve as a mid-point between the S and Turbo with around 350-360 hp, or (more likely) top the range with upwards of 420 hp. One way or another, though, we can expect upgrades to the suspension, brakes, rolling stock and trim to complete the package. Most of the rest of the announcements made in VW's annual report we either already knew about or are of little interest, but the document also confirms new Lamborghinis on the way, including two new versions of the Aventador (likely to be the new SV coupe we just saw and an SV roadster) and three more of the Huracan as well, including two Spyder versions of the latter.

Porsche Cayenne shows a bit more face, plug-in spotted

Porsche was first rumored to be working on a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) version of the Cayenne over a year ago. However, we had never seen it, until now. The new model was caught almost completely undisguised while testing. In another stroke of luck, we got a glimpse of the upcoming facelift for Porsche's SUV (pictured above) as well.
According to the spy shooter, it was windy during the cars' cold weather testing. The cover blew off of the facelifted Cayenne, and there was enough time to snap these pictures before it could be hidden again. The changes are all quite minor but jive with what we saw the last time it was spied. The rear still wears some cladding but is expected to be hiding lights similar to the Macan.
The second gallery shows off the upcoming Cayenne PHEV. It looks nearly identical to the standard model, except for the extra panel on the driver's side of the car that hides the electric port. One image even shows the car plugged in. The new version is expected to use the same supercharged 3.0-liter V6 and 9.4-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack with a combined 416 horsepower and 435 pound-feet of torque from the Panamera S E-Hybrid. We enjoyed the system when we tested it last year. It's rumored to debut on the SUV sometime this year.