Porsche is relying on the Panamera, its fourth model line and the first addition since the Cayenne sport-utility vehicle in 2002, to help stave off a further sales decline. Stuttgart, Germany-based Porsche’s first-quarter U.S. sales dropped 27 percent and plunged 36 percent in the U.K.
The Panamera, which cost 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) to develop and is the carmaker’s first four-person sedan, will compete with Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz CLS and Fiat SpA’s Maserati Quattroporte.
Porsche expects 90 percent of Panamera customers to be new to the brand. The U.S., Europe and rest of the world will each generate about one-third of the model’s sales, he said.
The company will introduce the car in China in January and plans to sell 2,000 units by July. The country is home to 825,000 people each with an estimated net worth of at least 10 million yuan ($1.5 million).
It will offer the 94,000 euro four-door Panamera from September. A diesel-powered Cayenne SUV is also set to go on sale this year.
The company will bring out a hybrid Cayenne in 2010 and a hybrid Panamera after that. The importance of the hybrid, or models powered by electricity and diesel or gasoline, is “social acceptance” for Porsche buyers
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