Porsche - automotive industry company news

FRANKFURT PREVIEW: Global debuts list [Fiat 500L Living added]

18 June 2013

The media days for the Frankfurt motor show are 10 & 11 September. Each time a vehicle or concept world premiere is confirmed for this biennial event, our preview list is updated.

COLOMBIA [updated extra data 16:00]: Car sales fall reflects economy

18 June 2013

Colombian car sales in May were off 10.4% year on year (from 27,339 to 24,488) but that was nonetheless the second best monthly tally for 2013 so far.

GERMANY: VW group sales grow worldwide

14 June 2013

Volkswagen Group delivered 3.87m vehicles in the first five months of this year, up almost 6% on the same period a year ago. In May, the numbers were ahead almost 7% at 816,500.

THE WEEK THAT WAS: A fine British name: Toyota Auris Touring Sports

7 June 2013

The UK market looked strong in May while Toyota's UK plant, clobbered by the 2008 recession, is now claimed to be back at capacity, following the start of production of the Auris Touring Sports or, to you, 'Corolla wagon'.

GERMANY: Floods halt Porsche production in Leipzig

6 June 2013

Porsche is stopping Cayenne SUV production at its Leipzig assembly plant because of flooding in the region.

US: Sales bloom in May

4 June 2013

In a classic case of April showers and May flowers, last month’s US light vehicle sales bloomed quite nicely following the previous month’s dip.

PRODUCT EYE: Porsche Cayman

17 May 2013

When Porsche GB invites you to the Scottish Highlands to drive its new Cayman, you tend to reschedule whatever else was in the diary. Glenn Brooks was just-auto's man on EasyJet to Inverness.

Q&A with Lear Corporation: Review of vehicle seating

10 May 2013

Back in the 1970s, a car seat was a functional component with few or no added value features. Nowadays, with drivers spending more time in their car on longer commutes, they expect a comfortable ride. Matthew Beecham caught up with three top executives of Lear Corp to hear how the seat has become an integral part of the car’s overall design and appeal in the showroom. Here, Ryan Burns, Lear’s Vice President of Global Seat Engineering led the discussion with contributions from Karl Henn, Director of Seating Engineering and R&D and Mandy Sarotte, Vice President of Global Trim Sales.

GERMANY: Porsche announces regional management re-shuffle

10 May 2013

After leading the successful expansion of Porsche in China since 2007, Helmut Bröker is to take over as head of the region covering the Middle East, Africa, India, South-East Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Japan and Latin America from 1 July.

THE WEEK THAT WAS: Once more to the toy shop, brothers!

3 May 2013

Those three of you who peruse every bit of just-auto's home page every day will probably already know The Editorial Team had our annual Fun Day Out this week, courtesy of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) Test Day. I've been going, on and off, sice 1987 and the agenda follows a refreshingly familar, welll-proven and immensely popular programme which I believe is unique to the UK auto industry. After earlier using other venues, the SMMT nowadays books Millbrook, the former Vauxhall Proving Ground (founded 1968), almost every importer/manufacturer shows up with the allocated six cars, caterers lay out a fine breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea - and we show up and go nuts.

US APRIL SALES: Detroit grows market share

3 May 2013

US light vehicle sales continued their upward swing in April, finishing up 8.5% year on year at 1.29m for the month. Year to date (YTD) results were 6.9% ahead of the first four months of 2012.

GERMANY: Porsche increases Q1 deliveries, revenue and operating profit

2 May 2013

Despite a difficult economic environment in Europe, Porsche says it is off to a good start in 2013.

AUSTRIA: VW hails natural gas, plug-in hybrids and is to add 10-speed DSG

29 April 2013

Volkswagen has set out some views on future powertrain and drivelines at a symposium in Vienna, including an upbeat assessment on prospects for natural gas and plug-in hybrids, but with an emphasis on future alternative powertrains co-existing with the internal combustion engine.

GERMANY: VW Q1 operating profit off as sales dip

24 April 2013

Volkswagen AG described its first quarter results as "satisfactory overall" in "a challenging market environment" as sales dipped a little to EUR46.6bn (Q1 2012: EUR47.3bn while operating profit fell to EUR2.3bn (EUR3.2bn), negatively impacted "by contingency reserves" for passenger cars and power engineering.

COLOMBIA: Sales fell 23% YTD in Q1 but recovery is expected

24 April 2013

The government announcement about reducing credit interest rates came as Colombian new car sales fell 23% YTD though month on month sales in March rose 2.9% to 22,888 units, the best month in 2013 so far.

SHANGHAI: Global debuts list [Final version with additional cars & updated descriptions]

22 April 2013

Details of concepts and new models which made their global debuts on Saturday 20 April at Auto Shanghai's media preview day.

GERMANY: Porsche court hearing postponed until October

18 April 2013

A German court has deferred until October investor lawsuits seeking EUR2.15bn (US$2.8 bn) in damages from Porsche SE after the lawyer for the plaintiffs fell ill.

GERMANY: Porsche boosts Q1 deliveries 21%

8 April 2013

Porsche sales in the first three months of 2013 rose 21.1% to 37,009 vehicles with over 14,000 in March, a company record.

CANADA: March sales stay close to last year’s record

4 April 2013

Vehicle sales in Canada slipped 0.7% in March, although this was the fourth straight month of decline

US: Car sales continue to rise

3 April 2013

US light vehicle sales continue to grow last month. Automakers delivered better than 1.4m cars and trucks, a 3.5% improvement over March 2012. This translated into a seasonally adjusted annualised rate (SAAR) of 15.27m sales, slightly below analysts’ expectation of 15.4m, but more than 1m sales higher than the mark from last March. March 2013 was the fifth consecutive month the SAAR was above 15m.

UK: Porsche says 918 Spyder will emit just 70g/km CO2

28 March 2013

Speaking to journalists at the UK media preview of the new 981 series Cayman, Porsche GB product manager Jim Willows has said the forthcoming 918 Spyder will have a C02 average of just 70g/km C02.

BANGKOK SHOW: Domestic economy rebound boosts sales to record

27 March 2013

The 34th Bangkok International Motor Show got under way with a press preview on 26 March against a backdrop of record domestic sales in the country - driven by a domestic economy rebounding strongly from the devastating floods at the end of 2011.

INTERVIEW: Agromash Holdings on PSA partnership in Kazakhstan

26 March 2013

PSA Peugeot Citroen recently inked a partnership with Agromash Holding, for the assembly and distribution of the French automaker's passenger cars and LCVs in Kazakhstan. Simon Warburton was in contact with the trailer and agricultural machinery manufacturer based in the huge country on Russia's southern border.

SLOVAKIA: VW unit aims for new records

26 March 2013

Volkswagen plans to keep car production in Slovakia at the level that saw it doubling production to a record in 2012.

THE WEEK THAT WAS: Live from Ingolstadt...

15 March 2013

Most of the good news this week emanated from Germany where yours truly was reporting and tweeting live, for the first time ever, ladies and gentlemen, from the annual results press conference at Ingolstadt, Hauptstadt der Audi.

PRODUCT EYE: Subaru XV

15 March 2013

It’s hard to believe that fewer than 50,000 Subarus were sold in Europe last year, but it’s true. This brand is mainstream almost everywhere else in the world, but here, it’s more exclusive than Porsche.

EXCLUSIVE: Audi surprises with plans to launch A3 saloon in UK

13 March 2013

A spokesman for Audi UK has told just-auto that the forthcoming sedan version of the A3 will be sold in this market. The launch should take place within six months of the vehicle's world premiere at next month's Shanghai motor show.

GERMANY: Porsche starts hiring 1,000 in Leipzig

13 March 2013

Porsche has begun hiring 1,000 new workers as trial body production for the Macan small SUV they will build began at the Leipzig plant, south of Berlin in eastern Germany.