According to Reuters, Porsche said on Monday that it could not rule out a downturn in vehicle sales due to a possible war in Iraq but stuck to a prediction it would sell 65,000 cars in 2002/2003.
“The effects of a possible escalation of the Iraq conflict on the market are hard to judge,” Porsche said in a statement reported by Reuters. “For this reason negative effects on the business development and on the unit sales cannot be ruled out.”
Reuters said that Porsche also confirmed preliminary figures released in late January showing its pretax profit had risen 19% to $US201 million in the first half of its business year, with sales rising almost 20% to $2.3 billion.