Macan SUV will have key role in boosting Porsche sales
Reprints
Print
Respond
BERLIN -- Porsche's Macan SUV will play a key part in the brand's ambitions to increase annual sales to more than 200,000 units by 2018, up from 118,867 in 2011.
Porsche plans to build 50,000 Macans a year at its factory in Leipzig, Germany, starting next year.
The Macan, previously known by its codename of Cajun (short for Cayenne Junior), will be smaller than Porsche's best-selling Cayenne large SUV.
"The Macan combines all the characteristics of a sports car with the advantages of an SUV and is a real Porsche," sales chief Bernhard Maier said in a statement.
The vehicle's name stems from the Indonesian word for tiger. "The name of a new Porsche has to fit with the brand, sound good in very many languages and dialects and evoke positive associations," Maier said.
The Macan will be the carmaker's fifth model line after the 911, Boxster roadster, Cayenne and Panamera four-door coupe.
The SUV will share parts with the Audi Q5.
Henning Krogh contributed
You can reach Douglas A. Bolduc at dbolduc@crain.com.
