Despite a difficult economic environment in Europe, Porsche AG is off to a good start in 2013. Deliveries of the sports car maker picked up by 21 percent to 37,009 vehicles in the first three months of the 2013 fiscal year. Turnover rose by 8.3 percent to 3.28 billion euro in the first quarter. At 573 million euro, the operating result stood at 8.5 percent above the value of the previous year (528 million euro).

Lutz Meschke, Chief Financial Officer of Porsche AG, ascribes the sustainably high earning power to the healthy cost structure, among other things, and strives for a result that is on the same very high level as previous year.

“The expansion of the Leipzig plant as well as the development of the sports SUV Macan and the super sports car 918 Spyder are incurring high expenditures that will not yet be compensated by corresponding vehicle revenue. These sales will only be realized in the coming year when our new models are sold,” said Meschke.

President and CEO Matthias Müller emphasized that Porsche can afford substantial investments in the development of new sports cars and new technologies like the plug-in hybrid “because the fascination of our sports cars guarantees our success. We want to boost the extraordinarily high level of attractiveness of our model range even further in the coming years,” said Müller. With the launch of the new generation of the Panamera, the new 918 Spyder and Macan models, the sports car manufacturer is setting clear benchmarks as technology leader and is heightening the appeal of the Porsche brand over again.

The Boxster model range achieved the highest percentage growth in the first three months of the 2013 fiscal year: 4,452 delivered vehicles equaled a growth of 157 percent. The Roadster Boxster alone accounted for 3,863 delivered vehicles, the Cayman for 589 units. The reason for the sharp rise of the mid-engine model series is that the new generation had its debut last year.

Deliveries of the 911 sports car model range rose by 19 percent to 7,230 vehicles.

With 19,658 units, the Cayenne was able to defend its lead position as the model range with the largest volume. The growth rate of the Cayenne deliveries added up to 29 percent.

The Panamera attained deliveries of 5,669 vehicles; the slowdown of 25 percent is attributable to the model life cycle. The new generation of the Gran Turismo celebrated its world premiere at the Auto China in Shanghai ten days ago. With this model, Porsche is introducing its first plug-in hybrid. In addition to the Panamera S E-Hybrid, which offers 416 hp of system power, two luxurious Executive versions also made their debut with an extended wheelbase and a newly developed three-liter V6 engine that features twin-turbo charging for the Panamera S and Panamera 4S models. The array of offers has now been extended and consists of ten models offering an even broader range between sportiness and comfort. New and advanced technologies have enabled fuel consumption savings of up to 56 percent.

It became apparent in the regional markets, in the first quarter of 2013, that Porsche will not be able to escape the turbulence in Europe caused by the euro crisis any longer. Thus deliveries in Europe outside of the home market were diminished by 7 percent to 6,703 vehicles. In contrast, Porsche was able to boost deliveries in Germany by 23 percent to 4,795 units in the first quarter. In its most important market North America the sports car maker accelerated deliveries by 34 percent to 10,324 vehicles from January to March 2013.

The number of people employed at Porsche also grew further. 17,820 persons were employed as at March 31, 2013, exactly 318 (2 percent) more employees than at the onset of the year.