Porsche says first-half sales down but forecast upbeat

FRANKFURT: German luxury sports car maker Porsche, which is being folded into the Volkswagen group, said on Friday its 2009/2010 first half sales had fallen, but forecast a gain for the year as a whole.

In the six-month period from July through December, Porsche sold 33,200 sports cars and sport-utility vehicles, a decline of 3.1 per cent according to figures released by VW head Martin Winterkorn at a Porsche general assembly.

That translated into a 3.3-per cent drop in revenues to 2.9 billion euros ($4 billion).

The company nonetheless still expects to sell more than the 75,238 autos it delivered in the previous fiscal year.

Porsche has delivered 8,200 of the new four-door Panamera models, but sales of its iconic 911 sports car were off by 45 per cent at 7,400 units, the company said.