Porsche defies industry gloom with 10% rise in 2019 global sales

FRANKFURT — Porsche shrugged off a widespread industry slowdown, reporting record deliveries for last year and predicting that its first all-electric model, the Taycan, will foster further growth in 2020.

Global deliveries rose 10 percent to 280,800 cars in 2019, driven mainly by strong consumer appetite for the Macan and Cayenne crossovers, Porsche said Monday in a statement.

“We’re optimistic that we can sustain the high demand in 2020,” sales chief Detlev von Platen said in the statement.

Sales momentum should benefit from “the introduction of some new models and full order books for the Taycan,” he said.

The most profitable division of Volkswagen Group is entering a new era with this year’s rollout of the Taycan four-door sedan, which challenges Tesla’s Model S.