Porsche announced this week that it expects to sell around 200,000 or more vehicles in 2015. If the automaker is correct, they'll hit a long-planned target about three years earlier than they expected.
Company sales jumped 39 percent in 2014, compared to the previous year, as the automaker improved its full-year deliveries to 189,849, Porsche confirmed on Thursday. This marks a 17 percent increase overall compared to 2013 sales.
Sport utility vehicles were the main reason for the sales increase, as more than two-thirds of all Porsche vehicles sold were SUVs last year. The new Macan has been a popular seller for Porsche ever since it became available last April, according to sales data released this week.
Chief Executive Matthias Mueller said during a press conference at the automaker's base in Stuttgart, Germany that nearly 34,000 of the 45,000 people who purchased a Macan last year were new customers to the brand and previously owned either a BMW, Mercedes or another rival vehicle. That's a big deal considering the Macan is smaller than the popular Cayenne SUV.
Mueller, 61, mentioned last year that despite rumors he is not a potential successor to VW group CEO Martin Winterkorn.
The CEO made headlines last October when he said that by the time his contract ends in 2016 he'll be 69 and old enough to call it quits.
"I am not a potential successor to Winterkorn," Mueller said, according to Reuters. "I am too old for the job. It is no solution for VW to put a 63-year-old at the helm in 2016," he said, adding he had already communicated the message at VW headquarters.
Porsche contributed a fifth of VW's nine-month operating profit of 9.4 billion euros ($11.06 billion). The company could see its margin drop more than 10 percent however over spending on connectivity and fuel efficiency. Porsche would benefit from their investment in the long run however.
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