Porsche is working to increase supplies of the new Macan midsize crossover to U.S. dealers in 2015.
“We’re certainly pushing because it’s been a big success,” Joe Lawrence, COO of Porsche Cars North America, said after the Porsche make meeting here on Sunday. “We’re having some issues with customers having to wait longer than we’d like, and we don’t want to lose those customers.”
Photo by Pere Nubiola. Used with permission
Wait times for Macan buyers have been six months or more since it went on sale last May. U.S. dealers are looking forward to getting more Macans this year and getting them into the hands of buyers more quickly. A diesel-powered Macan is also expected near the end of the year.
“We’re going to expand that Macan number,” said Mike Sullivan, owner of Pacific Porsche in Torrance, Calif., and a member of the Porsche Dealer Board of Regents. “It’s pretty exciting. We were so limited.”
Lawrence declined to estimate the number of Macans that will be allocated to the U.S. market in 2015. Porsche sold 7,241 Macans during the seven months it was on sale last year. Though Porsche’s U.S. executives are pushing for higher allocation of the Macan, it’s not confirmed, Lawrence said.
“We would be happy to get more,” he said. “But the factory is constrained, and the worldwide demand is so strong on that car.”
Still, a full year of Macan sales is expected to put Porsche over its goal of selling 50,000 vehicles in the U.S., three years earlier than the 2018 deadline originally set by the automaker. Porsche sold 47,007 vehicles in the U.S. in 2014, an 11 percent annual increase. The overall U.S. market rose 6 percent.
“Our target clearly is to exceed 50,000 this year,” Lawrence said. “We believe we’ll have the production and the right mix to be able to do that. A full year of Macan obviously helps that situation and makes it possible.”
Joe Allis, dealer principal of Porsche of San Diego, was glad to hear Porsche’s plans to increase Macan inventory. He called the make meeting upbeat and praised the brand’s product and marketing.
“Porsche’s finally in sync with our dealer body and our network,” Allis said. “More than ever before, our manufacturer is becoming truly a partner to the dealer body.”
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This story, written by Amy Wilson, originally appeared at Automotive News and is republished here with permission.