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Strategies & Market Trends : Paint The Table -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Don Pueblo who wrote (4822)	12/5/2001 11:52:26 AM
From: Patrick Slevin	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 23786

Oh, yeah....very nice. Someone was trying to get me interested in a Dodge muscle car a few months back. Stored down in Virginia. I wish I could remember who it was, I have room for it now. Do car dealers read the internet do you think? A guy just called me with a '98 BMW stick shift for my son. Out of the blue, just like he was reading my last post. Also has an Alfa Spyder for me, as if I know where the gas tank even is on an Italian car.

To: Don Pueblo who wrote (4822)	12/5/2001 12:33:01 PM
From: Venkie	Respond to of 23786

By Alister Bull STUTTGART (Reuters) - German sportscar maker Porsche on Wednesday proved that recessions don't matter when what you sell goes very fast and everyone wants one, pledging to match last year's record pre-tax profit in 2001/02. Its key U.S. market is officially in recession and economic growth worldwide is heading for the weakest performance in 20 years but the Stuttgart-based luxury carmaker said sales were up 6.3 percent in the four months since August 1. "The profit will be at least as good as the previous year," said Finance Director Holger Haerter during a news conference. The firm chalked up $528.9 million in profits in the previous financial year. Chief Executive Wendelin Wiedeking said he had a "bucket-full of specific customer requests" when Porsche unveiled its prototype Carrera GT supercar -- to sell for 350,000-400,000 euros -- and orders across the board were 10-12 percent higher than last year. And this for a product whose entry-level offering, the Boxster, retails in Germany for 40,000 euros and rapidly climbs to 170,000 euros for the 911 Carrera GT2, for which customers still have to wait several months before delivery. "If we keep this up, the basis today suggests that this year we will have a reasonable result," he said. 4x4 EARNINGS Its sport-utility vehicle the Cayenne, although "not a sports car in the classic sense" will be adding to profits from the next financial year with annual sales that the company said would top 25,000 "and that will certainly not be the limit." Total sales of its two models, the 911 and the Boxster, were 26,721 and 27,865 respectively last year. Soaring unemployment on both sides of the Atlantic have hit consumer confidence and put retail sales under pressure. But Porsche ruled out the zero-financing deals which helped boost U.S. car sales in October, when customers showed they had not lost their lust for spending despite the September 11 shock of attacks on U.S. cities. U.S. sales had taken a knock, the company said, but confidence was clearly returning. "The situation was difficult at first after September 11 but we have been catching up month-on-month and we do not expect (the U.S.) to be negative for our results," Haerter said. The company earlier said that sales in the first four months of its fiscal year jumped 6.3 percent to 1.18 billion euros on the back of strong demand for its classic 911 model. Unit sales rose one percent to 14,615, with the 911 unit sales rising 5.7 percent to 7,954. "Look at our order intake in the U.K., or in Japan, where it is up 26 percent and that economy is in recession," said Wiedeking. "It just shows that with decent work and good distribution you can get things going," he said. Porsche has benefited from rising demand for the higher value 911, of which it makes 130 every day. Wiedeking said that even if sales failed to match last year -- which was not the outcome that he expected -- it would still deliver "good and steady" profits and higher revenue.