Re: Upbeat message from the Management
Clearly Porsche's management is quite upbeat concerning this year (fiscal Aug03--July04).
911 sales were down 14% for the first 4 month of the year (Aug--Nov) BUT they should be very close to those of last year (27,800) for this year thanks to a great demand for high-end models. It seems, they "can't produce" enough C4S Cab, Turbo Cab, GT3 RS and the 911 40th Anniversary is basically sold out !!!
On the other hand entry level models like the C2 Coupe aren't selling any more.
As I have said in another post, this year which is basically the last year for the 966 will be very close of being another record year. The all time high was reached in 2001/02 with 32,300 units. Last year (2002/03) sales were at 27,800, making it the second best, and if things are going according to plan this year could well be the third best or may be the second best !!!!! Not bad for an "old" lady who is getting ready to retire.
It seems, they have enough orders in hand to make sure the transition with the 997 will be extremely smooth.
Boxster sales are not doing great with a 40% decline over the first 4 month (Aug--Nov) and there is no reason to believe the trend should change in the future despite the introduction of the Spyder.
Cayenne sales are still buoyant as 11,100 units were sold in 4 month. The annualized rate is pointing to over 30,000 units for the year, BUT we then have to add the V6 version... So, all in all, they should sell around 32-33,000 Cayennes this fiscal year, making it the best selling Porsche EVER (during its first full year of sales) not bad for a model that was suppose to be a "complete fiasco".
All in all, it's quite clear that Porsche should make another record year in terms of volume but also in terms of profitability....
hope that means that the 4th model will be able to be a 4-seater GT-coupe instead of a sedan, an long overdue official racing program will make us proud again in rennsports, and more life will be pumped into the next 997's engines 
