The Porsche division of Volkswagen had a record-setting year in 2014. The sports car maker said on Friday that it delivered nearly 190,000 vehicles last year, a year-over-year increase of 17% in volume and a 20% increase in revenues. Operating profit rose more than 5%.
While Porsche’s total volume trails other luxury cars, like Mercedes-Benz, BMW and VW’s own Audi, by an order of magnitude, the sports car maker’s growth was faster and its margins are higher — 15.9% compared with around 9% for the other brands.
Porsche introduced its Macan compact crossover last year at a price point beginning at around $50,000, and the company’s chairman said Friday that the car is a “crucial cornerstone” for the company’s success. Porsche delivered 4,500 of the 2015 model-year cars last year.
The company may also be working on an all-electric model to complement its current stable of three hybrids: the 918 Spyder, the Cayenne S E-Hybrid and the Panamera S E-Hybrid. Porsche claims it is the only luxury car maker in the world to offer three plug-in models.
None of the luxury carmakers appears to be taking a foot off the accelerator. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, the average marketing and advertising spend per car is about €6,000 compared with an average of around €1,500 per car at Ford or GM. An analyst at Bernstein Research noted that the luxury car makers are spending more on advertising than on steel to build the cars.
ALSO READ: BMW Posts Record Sales, Revenues, Profits in 2014
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