Two years in, Porsche customers still queue for Macan

PORSCHE Cars Australia (PCA) is still battling to satisfy customer orders for its most affordable model, the mid-sized Macan SUV, almost two years since it was launched in Australia.

Extra shipments from the Leipzig factory in Germany have halved the 10-month waiting list for some variants, but customers placing deposits now will still be lucky to get a vehicle in their driveway before mid year.

To make matters more interesting, a new sports version of the Macan, the GTS, arrives in showrooms late this year, potentially causing a further customer stampede.

The GTS will be powered by a 265kW/500Nm version of the twin-turbo 3.0-litre petrol six-cylinder engine, that already graces the Macan S in 250kW/460Nm form. It will be priced from $109,500 plus on-road costs.

Last year, PCA sold more than 2000 Macans for an 11.5 per cent share of the luxury medium SUV segment.

This was half the volume of the segment sales leader, Audi's Q5, which garnered 4122 sales, but still a big winner for Porsche, making up almost half of its 4090 sales in 2015.

It could sell more Macans, but global demand for restricted supply is making that difficult.

PCA public relations director Paul Ellis told GoAuto this week that the Australian Porsche branch was constantly requesting additional allocations of Macan.

"We are getting a drip feed of more allocation which is reducing our waiting times for customers," he said. "We had a waiting list at launch that stretched almost 10 months on some models.

"Now we have got that to a manageable point, around half that."One of the most popular variants to date is the $91,900 (plus on-road costs) entry level Macan S diesel - the most affordable vehicle bearing a Porsche badge.

While acknowledging Macan's contribution to Porsche's record-breaking sales performance, PCA public relations director Paul Ellis cautioned against dismissing Porsche as a luxury SUV company.

He said the heritage and reputation of cars such as the Porsche 911 were the prime reasons that people wanted to buy SUVs from Porsche.

Mr Ellis said the arrival of new second-generation 991-model 911 variants in Australian showrooms this year, starting with deliveries of the Carrera and Carrera S in March, could be expected to give the iconic Porsche range a further sales lift.

He said 2016 911 rollout would include the Carrera 4 in May, 911 Turbo and Turbo S from about June and Targa around July, meaning a fully revised range in the second half of the year.

A revised Boxster roadster with an all-new four-cylinder turbo engine will be unveiled at next month's Geneva motor show, and according to Mr Ellis, can be expected in Australia by mid-year.

The related Cayman, also with the new engine, is still in hiding, but could be expected in the second half.

With all this new-model activity, Mr Ellis said PCA could see no reason why it would not experience its fourth consecutive year of record sales in 2016.

Although Mr Ellis declined to spell out timing for the next two big all-new model launches for Porsche, the next generation Panamera flagship and Cayenne large SUV, GoAuto expects the Panamera in early 2017 and the Cayenne a year or so later, in 2018.

Both vehicles have been spotted in shakedown testing in Europe. For the first time, the Panamera is expected to get a wagon version, speculatively called Shooting Brake.