STUTTGART (dpa-AFX) - Car manufacturer Porsche sold slightly more sports and off-road vehicles last year. Worldwide, 320,221 vehicles were delivered in the past twelve months. This was 3.3 percent more than in 2022, as the DAX-listed company announced in Stuttgart on Friday. As a result, sales grew in almost all regions of the world - although they slumped in China, the most important car market. A total of 79,283 cars were delivered there. This corresponds to a drop of around 15 percent. The decline is primarily due to the challenging economic situation in the region, Porsche said. This year, the car manufacturer expects sales to remain stable overall, as Head of Sales Detlev von Platen announced.

The Porsche preference share fell by 1.5 percent to 76.16 euros in the morning in a friendly market, reaching a record low in the meantime. For some time now, the shares have been trading below the issue price of 82.50 euros at the IPO in September 2022. Since mid-2023, when the shares were still trading above 120 euros at the highs, a downward trend has set in, which experts also explain with concerns about the car manufacturer's business in China.

Last year, Porsche's performance in the People's Republic was weaker than that of other German premium and luxury car manufacturers. BMW recorded an increase of a good four percent with the BMW and Mini brands in China. The VW subsidiary Audi achieved an increase of a good 13 percent after a weak previous year. Only Mercedes-Benz also struggled and sold two percent fewer cars.

In Germany, the number of vehicles delivered by Porsche grew by a good tenth in 2023. In the rest of Europe, the company, which is majority-owned by the Volkswagen Group, sold around 12 percent more cars, according to the figures. In North America, sales increased by 9 percent, and in overseas and growth markets - including Africa, Latin America, Australia, Japan and Korea - by 23 percent.

The classic 911 sports car was particularly popular in 2023, with Porsche selling around 24 percent more of this model. The all-electric Taycan, sales of which had recently weakened, also sold better: the number of vehicles delivered rose by 17 percent to 40,629 cars. Sales of the Macan compact SUV, on the other hand, came to a standstill. Around 8 percent fewer of the Cayenne, the model with the highest number of deliveries, were sold last year.

Head of Sales von Platen expects 2024 to be a challenging year - particularly in view of the market conditions in China. "We are making ourselves fit for the future and updating four out of six model series," he said. That is more product launches than ever before in one year. This makes it all the more important to balance the sales structure and further strengthen the Southeast Asian markets. Overall, Porsche is aiming for a stable sales level in 2024./men/jwe/nas/jha