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New Boxster and Caymen swell Porsche’s order book

The 2009 Porsche Cayman S - helping to boost Porsche sales [ad#ad-1] We’ve run stories on how well Porsche, and the whole VW/Audi group, is holding up through the current malaise in the car industry. Porsche’s last lot of profit figures were very impressive, but were mainly due to the huge amounts Porsche made on its trading in VW shares. We noted at that time that Porsche reckoned its sales were slow because people were waiting for the new versions of the Boxster and Cayman, and when that happened sales would increase.

German new car sales drop 11 per cent – pre-reg accounts for 33.5 per cent

New car sales in Germany dropped by 11 per cent in September with pre-reg cars accounting for over a third of all sales. That drop of 11 per cent in Germany is despite deep discount offers – an average of 12.2 per cent in September – with even the previously invincible Mercedes and VW having to offer discounts of up to €3k, despite which VW’s sales fell by 20 per cent in Germany and Mercedes by 12 per cent. What’s perhaps most interesting about the decline in car sales in Germany is the number of pre-reg cars sold (pre reg cars are cars registered by dealers to hit sales targets and then sold at a discount of up to 25 per cent).

Concept Car of the Week: Toyota EX-1 (1969)

Back in the 60s, Toyota launched a few iconic sports cars such as the 800 and the gorgeous 2000 GT. Not happy to have created automotive perfection with the latter, the Japanese brand went on to explore even more extravagant shapes and unveiled the first of the EX concepts series in 1969. While its bold lines are truly Japanese, the EX-1 looked like the missing link between the fast silhouette of a 1967 Maserati Ghibli and the hairy-chested heft of a Dodge Challenger.