Bloomberg News - Liu Yirong walked into Porsche SE's Shanghai dealership planning to buy the carmaker's $137,000 Cayenne sport-utility vehicle. He left with a coffee-colored 911 Carrera sports car instead.
"I wanted a Cayenne but there weren't any available," said the 32-year-old Liu, who works in the chemical industry. "They said I have to wait two years."
Chinese customers ordering a Cayenne with a 3.0-liter engine wait an average of 15 months for delivery, the longest for the vehicle globally. Porsche forecasts record 2011 deliveries globally as China sales grow 35 percent, putting the Asian nation on track to overtake the U.S. as its largest market in 2014, said Helmut Broeker, the automaker's head of China.
Porsche, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) and Daimler AG (DAI)'s Mercedes-Benz all posted four-month sales increases in China exceeding 30 percent as rising numbers of wealthy Chinese seek out German luxury cars as status symbols. The gains are outpacing a slowing overall market, which advanced 8.1 percent in the first quarter, the weakest in two years.
"Chinese consumers are becoming increasingly brand savvy and Porsche is a very potent brand," said Tim Urquhart, a senior analyst at industry consultant IHS Automotive in London.
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