Porsche in high gear

In the first nine months of 2012, Porsche's operating profit surged to 1.88 billion euros ($2.44 billion), which was 350 million euros more than the German sports carmaker earned in the same period last year.

Releasing its third quarter company figures on Thursday, Porsche said the rise was caused by a 20.2-percent increase in sales to over 103,000 vehicles, which was the first time the carmaker sold more than 100,000 units in the first nine months of any year.

In addition, overall revenues jumped by over 28 percent to 10.15 billion euros, the Stuttgart-based company, which is part of Germany's Volkswagen car group, said.

"Porsche is taking the pole position in the automotive industry," said Porsche Chief Executive Matthias Müller in view of the triple record. The firm's Chief Financial Officer Lutz Reschke described the result as excellent, notably against the backdrop of an ever cloudier environment for the car industry in western Europe.

In 2012, Porsche is faring particularly well in the world's emerging car markets. In Russia, sales jumped almost 70 percent to 2,628 cars, while demand in China rose 35.4 percent with 24,859 units sold to customers in the world's second biggest economy.

However, the United States remained Porsche's biggest market with 24,982 sports cars sold there - a rise by 22.1 percent compared with the January through September period of 2011.

Surprisingly, sales in crisis-hit Europe also increased by over 13 percent.

In 2011, Porsche already set new company records in terms of profits, sales and revenues. Industry analysts said the luxury carmaker was definitely headed towards a new record year on the back of the brilliant figures it achieved in the first three quarters.

uhe/rg (dpa, dapd)