No '07 Cayenne models - Autoweek

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No Cayenne for 2007 Model Year
Slow sales, coming redesign kill the SUV for a year

By DIANA T. KURYLKO | AUTOMOTIVE NEWS

AutoWeek | Published 08/21/06, 8:06 am et

With sales of its Cayenne SUV slowing and a restyled model on the way, Porsche has decided to skip the 2007 model year rather than offer run-out specials.

Dealers must sell 2006 models of the Cayenne until the 2008 model debuts in early 2007 after a midcycle update.

A spokesman for Porsche Cars North America Inc. says dealers have adequate stock, including a special high-trim model that went on sale in July. It's called the Cayenne S Titanium edition because of the special exterior paint finish. Prices start at $65,715, including shipping.

"We have produced so many Cayennes that this will tide them over," says Porsche spokesman Bernd Harling. "We'll keep producing the 2006 until the end of the year."

Porsche had 1,900 Cayennes in inventory as of Aug. 1. That's a 51-day supply.

Harling says Porsche will skip the 2007 model year because it doesn't want "to confuse our customers with a short-lived or abbreviated model year."

Porsche plans to show the 2008 Cayenne at the Detroit auto show in January. Harling would not give an on-sale date for the updated model.

Sales of the Cayenne have been falling dramatically.

Last year U.S. sales fell 24.9 percent, to 13,607 units. In the first seven months of 2006, Porsche sold 6,629 Cayennes, down 14.3 percent from 7,735 a year earlier. The Cayenne went on sale in the United States in early 2003.