October Auto Sales: Porsche sales up 15 percent

NEW YORK (AP) — Porsche Cars North America said Tuesday its October auto sales rose 15 percent, boosted, in part, by the market launch of the Panamera model.

BY THE NUMBERS: Total sales rose to 1,642 last month from 1,427 in October 2008. For the first 10 months of the year, sales tumbled 29 percent to 15,952 compared with 22,503 in the same period last year.

THE DIVISIONS: Sales at the company's Cayenne SUVs fell 32 percent to 472, while sales of cars rose 13 percent to 1,170.

HOT MODELS: Sales for Porsche's newly launched Panamera model amounted to 360 units over the course of two weeks, an encouraging number, the company said. Porsche said it expects the model to bring additional momentum to dealerships, benefiting the company's entire model line.