Winners and Losers: Porsche sales pop in April

Porsche sales spiked 82 percent in April and are up 46 percent for the year, parking the luxury automaker among the top five winners so far for 2011.

The redesigned Cayenne made the biggest contribution, with sales up an eye-popping 384 percent from last April and 141 percent for this year. Porsche counted 1,578 copies of the Cayenne sold in April, versus 326 the year before. The 911 is also selling briskly, up 66 percent for April and 13 percent for the year. We expect to see a new version of this icon soon.

Undoubtedly a contributing factor, the 24-month leases available for the 911 cut monthly payments by about 10 percent, to $1,263. Porsche also has started a six-month lease pull-ahead incentive for all of its sports cars, which began in March to offset a shortage of used cars coming off lease when sales dropped last year.

Porsche said the time was ripe to offer people an out for 36-month leases and into shorter leases for comparable costs. The company also is experiencing rising interest in the new 911 GTS and GT3 models.

Overall, company sales were up 33 percent for the first two months of the year.

Meanwhile, Saab showed huge sales gains for the first quarter, up 190 percent from last year. Saab was helped by the recently updated 9-5 Aero model and the 9-5 Turbo4 models.

Mini cited the expanding appeal of small cars for its sales gain as well, as its numbers are up 49 percent for the first four months of the year. Mini sold 6,446 units in April alone, up 67.7 percent from a year ago. That included 1,709 copies of the Countryman crossover.

Meanwhile, Mitsubishi and Buick were other big winners this year, with growth of 61 percent and 43 percent, respectively.

Brands suffering the biggest declines were Smart--down 17 percent so far this year--followed by the Chrysler Division, Lincoln and Lexus.

By Michelle Koueiter