Porsche Offers More Equipment on Boxster, Keeps Similar Design

Porsche Offers More Equipment on Boxster Keeps Similar Design
Porsche AG Chief Executive Wendelin Wiedeking aims to fend off competition for its entry-level Boxster model by offering more equipment, while keeping the car's design little changed.

"There's no reason to make radical design changes on the car," said Wiedeking during an interview in Poerthschach am Woerthersee, Austria. "We've always aimed for perfection through evolution, not revolution."

Sales of the 8-year-old Boxster have declined every month for the past year in North America, the company's largest market as Bayerische Motoren Werke AG's Z4 sportscar and DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes SLK models have taken customers. The cheaper Boxster comes after Porsche introduced a new version of its other sports car, the larger and more expensive 911 model, in July.

"The new 911 and the Boxster models look more like facelifts and I'm more cautious than optimistic about how successful those two models will be," said Martin Sachsenmaier, a fund manager, who manages 500 million euros at Frankfurt Trust, which owns Porsche shares. "Look at what happened with the face- lifted Boxster of a couple years ago. It did virtually nothing for sales."

Porsche has priced the car at 43,068 euros including value- added tax compared with 42,256 euros for the previous version. The company has added an air conditioner and radio as