Porsche Targets Growth in Africa

Porsche AG plans to enter 15 new countries by the end of the decade most of them in northern Africa as part of its growth strategy.

Bernhard Maier, Porsche's global sales chief, tells Bloomberg News that the expansion will help the Volkswagen AG unit reach its goal of selling more than 200,000 vehicles a year by 2016.

Porsche accounted for €1.3 billion ($1.8 billion) of VW's first-half operating profit of €5.8 billion euros, making it the third-largest earnings contributor after the group's Audi and Volkswagen brands.

Porsche also is boosting sales with new model lines such as the Macan compact crossover and the 918 Spyder hybrid supercar, which go on sale in 2014.