PORSCHE AG shrugged off widespread industry malaise, reporting record deliveries for last year and predicting that its first all-electric model Taycan will foster further growth in 2020.

Global deliveries rose 10 percent to 280,800 cars in 2019, driven mainly by strong consumer appetite for the Macan and Cayenne sport utility vehicles, Porsche said yesterday in a statement.

“We’re optimistic that we can sustain the high demand in 2020,” sales chief Detlev von Platen said in the statement. Sales momentum should benefit from “the introduction of some new models and full order books for the Taycan,” he said.

The most profitable division of Volkswagen AG, the world’s largest automaker, is entering a new era with this year’s rollout of the Taycan four-door sedan, which challenges Tesla Inc.’s Model S.

Porsche’s cachet has been shaped for decades by fast sports cars with roaring combustion engines, and success of the costly expansion into electric cars is mission-critical for the German manufacturer amid stricter emission regulations in key markets.

Sales rose 8 percent last year in both China and the United States, Porsche’s two largest markets. It sold 86,752 cars in China, where luxury rides have been less affected by the waning demand hurting the overall market, and 61,568 cars in the United States. In Germany, sales advanced 15 percent to 31,618 vehicles. (SD-Agencies)