Porsche N.American vehicle sales fall 12 pct in Jan

FRANKFURT, Feb 1 (Reuters) - German sports car maker Porsche (PSHG_p.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) sold 2,718 vehicles in January in North America, a decline of 12 percent, the company said on Friday.

Sales of the Boxster model line grew 13 percent to 779 cars, including 550 Cayman and Cayman S units, while sales of its core 911 model fell 10 percent to 856 sports cars.

Meanwhile, Cayenne offroader sales dropped last month by 26 percent to 1,083 units.

"The reason has to do entirely with the forward-looking supply policy of Porsche. Due to the uncertainty among consumers as a result of the subprime crisis, fewer vehicles were delivered to North America so that more could be sent to growth markets like China, Russia and the Middle East," Porsche said.

Porsche only publishes monthly sales statistics for North America.

"Vehicle sales will get a fresh boost in the coming month through the market launch of the even sportier Cayenne GTS," the company added.

(Reporting by Christiaan Hetzner)