Porsche AG has started to sell its new Cayenne series of sport utility vehicles over the weekend in China, hoping sales will jump by another 170 percent this year despite a vehicle excise tax that promotes environmental protection.

The German luxury sports car maker officially unveiled the second generation of the Cayenne SUV on Saturday, which are equipped with more powerful engines and features enhanced oil efficiency in all three configurations.

Porsche entered the SUV market in China with the Cayenne series in 2002. The model did well enough to be successful in China, accounting for more than 80 percent, or 1,900 vehicles, of Porsche's total sales last year.

"The Cayenne is the most important hallmark for the Porsche brand in China," said Tommy Zhao, general manager of Porsche Center Shanghai. "Chinese customers began to be more familiar with Porsche after they know the Cayenne."

The basic version of the Cayenne, equipped with a 3.6-liter V6 engine, costs 800,000 yuan (103,413 U.S. dollars), with the Cayenne S priced from 1.05 million yuan. The top-of-the-range Cayenne Turbo, powered by twin-turbocharged 4.8-liter V8 engines and a maximum speed of 275 kilometers per hour, is 1.52 million yuan in China.

Fueled by the Cayenne, Porsche's sales surged almost 170 percent last year to 2,305 units, compared with 857 units in 2005. The car maker is confident of achieving the same sales growth this year with the new Cayenne SUV series banking on the huge potential in China, the world's second largest economy.

Last year, China's introduction of a vehicle excise tax which encourages the use of small-engine cars for environment protection caused a sales slump in the SUV market and forced smaller-sized SUV makers to quit amid soaring oil prices on the global market. However, the bigger imported luxury sports car makers were less hit.

"Despite the falling oil prices from a year earlier, we are very conscious that there is market demand for these vehicles in very country in the world and we give the car not only new engines, new designs but also fuel economy," said Mark Bishop, managing director of Porsche China.

Bishop noted that the new Cayenne SUV would bring fuel savings of up to 15 percent compared with the previous generation of the model.

Europe's most profitable car maker earlier estimated sales will climb 30 percent in the next four years globally and sees growth at the end of this decade to come mainly from Russia and China.