Porsche offering short-term leases to Macan waitlisters [UPDATE]

UPDATE: While the text of this post used the term "lease", the title originally said "loan". We've updated the headline to more accurately reflect the nature of the program in question.

Walk into a Porsche dealer today, place an order for a Macan and you'll be looking at a waiting period of six months or more before you can expect delivery. That may be common enough for high-end European automakers, but the Macan is meant to lure new buyers to the brand, and the waitlist could be enough to deter them from sticking around.

The solution? Offer to lease them a Boxster or Cayman until their new Macan arrives. Shorter in term that the usual new-car lease, these six-month terms are designed to keep buyers from turning their backs, all the while experiencing the kind of vehicle Porsche does best.

Of course it doesn't hurt that the dealer then gets a used sports car to sell again once the short-term lease is up. And we wouldn't be surprised to see some buyers asking to hold on to their mid-engined sports car for a little longer, either.

Porsche says it's too early since the launch of the program to tell how many Macan buyers are opting for the short-term leases, but considering how close the prices of the Macan, Boxster and Cayman can be – all starting in the low $50k range – we would be surprised if it weren't a runaway success.