Porsche is very lucky it's building these two cars

Automakers are reporting sales data on Thursday.

The latest numbers show that Porsche sold 4,424 cars in the US during the month of September - a jump of 22.7% over the same period last year.

Last week, Porsche CEO Matthias Mueller was promoted to lead parent company Volkswagen through an emissions-cheating scandal that has affected 11 million VW Group vehicles worldwide.

Porsche's latest stellar sales result helps vindicate Mueller's rise to the throne at VW.

The company's recent success in the US can largely be attributed to two SUVs: the Cayenne and the Macan.

In September, 56% of the Porsches sold were SUVs; 57% of the of 39,300 cars the company has sold in the US this year have been Cayennes and Macans.

Last month, VW admitted to cheating emissions standards, which led to the resignation of CEO Martin Winterkorn along with several high level executives.

Müller took over the CEO job within a week of news of the scandal breaking.

15 years ago, Porsche met with significant opposition when it decided to jump into the SUV market.

Many automotive traditionalists were confounded by the prospect of one of the world's great sports-car makers building four-door off-roaders.

But Porsche's decision has been vindicated. The Cayenne SUV - which debuted in 2003 - is Porsche's bestseller and a veritable cash cow for the company. And the new, smaller Macan crossover - which joined the Cayenne in 2015 - is extending that success.

Auto sales in the September were stellar across the board. Toyota reported 16.2% growth. Ford was up 23%. Fiat Chrysler did 14%.