The Board of Management of Porsche AG, Stuttgart, Germany, has taken the decision to build the four-door Panamera at the company's Leipzig plant.

The Panamera, which is under development and scheduled for release in 2009, involves significant further investment and expansion to the Leipzig facility.

Plans include construction of a new Production Hall with an area of approximately 25,000 square metres and, at the same time, the extension of the existing Assembly Hall by the addition of a Pilot and Analysis Centre as well as a Workshop for Apprentice Training.

A Logistics Centre covering an overall area of 30,000 square metres will also be built in the direct vicinity of the new Hall. Subject to approval by the authorities, construction is to start this September. The overall investment in new buildings and production facilities amounts to 120 million Euros.

“Right from the beginning in the production of the Cayenne and the Carrera GT, our Leipzig plant has proven that it is in a position to build premium cars of the highest quality,” says Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking, President and CEO of Porsche AG.

“So taking this decision in favour of Leipzig is a clear sign of confidence in the skills and abilities of our workforce at the plant, and at the same time a further contribution to the economic development of the New States of Germany in the East." The ‘Made in Germany’ stamp of quality is also of particular significance to the Panamera.

"Making this pledge to Germany as a centre of industry, we are enhancing the inherent value of our sports cars – and at the same time we are meeting the expectations of our customers", says Wiedeking.

While the engines of the Panamera will be built in Porsche's main plant in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, the Volkswagen plant in Hanover will supply the painted bodies.

Wiedeking: "We have decided in favour of the Hanover Plant because it is one of the most modern plants within the entire Volkswagen Group and is in a position to build the body of the car with the premium quality we require. A further advantage is that the Paintshop in Hanover allows a wider range of colours than at other VW plants."

The Management and Works Council of the Hanover Plant agreed with Porsche that Hanover stood for top quality and maximum efficiency, and was therefore fully competitive and fit for the future. Porsche, Wiedeking added, had already been able to verify these qualities in the past, with Porsche Consulting, the Company's in-house consulting specialist, having supported and consulted Hanover in the introduction of lean production processes.

In all, the degree of in-house production of the Panamera in Porsche's own plants is 15 per cent, with the painted body accounting for six per cent of the car's entire value. But since the Company co-operates largely with German suppliers, approximately 70 per cent of the car's value will be sourced in Germany. Like Porsche's other models, the Panamera is therefore a genuine Porsche product ‘Made in Germany’.

Production of Porsche's four-seater Sports Coupé also benefits the labour market, with some 600 new jobs being provided at Porsche Leipzig GmbH and another 600 with suppliers in the region. Recruitment of these new employees will start in 2008.

At Porsche's Plants in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen and Weissach the Panamera will not only help to secure existing jobs, but will also provide approximately 400 new jobs by 2009. And at the VW Plant in Hanover the assignment by Porsche means the long term assurance of some 500 jobs.

Model view of the Leipzig plant with new buildings

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