Leipzig/Stuttgart – Porsche is aiming to boost its sales again with the four-door Panamera in spite of the crisis in the automotive industry. On Tuesday, the Stuttgart car builder officially started production of the new model in Leipzig. The four-seater is intended to stimulate sales of the company, which has been shaken by financial troubles and the takeover wrangling with VW. "A crisis is also an opportunity. For us, this is the right vehicle at the right time", said Porsche CEO Michael Macht. "This will help us through 2009 and 2010, after which we hope that the market for cars will improve again".

Porsche invested over one billion euros in development of the model, which will be available for sale in the showrooms as of September. With its new fourth series, Porsche wants to reach new target groups and snatch customers away from its competitors in the luxury and upper-class car segment. In spite of the current crisis, said Macht, the number of advance orders was very pleasing and "higher than expected". He did not, however, specify any numbers.

After full production has been reached, 20,000 Panameras are to be sold per year. Up to now, 200 employees have been hired to build the Panamera in Leipzig. The number of people working in the factory in Saxony has thus risen to 600. Once production of the Panamera gets into full swing, more workers are to be hired so that, in the end, 600 people will be working on the Panamera and 400 on the Cayenne. Production of the off-road car started in August 2002 and now the second generation is being assembled in Leipzig. Up to now, 260,000 Cayennes have come off the production line. At the moment, this figure is 120 per day. According to Macht, Cayenne sales have dropped by 20 to 25 per cent. The bodyshell for both models comes from Volkswagen.

Porsche built the Leipzig factory in a green-field area with an investment of 127 million euros and spent another 150 million euros on the factory extension. Macht did not want to talk about the current developments but did admit that Porsche needed financial support. He was unable to say anything about the negotiations with investors, he continued, because he was not involved in them. "This is an internal Porsche issue". Chief press spokesperson Christian Dau had earlier stressed: "You will see that we are no longer considering a possible merger but are taking care of our core business."

Source: dpa/lsw