Porsche Increasing Cayenne, Panamera Output at Leipzig

VIENNA – Porsche’s plant in Leipzig, Germany, will add a third shift in the third week of January, plant manager Siegfried Bulow tells the Leipziger Volkszeitung newspaper.

Third shift to boost production to 600 units daily.

The plant now assembles some 420 Porsche vehicles a day: 280 Cayenne cross/utility vehicles and 140 Panamera 4-passenger luxury sedans.

The third shift will increase daily output to 600 units.

In addition, groundbreaking for expansion of the plant to accommodate Porsche’s new Cajun SUV is scheduled for October. The Cajun is expected to be launched in 2013.

The auto maker is expanding its Leipzig factory from a kit facility to more of a manufacturing center. Currently, welded and painted bodies are sourced from other plants.

Cayenne bodies are imported from the Volkswagen Slovakia plant in Bratislava, Slovakia, while Panamera bodies are manufactured at VW’s light-commercial plant in Hannover, Germany.

The Leipzig plant in the future will have its own body and paint shops.

The investment will create at least 1,000 new jobs, in addition to the plant’s current 650 employees.