Production landmark for Porsche Cayenne

100,000th Cayenne rolls off the Leipzig production plant - capacity at maximum

Melbourne.
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, can celebrate a very special production milestone a little earlier than expected: The 100,000th Cayenne has just rolled off the production line at the Leipzig plant. This vehicle is a Turbo model with a prosecco (champagne) metallic finish and is destined for a customer in Germany.

Michael Macht, Production and Logistics Director, congratulated around 400 employees in the Leipzig assembly hall: "You are proving that we can build excellent automobiles in Germany at competitive prices that people want all over the world. No one in the industry believed that we could achieve this level of success."

The plant in Leipzig first opened its doors in August 2002. Porsche originally assumed unit sales of 25,000 vehicles per year. However, since its launch in December 2002, interest in the Cayenne has surpassed all expectations: In the 2003/2004 financial year (August 01, 2003 to July 31, 2004), almost 40,000 vehicles were sold worldwide.

Porsche will also achieve this volume in the current financial year. "We are operating at maximum capacity," reports Macht.

The key market for the Cayenne is still the USA, where around 40 per cent of the vehicles are sold. Thanks to the Cayenne, Porsche is recording its highest growth rates - at times running to triple digits - in China, Russia, Latin America and Southeast Asia, as well as countries in the Middle East.

Cayenne has also had a positive effect on Porsche sales in Australia since its introduction on July 01, 2003; with 1,220 Cayenne sales in the period to May 31, 2005.

The introduction of Cayenne helped Porsche Cars Australia move from annual sales of 712 sports cars in 2002 to a total of 1,264 sports car and luxury SUV sales in 2004.

Dated 8 June, 2005.