Leipzig is still expanding to produce at the end of 2013 a smaller SUV, the Macan. Employment will increase by another 1,000.
When the first Porsche Cayenne rolled off the assembly line at the Leipzig plant in Eastern Germany during 2002, traditionalists scoffed at a Porsche SUV. The criticism was down to a murmur in 2012 when Leipzig made its 500,000 vehicle, not coincidentally a Cayenne in a plant that also produces the Panamera, shock-horror! a four-door sedan, and will soon produce the compact Macan SUV. Leipzig has now made its 500,000 Cayenne.
So powerful is the growing ‘green’ movement in Germany that Porsche felt compelled to include 2014 Cayenne CO2 emissions levels of 270 g/km to 189 g/km and fuel consumption (combined) of 11.5 l/100 km to 7.2 l/100 km. That’s socially irresponsible in the view of critics.
German Chancellor German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week killed a draft European Union law aimed at further reducing carbon dioxide. Merkel, facing federal elections in September, said “This is also about employment,” a concept that has eluded EU politicians for more than five years as the economic crisis deepens, but not for the lavishly paid, fed, pampered and housed Eurocrats.
For light vehicles on sale in Europe, manufacturers are now required to ensure that their new car fleet does not emit more than an average of 130 grams of CO2 per kilometer (g CO2/Km) by 2015 and a ‘non-binding’ 95g by 2020. This compares with an average of almost 160g in 2007 and 135.7g in 2011. Automakers, led by the gas-guzzling German luxury car industry, welched on a voluntary deal to cut CO2 emissions at the turn of the century.
In terms of fuel consumption, the 2015 target is approximately equivalent to 5.6 liters per 100 km (l/100 km) of gasoline or 4.9 l/100 km of diesel. The 2020 target equates to 4.1 l/100 km of gasoline or 3.6 l/100 km of diesel.
“We started with around 70 units a day. Today we produce five times as much owing to the high market demand. In the past year alone, over 83,000 Cayenne vehicles for customers in more than 125 countries have rolled off the assembly line, ‘said Oliver Blume of Porsche Ag.
About 2,500 Porsche customers each year take delivery of their new Cayenne trucks at the plant and use its track and off-road circuit. The un-named owner of the 500,000th Cayenne did the same, travelling from Austria to the Saxony to accept during a brief ceremony the key to his white S Diesel with a 382 horsepower V8 engine and a top speed 261 km/h.
(Read AutoInformed on Porsche Leipzig plant builds 500,000th Vehicle, Milestones – 50 Years of the Porsche 911 and New ACEA Head Announced as EU Crisis Continues)
