Porsche Did Everything It Could To Make The Cayenne A Hit In America

Aug. 24, 2022 12:34 PM ET byGerhard Horn Off-Road /Comments

Why the "Made in Germany" seal of quality was so important to Porsche.

Porsche is celebrating 20 years of theCayennethis year, and over the last few months, we've received updates on how the German brandcame up with the conceptto how ittook over an entire town to buildand test the first prototypes.

This week Porsche revealed why it chose Leipzig as the manufacturing location. Porsche and Volkswagen were working together on the project, so the higher-ups naturally assumed the Cayenne (code-named Colorado) and the Touareg would be built at the same factory in Bratislava, Slovakia. Slovakia is Austria-adjacent, and the latter is considered by many as Germany-lite.

Still, Porsche wasn't entirely sure about building one of its cars outside of Germany. According to Porsche, its CEO at the time, Wendelin Wiedeking, was keen to retain the "Made in Germany" seal of quality.

Porsche

Wiedeking, therefore, commissioned a study to see whether there was added economic value to producing the car in Germany. Even though the study showed that production costs would be higher, a Cayenne manufactured in Germany would be a bigger success. It was all down to the perceptions of the Cayenne's biggest intended market, the USA. (The hint was right there in the Cayenne's internal code name.)

Porsche set out to search for a suitable place to assemble the Cayenne and settled on a piece of land north of Leipzig. It was a big secret, according to Frank Mildenberger, the person responsible for organizing internal Porsche events.

"My boss told me just before the weekend. We're flying out on Monday, but I won't tell you where we're going until then," said Mildenberger.

Porsche

Mildenberger only found out the location was Leipzig once they arrived there. He was tasked with organizing the groundbreaking ceremony.

The next part of the story is a true testament to German efficiency. The plant was announced in September 1999. By February 2000, Leipzig Mayor Wolfgang Tiefensee, Chairman of the Executive Board Wendelin Wiedeking, and Saxony Premier Kurt Biedenkopf pulled on their yellow boots, grabbed a shovel, and dug into the ground.

Official production started on 20 August 2002. Porsche built a 161,459 square foot assembly hall in two and a half years. Fully painted bodies were delivered from Slovakia, and that's it. Engines were delivered from Zuffenhausen, just 290 miles down the road.

Porsche

Porsche could legally claim the Cayenne was made in Germany, and obviously, the investment paid off.Project Colorado saved Porsche, and the Cayenne quickly became the best-selling Porsche of the entire lineup.

The Porsches built in Leipzig were built to the same high standard as other models. Porsche made the ultimate commitment to Leipzig in 2003 when it chose to build thelimited-run Carrera GTthere instead of its traditional home in Stuttgart.

Over the years, the Porsche plant in Leipzig was extended five times. It now offers a customer pick-up experience and a historic vehicle center. Visitors also have access to a unique track and a 132-hectare off-road area.

Porsche

2009年,第三个模型在Leipz开始了生活ig. The first-generation Panamera was added to the roster, and between 2011 to 2013, Porsche added a body shop and paint shop. In 2013, the Macan also joined its brothers in Leipzig. Since 2016, the Panamera has been built there exclusively.

The Cayenne, however, ditched Leipzig in 2017. After 738,503 models were built in Germany, the Cayenne finally moved to Slovakia. Thankfully, customers no longer cared whether it was made in Germany, as the Porsche badge was enough to guarantee the quality behind it. The Cayenne remains the highest-volume model in the Porsche range.

The Leipzig plant is still going strong, producing a model mix of around 550 Macan and Panamera models daily. It's currently undergoing another facelift to prepare for theupcoming Macan EV.