Press Release
Company Plans to Produce Approximately 1,000 Units at the New Porsche Cayenne Assembly Plant.
Carrera GT Engines to be Built in Zuffenhausen, Germany.
ATLANTA --- Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG announced that it will build approximately 1,000 Carrera GT high-performance sports cars at the company's new production facility in Leipzig, Germany. This news comes just six months after Porsche's Board of Management revealed at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit that it would indeed produce the V10-powered supercar, which will be introduced in the second half of 2003.
While the Carrera GT will be built at Porsche Leipzig, also the production site for the 2003 Porsche Cayenne sport utility vehicle, the sports car's new naturally aspirated V10 engines will be manufactured - like all Porsche engines - at the company's historic facility in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Germany. In addition to the production facility, Porsche Leipzig also features a paved track suitable for testing Carrera GT and Cayenne vehicles and the Customer Service Centre where new Carrera GT and Cayenne owners can take delivery of their new vehicles.
"With the Carrera GT, we hope to consolidate further both our expertise and our leading position in the sports car segment," said Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking, Porsche AG CEO and chairman of the Porsche Board of Management. "The decision to have Stuttgart supply the power unit emphasizes not only our appreciation of the original plant, but also our philosophy that the heart of a Porsche sports car - the engine - comes from Zuffenhausen. This is also why we invested EUR 50 million in a new engine factory this past November."
Porsche's announcement creates approximately 70 new jobs at the Leipzig facility, and 25 jobs at Zuffenhausen. Porsche Leipzig can be found on the Internet at
www.porsche-leipzig.com.
Porsche first unveiled the Carrera GT during a pre-dawn ceremony at the 2000 Paris Automobile Salon. The two-seater sports car is based on pure racing technology. The chassis, made mainly from carbon fiber, ensures high rigidity, passenger safety and low weight. The six-liter V10 engine is estimated to produce 558 horsepower (DIN) and 330 lbs./ft. of torque. Combined with a six-speed manual transmission, the Carrera GT will have an estimated top speed over 205 mph (330 km/h).
