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The ‘birthplace’ of the Cayenne - why Porsche chose Leipzig

Twenty years ago, on 20 August 2002, the new plant in Leipzig was officially opened. That same day, the first Cayenne rolled off the production line. It was the beginning of a great success story in two respects, yet other plans had also been considered originally. In 1998, when Porsche laid the foundation for building the Cayenne, the future production location for the sports car manufacturer’s first SUV model seemed obvious. Cooperation partner Volkswagen, which was moving forward with the Touareg model on the platform of the internally code-named Colorado project and was responsible for production of the joint undertaking, had decided on a new plant in Bratislava. Both SUVs were to roll off the production line together in Slovakia.However, Wendelin Wiedeking, Porsche’s CEO at the time, was particularly keen on the ‘Made in Germany’ seal of quality. The potential added economic value of production in Germany had to be weighed against the associated additional costs. Wiedeking commissioned corresponding studies, which ultimately showed that, especially in North America (the main market at the time), a Cayenne manufactured in Germany could be a much bigger success – even with higher production costs.