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Porsche Working Up Plans for 7th Product Line

A “Baby Panamera” is just one option as Porsche considers “a cornucopia of ideas.”

by on Feb.20, 2014

Porsche CEO Matthias Muller showing off the new Macan during a presentation at the maker's manufacturing center in Leipzig, Germany.

Even as they prepare to launch their latest all-new product, the compact Macan sport-utility vehicle, Porsche’s top executives are already mulling over plans for what could soon become their seventh unique model line, TheDetroitBureau.com has learned.

A variety of options are under consideration, CEO Matthias Muller revealed during a series of conversations at the Leipzig complex that recently began producing the new Macan.  Among the possibilities is a smaller version of the German maker’s current four-door sedan which some are referring to as a “Baby Panamera.”

Insight!

“We have six models but should have seven,” Muller said during a casual dinner at the sprawling Porsche center which recently went through a 500 million Euro expansion to take on production of the Macan. The maker, he added, will soon move forward on the new product program.

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Porsche Names New Small Ute the Macan

by on Feb.16, 2012

The Porsche Cajun is now the Macan.

Hold that tiger.  Porsche has named it new small crossover/SUV the Macan, a name it derived from an Indonesian word for tiger.  Set to be the fifth product in the expanding Porsche line-up, it will begin production in 2013.

Macan replaces Cajun, the original codename for the compact crossover.  While that might seem odd for Americans who are likely to associate Cajun with New Orleans and Mardi Gras, the Germans had a very different perception – and pronunciation, saying it as “Kay-YOUN.”

It's Free!

Whatever the name, the new model will slot beneath the extremely popular Porsche Cayenne, a product that helped redefine the German sports car maker when it first appeared on the market a decade ago.  While it was a stretch, early on, to convince buyers that the Cayenne belonged in the line-up, there should be far less resistance to the Porsche Macan, analysts believe.

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Porsche Plans Big Expansion for New Cajun Crossover

Will invest $685 million in Leipzig plant.

by on Oct.19, 2011

Porsche will invest $685 million to prep for the launch of the new Cajun sport-crossover.

With its Cayenne sport-utility vehicle now the brand’s best-selling model, Porsche is planning a hefty investment to ensure a second, smaller crossover — dubbed Cajun — gets off to a good start.

That will include a 500-million Euro investment to expand the German maker’s showcase plant in Leipzig, Germany where production of the Cajun is set to begin in late 2013 The Leipzig plant, which opened in 2002 and is something of a tourist attraction in old east Germany, is already used for building the Porsche Cayenne, the maker’s first sport-utility vehicle, as well as the four-seat Panamera sports car.

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The Cajun will target a lower, more mainstream segment than Porsche’s current SUV, potentially opening up markets where the Cayenne is simply too big – as well as expensive – such as Europe. But with even U.S. buyers downsizing as fuel prices rise, the maker also sees opportunities in the States.

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Porsche Approves Cajun Crossover

New crossover set for 2013 launch.

by on Mar.16, 2011

Porsche formally approves the Cajun crossover.

It was only a matter of time.

With the Cayenne now the single most popular model in the Porsche line-up it was only a question of finding the right crossover to add to the model mix, and now the Germans have apparently found what they’re looking for – giving the go to the much-discussed Cajun concept.

The downsized crossover, which looks like the love child of a 911 and a Cayenne, will be produced at the Porsche plant in Leipzig – which means Cajun will be built alongside both the Cayenne and the 4-door Panamera, another model that has stretched the limits of what defines a Porsche.

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Plans call for a whopping 1.5 square-mile expansion of the Leipzig plant, with work to begin sometime this year.  While Porsche isn’t revealing specifics, that would hint at a launch of the new model sometime in 2013, either as a 2013 or ’14 model.  The project is expected to add another 1,000 jobs at the Leipzig plant, according to a Porsche press release.  The facility first opened in 2002 to produce the Cayenne, the Panamera being added seven years later.

The Cajun will be slightly lower and shorter – but wider – than the Audi Q5, which reflects the fact they’ll share key underpinnings, much as the Porsche Cayenne has been a fraternal twin of the Volkswagen Touareg.

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