Wholly owned by Porsche AG, the Leipzig assembly plant can trace its roots back to 1998. That's when the German automaker shocked pretty much everyone with its announcement that a sport utility vehicle would join the Neunelfer and Boxster in the lineup.
Leipzig would also be the home of the bite-the-back-of-your-hand pretty Carrera GT, a V10-engined supercar that should have numbered 1,500 examples. Due to a change in air bag regulations for the US market, a grand total of 1,270 units were completed. As you're well aware, Porsche replaced the Carrera GT with the plug-in hybrid 918 Spyder. The V8-engined successor was assembled by hand by 100 selected employees at Plant 2 in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen.
The Panamera liftback sedan started rolling off the assembly line in Leipzig in 2009, and the factory was extended once again for the Macan crossover. Porsche started the fifth expansion in 2019, for Leipzig prepares to welcome the heavily anticipated Macan EV in 2024.
Zuffenhausen's favorite son has recently celebrated the two-millionth vehicle built in Leipzig, that car being a superb-looking Panamera. The car in question is a 2024 Porsche Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid with Madeira Gold Metallic exterior paint, which is the launch color of the third-gen Panamera.
Ordered by a Dubai-based gentleman, the car is equipped with centerlock wheels, performance rubber supplied by Michelin, as well as carbon-ceramic brakes. Leipzig currently makes the Panamera and Macan, whereas the Cayenne comes from the Volkswagen Bratislava Plant in Slovakia.
Photo: Porsche
Home to approximately 5.4 million people, the Slovak Republic is one of the largest producers of automobiles in the world on a per capita basis. In addition to the Volkswagen Group, other automakers with production facilities in the Slovak Republic include Jaguar Land Rover, Kia Motors, Groupe PSA, as well as Slovakia's very own Troliga Bus.
Turning our attention back to Porsche, the third-gen Panamera is likely the final one to feature internal combustion. In due time, it's also possible that Porsche may discontinue this fellow in favor of the Taycan. Redesigning the Panamera as an EV doesn't make sense because the G3 is merely 50 millimeters (2 inches) longer in wheelbase than the Taycan.
Regarding the Leipzig-built Macan EV, the upcoming model will be Porsche's first application of the all-new Premium Platform Electric. This architecture will be succeeded by the Scalable Systems Platform, which will further replace the MEB of the ID.3, ID.4, Q4 e-tron, and so forth.
Confirmed with more than 600 horsepower and over 738 pound-feet (1,000 Nm) of torque from a dual-motor setup, the Macan EV will easily shame its combustion-engined sibling in a straight line. Regarding the Panamera, the Turbo E-Hybrid needs an estimated 3.0 seconds flat to accelerate to 60 mph (97 kph), onto a top speed of 195 mph (314 kph).
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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