Porsche plans two new electric models made in Leipzig

Porsche is apparently planning a successor to its all-electric Panamera along with another electric model. These two models and the successor to the all-electric Macan are to be built at the carmaker’s Leipzig plant where Porsche is hiring additional personnel.

In the most recent planning round, Volkswagen announced that “the synergies of the electric PPE modular system for the premium segment will be leveraged with two Porsche models” in Leipzig. Now the German publication Automobilwoche has revealed more details – which could mean a fully electric Panamera successor that could start in 2024 or 2025.

Porsche has been building the current Panamera with combustion engines and plug-in hybrids in Leipzig since 2016. If the usual model cycle of seven or eight years is taken as a basis, the period mentioned could apply from 2024. It remains to be seen whether Porsche will continue to build the existing model in a transition phase parallel to the new electric variant, as it did with the Macan.

According to the new report in Germany, the second model that Porsche plans to build in Leipzig from 2026 is being internally referred to as the K1. This is said to be “a crossover with the dimensions of the Panamera” – and the Porsche that was initially to be built at VW Commercial Vehicles in Hanover as part of the Artemis project before Porsche withdrew from the undertaking.

As Automobilwoche now writes, the K1 is to share the same platform with the electric Panamera. This is likely to be a further development of the PPE on which the electric Macan is based. In the course of the Hanover withdrawal, Porsche already revealed that it did not see the Artemis project as a concrete vehicle, but rather as a kind of technology kit and not as a platform that would be completely adopted. The PPE-based K1 is therefore likely to be “enriched” with such technologies.

The expanded plans for the production of electric cars at the plant are also expected to be accompanied by an increase in employee numbers at the German carmakers plant in Leipzig. Here, Automobilwoche writes that the creation of 150 new jobs is currently in the pipeline. Since this figure does not yet take into account the announced gradual introduction of the 35-hour week, it could even be between 250 and 300 new hires. Porsche did not want to comment on the figures when asked by Automobilwoche. The Leipzig plant currently has 4,300 employees.

automobilwoche.de (in German)