Artemis withdrawal will cost Porsche millions

Porsche will have to dig deep into its pockets to withdraw from the VW Group’s Artemis project. In order not to have to build the model at VW Commercial Vehicles in Hanover, the Stuttgart-based company is paying a “small three-digit million amount”, or at least 100 million euros, according to a media report.

The contract to build the Artemis models of Audi, Porsche and Bentley at the Hanover plant of VW Commercial Vehicles was considered a great success for the future of the plant. But already in the course of last year, there was resistance from two of the three brands. Confirmation came in December at the VW Group’s planning meeting – the decision stipulates that only the Audi model will be built in Hanover in its entirety. For the corresponding Bentley, only the bodywork will be produced there, but the final assembly will take place in England. And Porsche will build its model on its own.

As the Automobilwoche now reports, without citing sources, Porsche is now said to have directed a compensation payment to VWN. The amount is supposed to enable VW Commercial Vehicles to close the gap created by the withdrawal in Hanover with its own models. Porsche had reportedly planned to produce around 25,000 Artemis vehicles per year from Hanover from 2025 onwards, an important part of the job security agreed for the site until 2029.

Porsche was already considered no friend of the project in the past – the Artemis models are supposed to feature advanced autonomous driving functions, among other things, but Porsche sees its models as sports cars for self-drivers. The idea of having a Porsche built at the commercial vehicle plant also probably met with little approval in Zuffenhausen. Porsche CEO Oliver Blume was attributed with the statement that he sees Artemis “as a construction kit that Porsche can use”. In digitalisation, for example, but not in the drives or autonomous driving functions.

Shortly before Christmas, it became known that Porsche is planning to produce two more electric vehicle models on its own instead. A purely electric Panamera successor and another electric model in addition to the electric Macan successor are to be built in Leipzig. The model internally referred to as the K1 is to be “a crossover with the dimensions of the Panamera”. This is similar to the model that was to be built in Hanover in the course of the Artemis project.

However, the basis for the K1 is no longer Audi’s Artemis kit, but the platform of the previously planned electric Panamera, which will be launched in 2024 or 2025. According to earlier information, the K1 is likely to start in 2026 – one year after the planned launch in Hanover. In addition, an electric successor to the Cayenne large SUV is likely to be built at the Bratislava plant.

automobilwoche.de (in German)