Will the Porsche Taycan be made in Leipzig in the future?

It is clear that Porsche’s sales figures, which told a story of success recently, have declined. From January to September, Porsche sales worldwide were seven per cent down compared to the previous year. In the crucial Chinese market, sales even slumped by 29 per cent. Even the eight per cent increase in Germany could not compensate for the overall situation – North America is also down five per cent.

The problem for Porsche is model planning: a few years ago, the German carmaker set a tight schedule for the switch to electric cars, with the aim of 80 per cent of all new Porsches being purely electric by 2030. In the meantime, management has softened this target. Nevertheless, the shoe is now on the other foot: electric sales have not developed as planned (also due to the delays in the important Macan volume model), and Porsche has no longer invested in further developing the existing combustion engine platforms. As a result, the new cybersecurity directive in the EU means that some combustion engines can no longer be sold without modifications. It should actually be offset by increasing electric sales.

According to a report in the German Automobilwoche, new plans are now being made in many areas, including development and production. As demand for the Taycan has fallen sharply despite the facelift at the beginning of this year, there are apparently plans to build the electric saloon in Leipzig in the future. However, according to the article, this has not yet been decided. Porsche did not wish to comment.

911 instead of Taycan production?

Production of the Taycan was integrated into the existing Zuffenhausen plant at enormous expense as a ‘lighthouse project for electric mobility’ – primarily at the request of the then Chairman of the Works Council, Uwe Hück. Part of Taycan production is also an extremely long bridge over which the car bodies are transported across the entire factory site and a road. The employees even gave up part of their salary to finance the new facilities. But now the demand is no longer there, the contracts of temporary workers are not being extended – there is talk of up to 1,000 contracts expiring.

Lutz Meschke, CFO and Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, is said to favour an approach in which the Taycan factory will manufacture individualised vehicles. Porsche can currently only build around 500 highly customised vehicles, for which customers pay a lot of money – especially for the iconic 911.

The current planning needs to be reviewed promptly, not only in production but also in development. For example, the electric version of the Cayenne SUV model planned for 2026 could be delayed – like the Macan, the electric Cayenne is also based on the PPE. However, there is probably talk of completely renewing the combustion engine platform as well – until now, only a subtle further development was planned. As the Audi Q7 and VW Touareg are also based on this platform (all three are built in Bratislava), Porsche is unlikely to make a decision on this alone.

The upcoming electric flagship K1, a seven-seater electric SUV based on the Group’s SSP platform, will be built in Leipzig from 2027 – a dedicated production hall will be built there. “Postponing the project by a few years” is apparently one scenario on the table, Automobilwoche writes. Another possibility is a combustion counterpart that has not yet been planned. But here, too, Porsche faces a challenge: the SSP is only designed for battery-electric drives, and a combustion engine offshoot is not easily possible. A vehicle based on the combustion-powered Cayenne is thus under consideration – but with a body shape similar to that of the K1. If such a model had to be developed in record time, it would probably be expensive.

The 718’s battery pack is causing problems

There is also some information about the electric successor to the 718 series. It is not about allegedly missing cells from Northvolt, but about the battery pack itself. Porsche has yet to develop its own electric platform for the upcoming electric models of the Boxster and Cayman, as this is unlikely to be worthwhile without other models in the Group. Instead, the existing platform of the mid-engined sports cars has been further developed.

As a result, the battery has to be positioned in the centre of the vehicle instead of in the underbody to achieve the desired driving characteristics. But: “It is proving to be so difficult that Porsche is constantly requesting adjustments from battery supplier Valmet Automotive, which has built a factory in Baden-Württemberg especially for the order. In the meantime, the Finnish company is said to have incurred significant additional costs due to the delay, for which Porsche apparently does not want to pay or only wants to pay in part, writes Automobilwoche.

Production of the two combustion engine variants will end next summer. Given the unresolved problems, the electric model is behind schedule – so there could be a gap in Porsche’s model range.

automobilwoche.de (in German)