Before the end of the year, one of the most significant Porsches will roll off an assembly line in Leipzig. We’re not talking about the new 911 GT3, but the Macan crossover. Porsche has just announced it plans to hire more than 1000 permanent workers in Leipzig to prepare for Macan production. The new Porsche Macan is sure to be a sales success, following in the footsteps of the brand-leading Cayenne, Motor Trend’s 2011 SUV of the Year.
Porsche is also hiring 400 engineers in Saxony and says that, overall, the automaker has already received 16,500 applications. The Macan plant jobs are “future-proof,” Porsche claims, and we would agree. About $650 million has been invested to convert the location into a full plant and Porsche hopes the first customer vehicle will roll off the assembly line by the end of the year.
The staff at Leipzig numbers about 1150 people currently, and will continue to grow through 2014, with jobs including operators, staff for ultrasonic testing, sheetmetal forming positions, and more.
The Porsche Macan in the U.S. will once again allow the automaker to offer an SUV under $50,000 (after the destination charge). Sharing mechanical bits with the Audi Q5, don’t be surprised to see a supercharged 3.0-liter V-6 and hybrid among the powertrain choices, and a turbocharged 2.0-liter I-4 is a possibility for some markets.
What do you expect from the upcoming Porsche Macan? Tell us in the comments section below.
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