2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 15:44
Leipzig is increasingly becoming an important location for the automotive industry. Porsche opens a new factory in February, but production of the Macan produced there has already started.
The Stuttgart carmaker Porsche has completed its major investment in the Leipzig plant: On February 11, the new Macan factory with its own body shop and paint shop will officially open. But series production for the Macan, the little brother of the sporty Cayenne SUV, has already started. According to a spokeswoman, up to 50,000 copies are to be built per year. Porsche has invested 500 million euros in the new factory and has made use of public subsidies for the first time. 1500 new jobs were created.
VDA expects a turnaround
In 2013, before the end of the year, Porsche had exceeded its sales record from 2012. In the first eleven months of 2013, the car manufacturer increased its deliveries by 14.2 percent to 147,290 cars compared to the same period in the previous year. In all of 2012, the company delivered 141,075 cars.
Overall, the German automotive industry expects 2014 to be strong after years of crisis. According to the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), the turnaround has been achieved thanks to the renewed increase in demand on the European automotive market. According to the VDA, German manufacturers will produce around 14.7 million cars worldwide. That would be 3.5 percent more than in 2013.
10,000 orders for the BMW i3
BMW wants to write automotive history with its specially designed electric cars in its Leipzig plant. The i3 has been manufactured here since autumn. The i8 hybrid sports car will be added later this year. When exactly the series start for the i8 is not yet certain, said a works spokesman. For the i3 there are now 10,000 orders and 100,000 requests for test drives worldwide.
According to the VDA, only 6,200 e-mobiles were on the streets in Germany by October 2013. In addition to the i8, the BMW Concept Active Tourer will go into series production in 2014. This is the first BMW to have a front-wheel drive car. The Munich-based company invested 400 million euros in expanding the plant in Leipzig. 800 new jobs were created.
According to the Regional Directorate Saxony of the Federal Employment Agency, almost 833,000 people work in the automotive industry in Germany, 92.6 percent of them in the West. In Saxony, however, the automotive industry is one of the economic sectors that determine the structure. With around 29,590 employees, half of all employees in the automotive industry in the east work in Saxony. (dpa)
