Porsche is looking to double its global sales volume to 200,000 units a year by 2018 and its CEO says it may need to take production to other parts of the world in order to achieve that goal.
CEO Matthias Mueller recently told the German magazine Focus that, "We will consider this year whether to start production in Asia or North America."
According to Focus, Porsche is considering building its upcoming compact SUV, the Cajun, at a VW plant in China which builds the Audi Q5.
The Cajun is expected in 2013.
But Mueller doesn't think that taking production out of Europe will hurt Porsche's brand credentials.
In a separate interview with another German publication, Wirtschafts Woche, Mueller said that building Porsche's in China or North America wouldn't be breaking any taboos.
"We are OK as long as we can say our cars are 'engineered by Porsche,'" Mueller said in that interview.
Porsche also recently announced that it would use a new VW plant (the former Karmann factory in Osnabrueck, Germany) for additional capacity to make the Boxster and Cayman models. VW will be using the plant to make the Golf Cabriolet.
But will Porsche's customer base rebel? Or will only the fanatics overreact?
In any case, maybe Porsche should first wait until Western consumers become accustomed to buying volume brand cars that are made in China before taking it to the luxury level.
Source: autonews.com (sub req)
