Porsche is planning a second PPE-based electric model for the Macan in Leipzig. According to a media report, millions flow to VW commercial vehicles because the Porsche does not come from Hanover as planned, where it was supposed to be built together with the Artemis-Audi. Does Porsche perhaps also use its own platform?
The press release for the VW supervisory board meeting on December 9, 2021 already said that Porsche will not only build the electric Macan in Leipzig, but also a second model based on the premium Electric platform, which Porsche and Audi developed together. It was not known what kind of electric model that should be. Apparently it is a crossover model above the Cayenne bestseller with the internal designation K1.
Porsche pays so it doesn't have to produce in Hanover
At least that's what a report from Automobilwoche suggests. Because "in order not to have to manufacture its Artemis model at VW Commercial Vehicles, the Stuttgart-based company pays a high compensation amount to the sister company in Hanover, according to information from Automobilwoche bought the project free, that is a good 100 million euros," said the newspaper.
In fact, the VW supervisory board had already decided in 2020 to have the new Porsche model produced in Hanover from 2025 as one of three models that were to emerge from Audi's flagship project Artemis. The third model is a Bentley. The cars are obviously very large, which is why the commercial vehicle plant with its larger paint shop offered itself. "There was talk of 25,000 Artemis Porsches per year, which VW Commercial Vehicles had firmly planned to secure jobs by 2029," says Automobilwoche. But in October, Porsche withdrew from the project. VWN works council chief Bertina Murkovic was disappointed "at Porsche's rejection of the Hanover location". According to the report, the compensatory payment from Stuttgart "should now enable VWN in Hanover to close the gap with its own models". The ID-California (camper version of the ID-Buzz) and an additional plug-in hybrid variant of the T7 Multivan with more range are planned there. In addition, a T7 California is also said to be in the planning stage. And the plant in Hanover is to deliver bodies to Audi in Brussels (E-Tron) from 2026 – but only, according to Autombilwoche, as overflow production if the capacity in the Belgian plant is not sufficient. "All in all, we are busy with the products that have now been defined for this decade," quotes the industry journal, works councilwoman Murkovic.,
Second e-model on PPE should bring synergies
The Announcement after the VW Supervisory Board meeting .In Leipzig they want to use synergies in the production of a second PPE model. The first is the electric successor to the smaller Porsche Macan SUV. Even its combustion engine predecessor comes from Leipzig and will remain in the range for some time after the launch of the E-Macan Porsche had extensively converted the Taycan on the J1 platform at the main plant in Zuffenhausen. From 2024, the electric successor to the 718 series (Cayman and Boxster) , which is also electric, should also be built there, while Porsche also produces the Panamera in addition to the Macan in Leipzig; the Cayenne, on the other hand, rolls off the assembly line at the VW plant in Bratislava with the technically related VW Touareg and Audi Q7.,
The decisive conversion of the modern plant in Leipzig to electric drives seems to be worth the good 100 million to Porsche. The question is: What does that mean for the technology of the new K1 model, which, like the Taycan, is positioned close to the Panamera and could compete in a similar segment to the Cayenne, without the off-roader with the lavish trailer load (3.5 tons) the same to want to replace. Of course, a mixture of Cayenne and Panamera would also be conceivable, flatter than an SUV but higher than the sporty sedan. Because of the reasonable frontal area and the correspondingly lower air resistance, this would go well with an e-car for travel. This would put Porsche's K1 close to what is known from Audi's first Artemis model, the "Landjet".
Will there still be an Artemis Porsche coming from Leipzig?
Then the announcement by Audi boss Markus Duesmann that the second Artemis model will be a Porsche would remain. This should not rule out synergies with PPE models. Because Artemis is also based on the PPE, but packs a new electronics architecture from the Scalable Systems Platform (SSP) of the VW Group on top of it, which is primarily intended to ensure distinctive capabilities for autonomous driving. With the Landjet, Audi is dreaming of a large rice wagon that should be able to bring its passengers comfortably from one city to another without the occupants having to do anything. In the picture gallery you can see pictures of the Audi Grandsphere concept car, which shows what the first Artemis Audi could look like.,Of course, this is not what you would expect from a Porsche. Porsche boss Oliver Blume said at the Los Angeles Auto Show 2021, "that we build sports cars at Porsche and not sleepers." And added: "I promise you that a Porsche will always have a steering wheel, that it will always be about driving pleasure!". Automobilwoche concludes that Porsche's relocation from Hanover to Leipzig is also an exit from Artemis and that the new electric Porsche is based "not on Audi's Artemis kit, but on the platform of the previously planned electric Panamera, which will be launched in 2024 or 2025.The previously 4,300 employees will be increased. A total of 150 new jobs are to be created in 2023 and 2024." However, the move is expected to cause a delay: instead of 2025, the new electric Porsche is not due to arrive until 2026 very close to the profile of the Audi Landjet outlined so far. And a large touring car could even offer Porsche customers comfort in unpopular driving situations, as Oliver Blume also concedes: Some applications of autonomous driving are also interesting for Porsche drivers, for example when parking or in traffic jams The technology required for such applications must in any case meet almost the same requirements as that in an autonomous Audi From there it is also said that Porsche is withdrawing from Hanover, but not from Artemis the latest SSP generation, which enables autonomous driving according to level 4, because that is not what decides for Porsche nd is – level 3 is enough. This should probably also allow a launch a few months after the Audi Landjet (2025) as originally planned. ,
Conclusion
Porsche buys itself free with millions within the group in order to be able to switch the course in its most modern plant more consistently to electric. That is primarily location policy and at Volkswagen it always goes with the employee representatives.
On the other hand, when it comes to standardizing its kits across the group brands, those responsible are likely to be less open to special curls. Audi Q7, Bentley Bentayga, Lamborghini Urus, Porsche Cayenne to VW Touareg show what is possible even in the upper segments with the same platforms. Below that, 80 percent of all Group vehicles have long since been based on the modular transverse matrix, with the modular electrical matrix (MEB) taking the same path.
Expensive investments in the electric drive should increase the motivation to do without astonishingly different technology - so far not even models like the Porsche Panamera, Audi A8 or Bentley Continental or Flying Spur have used the same platform, not to mention the sports cars, while Audi Technically, the E-Tron GT and Porsche Taycan are even largely identical.
