Porsche is adamantly denying claims recently published in the German publication Handelsblatt that it is planning to transfer some production of its successful Cayenne SUV to the U.S.
The original report claimed that some Cayenne production could move to VW's planned U.S. production facility (which should come online sometime after 2010) by 2015.
Currently VW produces its Touareg, Porsche Cayenne and Audi Q7 bodies in their plant in Slovakia and upon completion, ships them to their respective final assembly locations.
Porsche spokesman Albrecht Bamler stated to Automotive News that the next generation of Leipzig's SUV is too far in the future to determine where exactly it will be built.
According to Porsche officials, it would make no business sense to go to America because most of parts suppliers for the Cayenne are based in Europe.
Bamler additionally said that in the short term, the automaker is safeguarded against the weakening dollar up until 2013 as a result of currency hedging. It was originally speculated that the suffering dollar had much to do with Porsche's possible move to bring Cayenne production to U.S. soil.
VW has yet to select a location for its new plant that will reportedly have an annual capacity of 100,000 to 150,000 units, but company officials have narrowed the final choices down to Alabama, Michigan and Tennessee. A final decision should come by this July.
Porsche currently owns 31 percent of VW and is looking to increase its share to more than 50 percent in the coming months if it can come to terms with the government of Lower Saxony.
Source: Automotive News (Subscription required)