The sports car maker is growing closer to its consumers in China and Malaysia, signaling the end of everything "made in Germany".
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Porsche is launching the turbocharged model in Asia. In 2022, the German company plans to build a research and development facility in China, as well as an assembly plant in Malaysia. For the first time, the sports car maker, like the other Volkswagen brands, is relocating away from its Stuttgart headquarters to be closer to its Asian consumers.
Porsche's decision to invest in a final assembly plant in Malaysia, in collaboration with its ten-year local partner, Sime Darby Berhad, represents a departure from the company's "made in Germany" philosophy. Although the company famed for its coupes has built its Cayenne SUV in Slovakia for the past five years, this will be the first time the 911's father would construct automobiles outside of Europe. Despite the "dynamic" at a low of just over 400 units, the German manufacturer's sales grew by 9% between 2019 and 2020, indicating a desire to get closer to a particularly "difficult conditions" market.
The facility would begin producing vehicles “specifically and exclusively” for the Malaysian market in 2022. "The decisive factors here are not the capacity and the size of the project" says Albrecht Reimold, a member of Porsche's management board for manufacturing and logistics, but the necessity to "adapt to the specific conditions of the local market"
Assembly in Malaysia will allow Porsche to reduce the burden of taxes and duties for models intended not only for the Malaysian market, but also for neighboring countries in Southeast Asia, which Porsche describes as "one of the most dynamic markets in the world, with considerable potential for growth and innovation."
Porsche is getting closer to customers in China
With the new R&D facility in Shanghai, Porsche hopes to "understand even better the needs of our local customers" according to Olivier Blume, chairman of the company's management board. He remembered, "China is already our first market for the sixth year in a row." Porsche will supply 88,968 cars to China in 2020. (out of a total of 272,162). "customer requirements are very specific and we want to meet them in the best possible way" says Olivier Blume.
The new R&D center will complement Porsche Digital China, which opened earlier this year, and Porsche Engineering China, which has been operating in China for more than two decades. The prospect of adjusting the models to the particular Chinese rules in terms of data, autonomous driving, and electric charging lurks in the background.