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News of  February 07, 2001
.

Porsche factory in Leipzig is to gain an off-road track for driving safety training

Economics and ecology will join forces at the Leipzig "parade ground"

Stuttgart/Leipzig. Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, is planning to set up an off-road track for driving safety training immediately next to the production plant currently being built in Leipzig. This track is an essential component of the overall concept for the Porsche Leipzig site, which will include a running-in and test track and a customer centre as well as the plant itself. The planning permission procedure for the relevant area was initiated yesterday, 29th January, by the Lord Mayor's advisory board of the city of Leipzig. The documents will be submitted to the city council. Environmental conservation organisations and the public will be informed in the context of the planning permission procedure.

In order to be able to produce this off-road track, Porsche will lease a partial area from the Leipzig freight traffic centre (GVZ) which directly adjoins the plant site. This area will be a small part of the "parade ground", which covers 120 hectares in total and was used as a military training area in the past. Due to its proximity to the plant and its topographical nature, the area will be ideally suitable for the purpose that Porsche is planning.

Preliminary studies have shown that the ecological value of this formerly military site with its particular features can be preserved through civil use. In order to achieve this aim, Porsche will restrict its claims for using the site to a specific corridor. Any further construction beyond this level will be excluded permanently.

Areas of particular ecological value have been taken into account during the planning of the course of the track. Porsche will also deliberately dispense with using asphalt roads in favour of more natural surfaces. To a large extent, the planned course of the track will make use of existing broken-stone tracks and dilapidated buildings. This will guarantee that the project can be implemented without any drastic interventions into the existing natural environment.

Porsche will continue to implement measures for preserving the landscape at its own expense; these measures are an integral part of the company's considerations for an overall concept that will preserve the current status of the site in the long term, and include, among others, strategies to counter the danger of the existing green areas becoming overgrown. In this way, the ecological value of a large, connected area will be preserved in the long term.

Porsche is confident that this ecologically sound concept will be approved and that it will be possible to begin working promptly with this off-road track, which the company considers to be absolutely necessary in economic terms. The project will provide a perfect example of how corporate interests can be brought into perfect harmony with the aims of environmental and landscape conservation.

Dr. Engelbert Lütke Daldrup, the Leipzig city planning councillor, also emphasises this point: "The "parade ground" planning permission project proves that economics and ecology are not a contradiction in terms. The city of Leipzig will, as always, be very quick to implement this planning procedure, which is important for its economic development."

After the series production of the Cayenne begins, customers from all over the world will travel to Leipzig to collect their off-road Porsche directly from the plant. In that case, Porsche will provide them with an extensive background program, so that they can gain an impression of the production process, the company and the Leipzig site directly at the "birthplace" of the Cayenne. The highlight of this customer care program will be a training course in driving safety on the off-road track. The customers will be given professional instruction on prescribed routes and so will gain a practical understanding of the handling and the technical features of the Cayenne.

In total, Porsche is investing considerably more than 100 million marks in its new Leipzig site and is creating 260 new jobs at the same time. As of 2002, 25,000 editions of the "Cayenne" off-road sports car will roll off the production line here every year.

(Jan. 30, 2001)

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