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Porsche To Develop And Produce Sport Utility Vehicle

4 June 1998

Porsche To Develop And Produce Sport Utility Vehicle

    ATLANTA, June 4 -- Porsche AG in Stuttgart, Germany has
announced it will be expanding its 911 and Boxster model lines by building a
sport utility vehicle (SUV).
    Scheduled to be launched in 2002, the new Porsche SUV will have off-road
capability and permanent four-wheel drive.  It will be based on the same
platform as the new off-road vehicle planned by Volkswagen AG, and powered by
engines developed and built by Porsche.
    The supervisory boards of Porsche and Volkswagen have given their go-ahead
for the cooperative effort.  Porsche and its Research and Development Center
in Weissach will assume development leadership on both the Volkswagen and
Porsche vehicles, which will have their own fully independent features.  In
the fall of 1998 the two companies will decide on a production site.
    Porsche has set aside a total investment budget of approximately one
billion German Marks ($600 million) for this project.  Annual sales of the
Porsche SUV will be approximately 20,000 units worldwide.
    Commenting on the project, Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking, Chairman of the Porsche
AG Board of Management, said, "Our new sport utility vehicle will not only
correspond in full with Porsche's high technical and visual standards, but
will also pave the way for future growth potential in the sales, turnover and
earnings areas.  It will help to reduce our dependency on the traditional
sports car, convertible and roadster segments, and achieve gains in sales
volume which will strengthen Porsche's position still further."