American-Built Porsche Cayenne. Not

Rumors have been abound that Porsche has been thinking about shifting its manufacturing of the Cayenne SUV to America by 2010. These rumors, largely based off the German business newspaper Handelsblatt, suggested that the Cayenne might be built in the Volkswagen group’s new manufacturing plant in the States. Handelsblatt asserted that the next Cayenne could be built in Volkswagen’s new U.S. plant after 2015.Porsche has quashed these rumors, stating it as no intention on shifting the production of the Cayenne to America. Volkswagen currently builds Cayenne SUV bodies in its Bratislava, Slovakia, plant, which is then shipped to Germany for final assembly.

Porsche spokesman Albrecht Bamler states that it simply doesn’t make sense to manufacture the Cayenne in the United States because the suppliers for the parts are in Europe. According to Bamler, the next Cayenne is too far off in the future for the company to comment upon, but denies any plans to shift the production of Cayenne’s to the States in the near future.

Some had speculated that Porsche might use Volkswagen’s new plant in the U.S. to manufacture their vehicles, given their stake in the Volkswagen group. Porsche currently holds a 31% stake in Volkswagen and is expected to increase its shares to a majority in the next six months.

Volkswagen’s new manufacturing plant is scheduled to open in the U.S. by 2010, with a maximum capacity of 250,000 vehicles produced annually. The plant will be used initially to build the Volkswagen Jetta sedan and an all-new sedan. They have narrowed locations for the plant down to Alabama, Michigan and Tennessee. This factory is part of their plan to triple their U.S. sales by 2018 to 1 million.

via Auto Week