<<BACK TO HOME

Finnish automotive group Valmet has lost out to Austrian firm Magna Steyr in the race to build the Porsche Boxster and Cayman models from 2012.

Porsche has announced that Magna Steyr will be the principal contract supplier of the cars from 2012 when the present contract with Valmet runs out.

Porsche said that Magna Steyr had won the contract "because it submitted the most financially attractive offer and because it is in a position to take on development tasks for Porsche sportscar."

The contract building operation is used esswentially as a top-up facility or "breathing factory" for when the main Porsche factory at Stuttgart Zuffenhausen is overloaded with work. Porsche supplies engines and other components to its partner under the deal. The aim is to keep Zuffenhausen working at full capacity all of the time.

Holger Härter, deputy chairman of Porsche SE and the chief financial officer responsible for outsourced production, said: "Over the last 11 years, Valmet has built more than 200,000 sports cars of outstanding quality for us. Our decision not to continue our successful cooperation is in no way a vote against Valmet.

"Rather it was the high development capacity and competence of our future partner that tipped the balance in favour of our new partner."