It turns out that Porsches won't say "Made in China" anytime soon. Nor will they say "Made in U.S.A." either. Mere days after telling German magazine Focus that Porsche may consider building an Audi-based small crossover in China or the U.S., Porsche president Matthius Muller is backpedaling.
Muller told China's First Financial Daily that Porsche has no plans to build a vehicle in China, or anywhere else for that matter. While acknowledging that Porsche may have to consider expanding production elsewhere in the future as demand rises, Muller says that for now all Porsches will be built in Germany.
Furthermore, Muller says that Porsche has no plans to build a small crossover based of an Audi platform. What's interesting about this is that he didn't deny that Porsche is working on a small crossover, just that it wouldn't be built on an Audi platform.
So what does it all mean? It means that trying to determine future plans of automakers is a tricky business. Did Muller leak info on future production plans before they were finalized, and then have to recant? Was he spitballing with a German news magazine, and see that spitball turn into something real in the media? Was he just blowing smoke to confuse everyone? Who knows. It'll certainly get cleared up next week. Or the week after that. Or the week after that, or the week after that….