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Porsche holds topping-out ceremony for the new paint shopBuilding structure for environmental production facility completed in record time

Stuttgart. The new ultra-environmentally friendly paint shop at
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, is taking form. After only six and a half months of construction time, the building structure of the new, highly modern production facility at the Zuffenhausen parent plant is now complete. At today's topping-out ceremony, Baden-Württemberg's Minister of the Environment Tanja Gönner and Stuttgart Mayor Dr. Wolfgang Schuster not only enjoyed a tour of the new building, but were also given initial details on the highly innovative technology that will be used here starting in 2011.

As a symbolic act, the Minister and Mayor, together with Michael Macht, CEO of Porsche AG, and Uwe Hück, Head of Group Works Councils, screwed in the last steel beam of the roof construction. "The new paint shop is a milestone. With this investment in the future, Porsche is not only guaranteeing the highest quality and economic efficiency, but has also built an exemplary environmental production model," explained Macht. At the same time, Hück emphasized the significance of the new building as an important contribution to the job security agreement concluded in 2005: "Despite the financial crisis, this new, powerful and efficient paint shop will secure our jobs for the long-term. The Management Board and the Works Council have kept their word."

Minister of the Environment Tanja Gönner emphasized that the premium sports car manufacturer has confronted a double challenge head on: "Porsche has shown itself to be trend-setting in that it has reconciled advanced industrial production with a sensible approach to environmental protection in a densely populated region like Stuttgart. This equally protects employees and the residents alike."

For Mayor Dr. Schuster, the building project is an important symbol in these financially troubled times: "The new plant will provide many jobs, it shows that Porsche is continuing to invest in the quality of its automobiles and that it has made a commitment to Stuttgart, which the company has already done a lot for in the past, as a production location."

The façade of the new building will be finished in the coming weeks. Interior work and equipment installation and furnishing will begin directly thereafter; the plant is scheduled to begin operation in 2011 and is situated directly next to Porsche Plants 1 and 5. The painting process is completely protected from dust thanks its 100-percent contained conditions. A new kind of electro-static separator system for paint overspray has reduced to a minimum the emission of solvents and fine dust. The painting process can operate with a ten-meter chimney stack exhaust unit, instead of the obligatory 60 meter stack thanks to an increased amount of recirculated air and an extremely effective exhaust air purification plant.

The Stuttgart-based machine and plant construction company Dürr AG is the general contractor and will be equipping the paint lines with the most modern application technology, dryers for hardening the paint as well as control, process control, and materials handling technology. Böblingen-based system supplier Eisenmann, a subcontractor for Dürr AG, will supply the pre-treatment system and the cathodic dip machine along with a new kind of materials-handling technology as well as the electro-static separator system for paint particles.

In conjunction with an extensive waste water treatment plant, the environmentally friendly technology makes it possible to remain well below statutory limit values.

GO

2/1/2010

Further information and pictures for journalists and media representatives can be found on the Porsche press database at http://presse.porsche.de/.