BERLIN — Porsche is expanding its presence in Asia with a research and development center in Shanghai and a production site in Malaysia.
The r&d location in Shanghai will help Porsche increase the understanding of Chinese customers and their requirements, as well as improve local product development, the brand said in a statement on Monday.
The production site in Malaysia will open in 2022 and be operated in partnership with Malaysian trading conglomerate Sime Darby Berhad. The facility will be responsible for the final assembly of models made exclusively for the local market.
“We’re proud to be a vibrant, global business and to be investing in localized programs to ensure our cars and services do reflect the specific needs of our markets outside of Europe,” Michael Steiner, Porsche’s R&D chief, said in the statement. “To do this best requires a permanent presence.”
“The addition of a Chinese R&D satellite location underlines our commitment to ensuring our cars remain relevant and attuned to our markets,” Steiner said.
Porsche China is also based in Shanghai, a metropolis of 24 million that is also the country’s financial capital.
The automaker now counts 136 sales outlets in operation on the Chinese mainland, in Hong Kong and in Macau. Most of the sales outlets are concentrated in southeastern coastal cities and some in the western regions.
Porsche delivered its first sports cars to mainland China 20 years ago. Since then, it has become the company’s largest single market, with 88,968 deliveries last year.
Porsche also recently opened a new parts distribution center in the southeast city of Dongguan, taking the number of after sales parts centers around the world to 16.
The company’s latest global R&D and manufacturing expansion plans follow Porsche Digital, a subsidiary of Porsche established in 2016, which is headquartered in Germany but has offices in the US, Spain, China, Israel and Croatia.
In June, Porsche Asia Pacific and Shell announced a plan to implement the region’s first cross-border high performance charging network, with 12 charge points at six Shell stations located along Malaysia’s North-South highway.
The six Shell stations will be equipped with 180-kilowatt direct-current (DC) chargers, and come with two CCS Type 2 charging connectors, allowing a single vehicle to be charged at up to 180 kW, or two vehicles to charge simultaneously at up to 90 kW each.
The two-stage rollout plan will see four stations ready in the second half of 2021, with two additional stations online by the first half of 2022.