(March 17, 2013) A few months before the first customer vehicle of the new compact entry-level Macon sport utility rolls off the assembly line, more than 1,000 new production workers will be hired at the Porsche plant in Leipzig.

The Macan is based on the popular compact Audi Q5.

“We have a new addition to our model family — now we're looking for qualified and highly motivated people in production for the realization of our ambitious goals. We want employees with petrol in their blood,” said Dr. Oliver Blume, member of the Executive Board Production and Logistics.

Porsche is looking for skilled employees with professional qualifications in body construction, painting, assembly and quality assurance – to include operators, staff for ultrasonic testing, staff for metal sheet forming (and others). Alongside the 1,000 production workers, the location in Saxony is hiring 400 engineers for the planning of the new sections, of which 220 are already on board.

“The interest in a job with Porsche is enormous. We have received 16,500 applications already, even though the big search for staff starts officially only today. The facts speak their own language: attractive environment and a emotional product. Moreover, the jobs here are future-proof, because in Leipzig all signs point to growth,” Siegfried Bülow, chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche, emphasized in his speech.

Porsche is investing around 500 million euro in the conversion of the location into a fully-fledged plant with its own paint shop and body assembly hall. It's the biggest construction project in the history of the sports car maker.

“The buildings are ready and are water-proof, and the machines are being installed," Bulow said. "The first test body was made a few days ago. In the summer, we will commission the new paint shop, so the first customer vehicle will roll off the assembly line at the end of the year. The schedule is a challenge, and the plant extension a truly mammoth task. But we are going all out for it.”

Porsche employs a staff of 1,150 in Leipzig at present — with the production of the Macan, the workforce will be more than doubled.