Porsche Engineering targets suppliers - Company Profile - Brief Article

Unlike other engineering and design firms who use auto shows to display their newest ideas, it's not likely you'll see a Porsche Engineering concept car at any upcoming event.

"We don't need concepts," says Ulrich Schiefer, managing director and CEO of Porsche Engineering Group GmbH (PEG). "We do real cars."

With one of the most recognizable names, PEG is out to capture its share of the $6 billion contract engineering market "There is nothing related to a vehicle that we can't do," Schiefer says.

For more than 60 years Porsche engineers have found success working with companies outside the famous automaker that shares its name. Along the way several subsidiaries were created in both Germany and the U.S. to manage the demand for Porsche engineers.

But last year the company pulled together the German and U.S. activities of Porsche Engineering Services GmbH and the engineering services department of Porsche's R&D center in Weissach, Germany. It formed PEG to manage and promote the combined operation.

The company says it is now more flexible and efficient and able to deliver the highest level of refinement to customers. "We sell German engineering to the world," Schiefer says.

Schiefer sees a growing business with Tier One suppliers who need help engineering systems as their responsibility with OEMs increases.

"Tier One suppliers need more whole vehicle knowledge and that's exactly what they get from us," he says.

And that's what they have done with the 2003 Porsche Cayenne SUV, one of PEG most recent projects (others include the Opel Zafira body and the Harley-Davidson V-Rod's engine.) While Schiefer won't talk about the vehicle, he does say, "it will be a real Porsche and it will be a great "business card' for Porsche engineering."

He adds that Cayenne, "will prove that this is what we mean when we say we can do the whole value chain. You tell us what your brand image is and we'll implement it for you."

The Cayenne will be a true Porsche.

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