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performance luxury saloon/sedan, the Panamera, was launched on Monday, 20 April 2009, and is due to be released worldwide in September and October. Recently, a spider version of the Boxster was announced, and became available after it was unveiled at the 2009 Los Angeles Auto Show.
Porsche was awarded the 2006, 2009, and 2010 J.D. Power and Associates award for the highest-ranked nameplate in its Initial Quality Study (IQS) of automobile brands.
As a company, Porsche is known for weathering changing market conditions with great financial stability, while retaining most production in Germany during an age when most other German car manufacturers have moved at least parts of their production to Eastern Europe or overseas. The headquarters and main factory are still in Zuffenhausen, a district in Stuttgart, but the Cayenne (and formerly the Carrera GT) is manufactured in Leipzig, Germany, parts for the SUV are assembled also in Bratislava, Slovakia. Most Boxster and Cayman production is outsourced to Valmet Automotive in Finland until 2012. The company has been highly successful in recent times, and indeed claims to have the highest profit per unit sold of any car company in the world.
Porsche Engineering Group (PEG) has for many years offered consultancy services to various other car manufacturers. Audi, Studebaker, SEAT, Daewoo, Subaru, and Yugo have consulted Porsche Engineering Group for their cars or engines. The Lada Samara was partly developed by Porsche in 1984. Porsche Engineering
Group also helped Harley-Davidson design their new Revolution water cooled engine and gearbox that is used in their V-Rod motorcycle.
SUV reception
According to CNBC, even an at-the-time questionable foray into the SUV market with the Cayenne in 2003, couldn't damage Porsche credibility. The Times journalist Andrew Frankel says on one level, it is the world's best 4x4, on another, it is the cynical exploitation of a glorious brand that risks long-term damage to that brand’s very identity in the pursuit of easy money with his verdict being "Great car, if only it wasn't a Porsche". Despite the controversy faced by critics, the Cayenne has been a success, generating enough profit for the company to invest in and upgrade the existing model range, as well as