LEIPZIG, Germany, Aug 20 (Reuters) - German sportscar maker Porsche AG took the wraps off the world's fastest sports utility vehicle (SUV) on Tuesday, the model it hopes will drive its profits to new heights. "The smallest independent carmaker in the world is taking on a new dimension here in Leipzig," Porsche Chief Executive Wendelin Wiedeking said ahead of a ceremony at the carmaker's new plant in the eastern German city of Leipzig.
The Cayenne has Porsche's distinctive sloping bonnet and headlights and is the company's third product line, after its 911 and small Boxster sportscars.
The Cayenne Turbo, with a top speed of 266 km (165 miles) an hour, will cost almost 100,000 euros ($98,430) and can reach 62 miles per hour in 5.6 seconds. The more modest Cayenne S, which will cost 60,000 euros, has a top speed of 242 kmh.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was due to tighten the last screw on the first Cayenne to roll off the production line -- the first of 25,000 which the company hopes to sell every year, boosting its unit sales by 50 percent.
"The new factory shows that it is worth producing high quality, high-tech products in Germany," said Schroeder, whose party is trailing the conservative opposition in opinion polls ahead of a September election.
Porsche invested 127 million euros in the gleaming plant which employs 370 people. Its presence adds to a growing hub for auto manufacturers and suppliers in the eastern German state of Saxony.
Europe's biggest carmaker Volkswagen produces 150 luxury Phaeton cars a day in a new glass factory in nearby Dresden, and BMW has committed one billion euros to a new plant in Leipzig.
Porsche stock was trading 2.8 percent lower at 481 euros at 1046 GMT, erasing some of the gains the illiquid shares made on Monday, when they rose nearly six percent.