Porsche Cars North America will build a new $100 million headquarters in Atlanta, including a road course allowing potential customers to take luxury cars for a spin.

Porsche Cars North America will build a new $100 million headquarters in Atlanta, including a road course allowing potential customers to take luxury cars for a spin.

The German luxury automaker announced last week the complex will be near the new International Terminal at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport where a now-shuttered Ford Motor Co. plant sits.

Porsche says the complex will include office facilities for a work force that will eventually number 400 employees, including a technical service and training center. The company has based its North American operations in Sandy Springs, Ga., for the last 13 years.

The sleek new headquarters will have a customer experience center that will feature a road course that could draw some 20,000 visitors a year. Groundbreaking is planned for this fall, with opening scheduled for the second half of 2013.

The state sweetened the pot for Porsche. By law, the state provided $1.75 million in job tax credits, based on about 100 jobs to be created. There were also discretionary incentives of roughly $800,000, including the road and signage changes the state Department of Transportation will provide. The total incentive package amounts to about $36,250 per job, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Delve von Platen, president and CEO of Porsche Cars North America, said the company explored 17 locations before settling on Atlanta.

Porsche sells about 25,000 cars a year in the United States. Prices range from $48,000 to $245,000, but average around $90,000. The cars are made in Germany. AP