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Visit To Zuffenhausen on April 18th 2017....Dramatic Changes in the Landscape!!!
Here is Part A of my report on the visit I made to Porsche
Zuffenhausen today:
A) Re: European Delivery & 'Porsche Exclusive' Consultations
at Zuffenhausen. Here is the official statement by PAG as to
what is going on:
Temporary closure of the European Delivery, Exclusive Customer
Consultation and Selection Shop Zuffenhausen departments in
Zuffenhausen. Extensive building work is required at the Porsche
headquarters in Zuffenhausen to accommodate the new production
facilities being developed for the Porsche Mission E vehicle. For
this reason, the European Delivery department, Exclusive Customer
Consultation department and the Porsche Selection Shop in
Zuffenhausen will be closed to the public until the first quarter
of 2018.
European Delivery in Leipzig will continue to operate as normal
during this period. Exclusive Customer Consultations with the
Personal Design in Zuffenhausen will still be possible via telephone
or email. Please be aware that this does not affect Exclusive
Customer Consultations in the United States. The Selection
Shops at the Weissach and Ludwigsburg sites and the Porsche
Online Shop at www.porsche.com/shop will still be
available.
***
To those that have been there before the changes
will be dramatic! I have been coming to Zuffenhausen
on factory visits often since 1981 & I was frankly taken
aback by the sheer size of this project! Visitors to PAG
might remember that the European Delivery area (next
to the original Museum) was at Porschestrasse by a gate.
It was also the offices of 'Porsche Exclusive' & its show
rooms. Behind the Euro delivery area was the 'Exclusive
Manufaktur' workshop were 'Sonderwunsch', or the 'Special
Wishes' program, came true for customers' cars. And
behind all of this was a park storage area for Porsches
waiting to be picked up by truck transports. It was accessed
via Adestrasse. It bordered on the railroad track that divides
Werk II from the residential area right next door & behind it.
See map below to remember how it used to be!
***
For those interested in looking back how things used to be,
you might be interested in reading the threads I started here
on Rennlist after my visits in 2015 & 2013:
***
Here is a photo I took in 2015 of the park storage area at Werk II
from Adestrasse, near the railroad tracks that is the border of that
property owned by PAG:
***
Here is a shot of that area (also taken from Adestrasse) as it
looks today:
***
The European Delivery halls are gone...
***
The ''Exclusive Manufaktur' workshop is operating somewhere in
WerkII but probably not in its old location since that entire block
of old buildings are being torn down for the new Mission E assembly
area. Barbara Boeckenhoff tried to get PAG to let me tour that
'Exclusive Manufaktur' area but at the last minute it couldn't be
arranged. But it's still operational...I don't know just where on
the Werk II property.
***
According to my sources, the European Delivery & 'Exclusive
Consultation' is expected to resume at Zuffenhausen in early
2018 at Werk I, the oldest (brick) buildings dating back to the
Reich's 'People's Car' project of the 1930's facing Schweiberdinger
Strasse across from Werk II.
But that could change. There is also talk that it might be moved
to the current Porsche Zentrum across the street from both the
Museum & Werk II.
***
From my walks around Werks I & II this morning, I noticed
that what appears to be the foundations for an overhead
transportation system is also being constructed behind Werk
I & Werk II bringing 'Mission E' chassis from the body & paint
shop (deep behind Werk I & never allowed to be toured). Its
destination appears to be the new 'Mission E' assembly plant
we have seen being constructed bordering Porsche Strasse &
Adestrasse. It will probably be similar to the current 'high' one
bringing 991 & 718 chassis to the Werk II assembly line:
***
In the map below, the overhead Mission E chassis transport system
will be bordering the railroad tracks on the other side of Ostseestrasse:
***
You can see in the photos I took of that construction for the
overhead transportation that has already started behind Werk I,
next to the railroad tracks:
***
And also Werk II in the same location across Schweiberdinger Strasse
also bordering the railroad:
***
The Mission E chassis transport system will end up near Adestrasse:
***
That concludes the first part of my report on the visit today to
Porsche Zuffenhausen.
Saludos,
Eduardo
Romantik Hotel Friedrich von Schiller
Bietigheim-Bissingen
Part II of my Report on the Visit to Zuffenhausen / April 2017
Originally Posted by otisdog
When I picked up my car last year, the story line was
"many of our buildings are historical and protected,
and we don't have any room to grow!"...
Originally Posted by signes
A shame they are changing it. When I was there last
summer it was nice to look through the windows at
Werk I ? (*Clarification: Assembly 'Line' is at Werk II)
when touring the line and see all of the cars fresh out
of the factory just sitting in those collection areas. Had
a cool, intimate feel. I'm sure the new facility will be
impressive, especially those overhead transport lines.
Originally Posted by jsaviano
From what I was told, the current Zuffenhausen
facility is about at its maximum. .
Here is the 'dirty little secret' about why this massive
investment by Porsche is being done at a crowded &
congested Zuffenhausen & not in Leipzig where they
have plenty of wide open fields in which to 'grow'!
The labor representatives on Porsche's board insisted
that expansion be first done in Zuffenhausen to provide
the jobs there...rather than in Leipzig. And because of
the German corporate structure & laws, the labor
representatives have enormous power in the German
version of 'capitalism'.
I reported at Rennlist after my visit in 2015 that I had
heard reports from my contacts in Zuffenhausen of
massive purchases of land & buildings on the other
side of the railroad tracks across from the Porsche
Museum by PAG. In the map below, it would be the
area bordering LorenzStrasse & WaldheimStrasse:
On the north side of the tracks, on Otto Dürr Strasse,
there is a big Porsche building construction project
next (or back of) the existing Porsche Zentrum:
Just two years ago, this is what I could see from
that vantage view (now blocked by new construction):
The scale of new construction at Porsche Zuffenhausen
is massive. And they have more space to grow in the
old industrial areas across the S-bahn rail tracks around
LorenzStrasse & WaldheimStrasse!
****
In contrast, here is what Porsche at Leipzig looks like:
Room to grow in every direction & with direct rail
access so it can transport production easily to ports
for its exports! Here is a shot I took of the areas
owned by PAG around Leipzig from the vantage
view of their 'tower' restaurant:
****
There is one more piece of the puzzle you all need to know.
Besides the power of the labor component for pushing
the Mission E production to Zuffenhausen rather the
more obvious choice of Leipzig, there is something else
going on. And it is 'big'...and maybe unsettling to some
of you reading this report. Do you remember this PAG
marketing theme from the last few years. They had all
sort of apparel branded this way:
In strategic planning terms, the gasoline fueled & motor
powered sportscars currently produced at Zuffenhausen
are on life-support. The future is Mission E & all the off-shoots
of that new 'Green' technology to be developed & used
by Porsche. The company's sport car 'jewels', the 991
& 718, are 'Made in Zuffenhausen'. And the 356s & early
911s that gave Porsche their past glory were also 'Made
in Zuffenhausen'. And so, friends, Porsche will also make
the future 'jewels' of the company, the star performers,
not at Leipzig but at the historic epicenter of the company's
glorious past. So expansion plan in crowded Zuffenhausen
is not 100% about the power of labor at Porsche. The Porsche
Board also sees a 'silver lining' in this massive investment
cloud being built in this suburb of Stuttgart...& not in Leipzig.
The future of Porsche, albeit an electric one, will also be
'Made in Zuffenhausen'. And they might be right. But it
also makes me a little bit sad to realize it after all I have
seen being built in that place since my first visit in 1981!
Do you also know why Leipzig is not expanded
to build more SUVs? The assembly of Cayennes
has been moved to Slovakia. With so much land
in Leipzig, it would have benn easily expanded
to assemble Cayennes, Macans and Panameras.
It's a bit complicated. The only model built from
scratch* in Leipzig is the Macan, which was the last
new product line developed. The Cayenne has been
welded, painted & partially assembled in Bratislava
Slovakia since day one. Cayennes initial production
space at the massive VW facility in Slovakia is shared
with the VW Touareg, Audi Q7 & the Bentley Bentayga!
Former Porsche CEO Wendelin Wiedeking had plans
to let the Cayenne be completely built in Slovakia &
exported to all markets from there. He wanted to
make room in Leipzig for the Panamera & future
models like the Mission E. But that plan is now
apparently discarded (or delayed) by the new
management at PAG. Part of it is Porsche wants
to make everyone believe that the Cayenne is made
(mostly) in Germany at Leipzig. So final assembly
will continue to be at that location & not Bratislava.
Just as 'Made in Zuffenhausen' is part of the Porsche
myth, 'Made in Germany' is the next best alternative
for any other model built by Porsche. 'Made in Slovakia'
doesn't have the same ring to it!
The Panamera has been welded & painted at a VW
plant in Hanover since day one. It arrives in Leipzig
much less completed than the Cayenne...but it still
doesn't start life at Leipzig. However, I believe PAG
will go ahead, if it has not already done so, and built
the Panamera entirely in Leipzig like it does now with
the Macan. They can have better quality control &
cost effectiveness if they do the Panamera entirely
in-house...and depend less in another VW Group
organization. Last year we saw all Cayman production
transferred to Zuffenhausen from the VW Group's
'Karmann' plant at Osnabrück. And as you might
also recall, pre-981 Boxsters & Caymans were built
also in some numbers in Finland under contract with
Valmet from 1997 to 2011. But finally last year, PAG
was able to increase production efficiencies at its
Zuffenhausen facilities to around 250 cars a day.
And that allowed them to be able to build all 991
& 718 in Zuffenhausen.
It is easy to see all the stages of assembly in
Leipzig. And the only truly long assembly line
is the Macan. Next in length is the Panamera.
And the Cayenne, at least when I was last
there in July of 2015, is pretty advanced by
the time it gets off the rail cars & enters the
assembly line at Leipzig!
Regardless, PAG has plenty of room to grow
in Leipzig. And now that the Stuttgart-based
labor councils have gotten their way with the
Mission E plant in Zuffenhausen, it's Leipzig's
unions turn to bring home the 'Speck'..if you
get my drift.
Saludos,
Eduardo
Regensburg, Bavaria
*Exception: All gasoline engines are built in
Zuffenhausen for all Porsche models. Hybrids
& Diesels are the exception & built by another
VW group (Audi I think).
Thanks for posting Eduardo. The young man in the "Porsche 1963 Original Made in Zuffenhausen - Nothing even comes close" reminded me of my first Porsche which was a Ruby Red 1963 356B Coupe, purchased from my friend Bob Grossman, the owner of Foreign Cars of Rockland, one of the early Porsche Dealers in the suburbs of NYC. After spending countless dollars and more time under them than driving my previous English and Italian sports cars, Bob convinced me, as a College Student working full time, that my new Porsche, despite being double the price of the used sports cars I had bought previously, it would eventually save me time and money. The inducement of a $500 price discount on the new 356's $4,250 MSRP, it became irresistible. In the 100,000 miles I drove the 356 it never let me down and my total parts bill was a $0.10 gasket - After constant breakdowns, I never believed that was possible -
And I've been hooked on Porsches ever since.
For the third time in as many visits to Zuffenhausen,
I have been well received by Dieter Landenberger,
Archive Manager for Porsche & Porsche Museum.
His official title is:
Leiter Historisches Archiv
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG
Öffentlichkeitsarbeit und Presse
Porsche Museum und Historische Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Dieter first gave my wife & I a peronalized tour of the
Porsche Museum restoration shop which all of you can
see behind the glass as you enter the first floor of the
structure (and in the back):
So this restoration shop is only for cars owned by the
Museum. Customer restorations are done at 'Porsche
Classic' which is located elsewhere in Stuttgart area.
*
One of the cars being restored expertly at the present
in this area is 'Porsche Number 57'. The story of how
#57 came to be discovered & purchased by PAG is not
well known to us in North America...but apparently most
Germans know about via a famous local TV program there.
This is how that restoration was proceeding as of 4/18.
The color, if any of you are wondering, is 'Polo Red',
which happened to be the hue of the first Porsche I
ever owned - a 1968 912 Soft-Rear Targa!
*
It was also interesting to see an old 356 Coupe I remember
seeing years ago (circa 1983) in California which is now owned
by the Museum. This was Gene Gilpin's 1956 A Coupe with
Rudge wheels.
Note the the spinners for German market were...wingless!
The deviation from norm was due to safety concerns FOR
PEDESTRIANS in the home market, even back in the mid-
1950's. As you might know, Porsche 356 Rudges for most
world markets had 'wings'...like one of Ben Hur's chariots
(a popular film of the era)! And this was a cause of concern
in Germany for TÜV.
In any case, Gene traded this restored 356 as you see it for
a well-used Porsche 'Guards Red' 911SC cabriolet, a test vehicle
that PAG had around just prior to re-introducing that model
in early 1980's.
In my opinion, this trade will go down in history as one of
the worse ever made!
In case any of you are wondering, the color of this 356A is
the very rare & seldom ordered 'Lago Green Metallic'.
*
After the tour of the restoration shop, Dieter brought us upstairs
to see the current exhibits at the Museum. We had time to see
the special Walter Röhrl exhibit:
I was particularly pleased to see the 924 Carrera GTR driven by
Walter Röhrl & my friend Jürgen Barth* at LeMans in 1981:
I thank Dieter for taking time from his busy schedule. And I wish
him the best at all future endeavors at the VW Group!
Saludos,
Eduardo
San Martino Alfiere
Piemonte, Italia
*Like in past years, I was invited by Jürgen to his house for
dinner. My wife & I were to join fellow 356 enthusiast ( &
known photographer) Hal Toms at Jürgen's home on 4/20.
Unfortunately we had to leave on the 19th to proceed to
Regensburg before flying off to Italy!
04-18-2017, 05:59 PM
Visit To Zuffenhausen on April 18th 2017....Dramatic Changes in the Landscape!!!
