GERMANY: Porsche 911 production to resume next week
28 February 2008 | Source: just-auto.com editorial team

Porsche 911 production lines at Zuffenhausen are still at a standstill following a gas explosion at the plant on Monday.


According to Automobilwoche, production now will not resume until next week.

A gas explosion occurred in the paint shop of the plant on Monday morning. At first the company had hoped to be able to resume production this week, but progress has been delayed as the company has struggled to identify the precise cause of the explosion.

Two workers were slightly hurt in the accident that was connected to a drying oven. Sprinklers came on leaving parts of the production facility under water. 2,300 workers were evacuated.

Around 160 911s are currently produced each day. The company hopes to recover lost production over the coming weeks.

 

Marty, any word on your car?

 

Well, even though my dealer said it takes about 2 weeks to build a car and mine was supposed to be finished on 2/29, he now says mine was not on the production line when the blast happened. As of yesterday, he said they were running a little behind on production before the blast and the closure would probably put them an additional 3 days or so behind. Right now, he is waiting on my order to update in the system. If he is correct about my car running behind in production, I'll probably have to wait longer to get it, but perhaps that will mean I don't have to worry about water damage, etc. Hopefully they won't get in too big of a hurry trying to salvage lost production. I can't help but worry a little about this whole process.

 

WOW, how much is it for the flame detail option on a new 997?

Seriously, I hope all that have orders in are far away from that area.

Good luck to those on the wait list.

Deanski

 

I know I don't have to tell you this but, inspect the car with a fine tooth comb when it finally arrives. The dealership should respect any complaints you may have, since they know what happened. Good luck and enjoy your new car.

 

I thought we all agreed that BMW'S "flame surfacing" was a bad idea?

 

Hmmm my completion date last I knew was 4/1/08 . Time to find out if it changed. At least I should have an april fools car now!

 

Porsche to start production of the 911 again on Monday Shortfall of about 800 vehicles can be made good

Stuttgart. Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, will be starting production of the 911 series again next Monday, March 3, at the main factory in Zuffenhausen. Production was stopped last Monday following a deflagration that occurred in the paint shop, in which a PVC fusion oven was badly damaged. The material damage, amounting to several hundred thousand Euros, is largely covered by insurance.

The causes of the accident have now been identified. External experts have ascertained that the gas escape was due to a technical defect. An examination of the other ovens has shown that they are in perfect working order and fully functional.

By adopting special measures, it will be possible to compensate the production backlog of 800 vehicles that arose during this week in the course of the current business year.

 

My estimated completion date remains unchanged at 4/1/08. The theory is that Porchse will concentrate on build to order cars first. If this is true the cars on the lots available will be fewer.

 

I heard someone tried to sneak in an order of Cobalt and that blew the ovens.

 

My dealer gave me an update on my car this morning. He said it is now in "Production Body" and although the screen for my car still shows a completion date of 2/29/08, he said he would expect my car to be completed by the end of this week. He assures me that my car was not in the areas that suffered damage, but I still plan to look it over very carefully, which I would have done anyway. He will call me as soon as I have a VIN #, at which time I will be hitting Eric up for some shipping info

 

All Porsche's are made to order. The ones on the lot are the one's the dealer spec's out. But they are, in the eyes of Porsche, made to order. My thinking is that they'll just dial up the production rate.

 

You could bring a black light to the dealership and inspect for touchup panels. Original clearcoat for Porsche will glow a spooky green. If it looks dark in one area, chances are it was re-shot.

Deanski

 

LOL Eric!!!! Cobalt does look a little explosive if you have seen ATOMIC on the 997 turbo board!

 

Sounds suspiciously like something overheard at Tech Tactics #28.