A gas explosion occurred in the paint shop at the Porsche-Zuffenhausen facility in Germany early on Monday, 25 February 2008. In addition to the effects of the explosion itself, the fire sprinkler system deployed, causing water damage to parts of the production line.
The Zuffenhausen plant builds only the 911 sports car, program code 997. As well as being the sole source of engines for the group, the facility also houses group trim and body shops, but as these areas were unaffected, corruption to other Porsche models (Cayenne, Boxster and Cayman) was avoided.
The plant has the capacity to build 160 units of the 911 model per day and although initial reports suggested a total downtime of two to three days, the latest estimate predicts that production will resume on Monday, 3 March 2008 – meaning at least five days of interruption or 800 vehicles and approximately one quarter of February’s expected output. We expect Porsche to be able to make up this lost output over the next two months. Output can only be sourced from Zuffenhausen.
The engine plant, though unaffected, will have a backlog of engines destined for the 911. Approximately 62% of the 800 lost vehicles – 500 engines – will be of 3.6L capacity (997 and 997 TOP programs) with the remainder consisting of the 3.8L unit (also 997 program).
If anything changes in our current assumptions, we will issue another update.
For questions, please contact Andrew Wright,
Senior Analyst, European Vehicle Forecasts,
at andrewwright@csmauto.com or +44 1932 349661
