When Porsches are made in China

I was shocked to see a "Made in China" label on the Bosch TPS of my 996 Factory Replacement motor. I realize the Chinese are very capable in manufacturing extremely high quality items. As much so as any country in the world, and more so than many. It seems that Porsche may be testing the waters, and that it may only be a matter of time before more and more of the car is produced there. Porsche may eventually decide to farm out engineering to Japan, as several components are now being made there by companies that excel in their field. And it's no secret that Fuji Heavy Industries (Subaru) produces a Saab, many Chrysler, GM and Fords are of Japanese manufacture. So, when the Porsche is designed in Germany, engineered in Japan and built in China will it still have the charisma and mistique that it has today? I see some of that slowly fading since the Cayenne was introduced. It seems like you see Porsches (Cayennes) everywhere now when sometimes you would not see one for several days. When the cars are made in China will the prices drop dramatically, or will the corporation and stockholders absorb the spread? How long can Porsche sell cars for premium prices based on their previous reputation of being handmade in Stuttgart in very small quantities? And being a marque very heavily involved and successful in all forms of motorsports at the factory level?

all in the name of PROFIT!! It has nothing whatsoever to do with quality...just making more more more PROFIT!! Made in China products are in many ways inferior....but O SO MUCH cheaper!! and that is what it is all about!...labor is getting to expensive in the western world...because the standards of living is so high...the taxes thru the roof...in the US to satify a war hungry idiot (there I go again...I meant President!) One Vietnam wasn't enough....more soldiers have to die to be able to buy foreign oil and export american oil! But it is the way of the world...every super power thru the ages..had their highs and are now at the very very lows! (Egypt, China, Rome etc) the US will be next...but not in our live times ( I hope!)

Wow- How soon we forget. Being in the military and deployed to Iraq now 3 times I will admit there are challenges but I bet besides running off your mouth you have no solutions on how to solve the growing Mideast problems. I am sad to say our Brigade lost 29 soldiers but believe me if we do not solve the problems in the Mideast of extreme Muslims wanting to destroy our Western way of life then we will ultimately end up in a much bigger war sometime in the future. By the way the fall of empires comes from when they no longer are willing to deal with the problems at hand or their society no longer cares at which point you find your enemies at your front gate. In my humble opinion the major problem with this war is that the American public has not had to pay a high enough price as the soldiers have. BLUF oil is important but this war is about allot more than oil, maybe if you have spent over 30 months of your life living and leading soldiers in Iraq you might realize this and if you want to protect the long term future of our country then you should look at ways of increasing your taxes to pay for this to reduce the long term deficit, how about a war tax of $3.00 a gallon. To everybody else sorry but it pisses me off to lose great Americans who fight and die for their country to have a fellow citizen drive his Porsche and complain.

[Image-only post; no author-written text. Original image references:] https://rennlist.com/forums/graemlins/offtopic.gif

Yes you are correct but sorry I had to vent, back on topic Porsche parts should be made in Germany. In favor of Porsche they are one of the few German companies who actually build plants in the former East and refuse to take any tax advantages offered by the German government.

Porsche parts have rarely been "all" made in Germany and certainly even more rarely actually manufactured in Zuffenhausen. Assembled yes, manufactured, no! Porsche even stopped stamping their body panels years ago and outsourced the work. Chinese (Hong Kong) manufactured electrical parts (electric motors especially) have been inside Porsches since the 1980s. One of the motivations for Porsche getting into VW (not the most important though) is that VW actually have some inhouse manufacturing/forging abilities that nobody else in Germany has. However Porsche will only use them if they (VW) can produce the parts cheaper than their current contractors. Ciao, Adrian.

Parts should be made where it is most economical to make them whilst meeting the quality and specification requirements. In some cases this will be China in others not. Some factories in China are better than those in the west. One I know of has defects at 6 parts per million in outgoing quality inspections, I was involved in setting one up and getting it to about 50 part per million. These are world class quality levels. These products were not overly complicated but that is a fairly good level. Many factories are making an effort employing overseas experts to lift their levels. The Chinese also have a great work ethic and once the quality mentality has been established the factories put out great products

My freaking car rattles so much someone asked me the other day if they were not building Porsches in Korea. Damn thing is a year old.

Rattles seems to be a recurring complaint with newer Porsches. I been looking at the a new Targa C4S but worry about the loss of structural integrity and all of that glass beginning to rattle in a year or two. What do you guys think?

My 996 is the first Porsche I have owned that doesn't rattle and creak. Ciao, Adrian.

The other issue is that just as in the USA, many of the major European manufacturers have moved their production facilities to China. Bosch, Siemens and many others. Very little of the branded stuff purchased today is actually manufactured in the company's home nation of origin. However getting back to Porsche, they have been taking advantage of this type of outsourcing/sub-contracting for decades. Ciao, Adrian.

rountreed, Thanks for your service. It's very much appreciated by most of us. Adrian, What impact do you think the relationship with VW will have on Porsche? Good or bad for sourcing, manufacturing, marketing, finances, etc?

Jim, Porsche and VW have been in bed together one way or another since Ferdinand Porsche Sr. was sent by Adolf to Wolfsberg to start the VW factory in 1938. VW was Porsche's major client throughout the 1950s and of course through the various more public partnerships of the late 1960s (914) through to the end of the 944 series in 1990/91. The partnership was rekindled for the Cayenne and again for the new 4-door sedan. VW is in a lot of trouble at the moment and is in the process of looking at massive job cuts and closing factories. One announcement in Belgium has already been made with up to 4000 job losses. What does this give to Porsche in the long term? Exactly what Ferry Porsche wanted in the first place that Porsche becomes a major player in the world of car manufacturing. Those that believe that Porsche was pure sports car manufacturer for so long was by design would be wrong. Read Ferry Porsche's memoirs/autobiographies and you will see what he really wanted. If Studebaker had not got into financial problems in the mid 1950s Porsche would never have been just a pure sports car manufacturer for so long. People in the USA and possibly Europe would have been driving around in a 4-door compact sedan powered by a water-cooled V6 engine all designed and the first two prototypes built by Porsche (Porsche type 575). they were shipped to the USA, but I have no idea what happened to them. Possibly Porsche purists found them and had them secretly crushed. Only time will tell about the benefits, but the Porsche and Pi�ch families are terrified that VW might be sold off to foreigners and saving the old family firm is their major concern at the moment. They do have to be careful that VWs financial troubles and their strong unions do not suck the profits from PAG into a bottomless pit ala Swissair purchasing Sabena and then both going bankrupt. Ciao, Adrian.

Thanks Adrian. I always enjoy your insights. The benefits of joint projects are obvious but it's not nearly as clear to me how Porsche can help VW dig out of the hole it's in. It seems from a distance that Porsche is taking a pretty big risk getting too tied to VW. I guess we'll see how it plays out. BTW, I'm all for a more diverse Porsche line up. I love Porsche engineering and would like to see it in more platforms. Jim

Jim, One assumes that the Executives and Shareholders of PAG (primarily the families) do know what they are doing. However having seen many major concerns go under in my nearly 14 years of living here because they did things like this, I have a healthy does of scepticism. It will take years for all this to pan out and it won't be until after 2011 when the German law protecting the VW Group expires, that the real full picture will emerge. The VW Group's biggest problem is that they make too many cars, which are often too expensive and are competing against each other as well as their rivals. Having the local Government and Unions as shareholders and sitting on the boards also makes for problems. Plus the old rivalry between the Porsche and Pi�ch families may well raise its ugly head again if they get total control of the VW Group. They all got fired once when Ferry sent them packing, but he is not around anymore. Ciao, Adrian.

As long as it is engineered in Germany and uses the best materials available within reason, it is fine with me built elsewhere. I think as long as the car has tons of over-engineering, it will keep its marque. I am glad the electricals are Denso products, they make probably the best components out there. I much rather have Denso electrical that is worry free than a German unit that fails, we know how German electronics are. I always make the joke that I wish Germany made the car but Toyota did all of the electrical.

DUDE, ARE YOU HIGH?