Alongside models with a Boxer engine, the next 718 generation electric sports cars will roll off the traditional assembly line for two-door sports cars. All variants of the 911, the 718 Boxster, and the 718 Cayman will be built on this line. Porsche does not confirm in the press release whether the combustion models will continue to be built in parallel after the premiere of the new electric generation of the 718 (as will be the case with the electric Macan from the Leipzig plant).
Instead, it mentions the exact conversion measures: As with the Taycan, also built in Zuffenhausen, Porsche will get rid of the classic assembly line on the Flexi line for the two-door sports cars. Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) will be used instead. According to the carmaker, it will “enable an even more variable production process – this is particularly advantageous with a view to the future mixed production of vehicles with combustion engines and electric powertrains on a single line.”
The engine production centre in Zuffenhausen will also integrate the assembly of the electric motors for the electric Porsche Macan, which is due to roll off the production line at the Leipzig site from 2024.
Other modifications in the Zuffenhausen production centre have nothing to do with electromobility: there are some new assembly processes and newly set up stations for quality assurance. There are several standardised quality assurance and approval points within the production process, and a new light tunnel has also been installed.
In addition, a new logistics warehouse for the body shop has been under construction opposite the Porsche Museum since 2022. After its planned completion in 2025, high-bay warehouses over two floors will be able to supply the body shop for Taycan and sports car production with vehicle parts. A new high-bay warehouse will open in September 2023 and supply the entire assembly plant with various vehicle components.
“The reconstruction measures and extensions to sports car production at our main plant are an important milestone for the Zuffenhausen site,” says Albrecht Reimold, Member of the Executive Board for Production and Logistics at Porsche AG. “The conversion measures will enable increased efficiency, the highest quality standards, and mixed production of combustion-engine and electric sports cars. This will see us start a new chapter in sports car production in terms of the smart factory.”