Early Boxsters built in Stuttgart

[El Patrick]

Are the early 986 Boxsters that were built in Stuttgart rare by any means? To my understanding, only the very early 1997 Boxsters were built in Stuttgart and all Boxsters after that have been built in Finland by another company that contracts through Porsche. So I'm assuming there's a very small number of the "Stuttgart Boxster's", but are they considered rare?

:renntech:

[rsfeller]

Are the early 986 Boxsters that were built in Stuttgart rare by any means? To my understanding, only the very early 1997 Boxsters were built in Stuttgart and all Boxsters after that have been built in Finland by another company that contracts through Porsche. So I'm assuming there's a very small number of the "Stuttgart Boxster's", but are they considered rare?

:renntech:

We'll the answer is in your question, I believe and I'm sure I'll be corrected by the historians.

But the way I understand the story (and I just reviewed the Motorbooks Porsche Boxster by John Lamm...the story seems to be that they are just building them in parallel to the German plant, not replacing that. Maybe that has changed more recently. That Finish plant when online in May of 1997. I guess the concept of rarity would be based on how many at each facility is being built. Since the German plan was building almost a year before Finland...there could be more built during those 986 years.

You seemed to be concerned with rarity or value which there appears to be no concern at this time. Of course we know the purists out there who prefer the German built for no good reason other then it's "german built". Even knowing my 1997 is is German I would take no offense to the ones built in the old Saab convertible plan, as I have three Saabs in my stable!

I am sure in the long run there may be value in product A over product B.

[Loren]

From Scouser's VIN Decoder:

"Assembly Plant Location:

The 11th character position in the VIN and the 2nd in the VIS is used to specify the Assembly Plant Location where the vehicle was built. Note that the component parts of the vehicle may have been manufactured and/or sourced from other locations. This VIN character position only specifies where the components of the vehicle were assembled into a completed vehicle.

Porsche has several manufacturing plants and the characters used for the Assembly Plant Locations are defined as follows:

L = Leipzig

S = Stuttgart

N = Neckarsulm

U = Uusikaupunki (Finland)"

[dedes]

I am curious.....

Does anyone know how many early 1997 Stuttgart Boxster's were built? Is there a place that I can find my production number on my Boxster?

My Boxster was built in Stuttgart in 1997, sold in 1998. S= Stuttgart

I understand the Stuttgart plant closed around June or some where around that time. Where can I find more information or the history of the 1997 Boxster production.

Edited November 20, 2008 by dedes

[whall]

At the risk of muddying the waters somewhat, I know a fellow who has a MY04 base Boxster that was built in Stuttgart. I helped him research the car - offered by a used car "wheeler dealer" - and noticed the "S" in the VIN. Concerned about the possibility of a counterfeit VIN or other illegality, I ran the number by the local Porsche dealer. The dealer gave a thumbs up on the VIN stating that there had been some Boxsters manufactured in Stuttgart later in the production run.

I guess the real proof of the pudding would be for the friend to purchase a "birth certificate" from Porsche.

Bill

Edited November 20, 2008 by whall

[El Patrick]

Oh, cool. I didn't know that Porsche continued to build Boxsters in Stuttgart while also sub-contracting out to the Finland plant. I thought all production of Boxsters were contracted to them. I was just curious more so than conserned because I too would not care where the vehicle was built. I just thought that maybe the 1997 Stuttgart Boxster's were rare since I thought their German production was eliminated shortly after the early MY97's.

Edited November 20, 2008 by El Patrick

[RFM]

Boxsters build in Stuttgart are for the home market and/or on demand customer. Like the situation is today, there are rumors to retract the Boxster production from Finland and bring them back to Germany.

[ofishbein]

I remember reading somewhere that the ones built in Finland (vast majority of them) have better build quality than the ones from Germany. I bought my 2001S from a dealer that wasn't familiar with Porsches and I used the "U" in the VIN to bluff him into thinking it wasn't as desirable and talked the price down a bit more.

[aron in toronto]

I believe all 97 Boxsters were built in Stuttgart. Beginning with the 98 model year Porsche farmed out most of Boxster production to Velmet in Finland due to the high demand, and possibly the coming production of the new 996. I've heard approximately 10% of Boxster production remains at the Stuttgart factory to keep workers up to date with their assembly process and possibly to supply the local German market that may prefer "Made in Germany".

Production at Velmet will end in 2010 and be moved to the Austrian division of Magna Steyr who also (from wikipedia) builds BMW’s X3, Mercedes-Benz G-Class, Saab 9-3 convertible, Chrysler’s diesel and right-hand drive 300 and 300C as well as Jeep’s Grand Cherokee and Commander. Last year, the company was also in the running to get the four-door Aston Martin Rapide.

As for the quality if the Finland vs German built cars, I haven't heard that there is any real difference, but I would assume, since Velmet is builds the vast majority of them that they would be better at it buy now. I have heard that there are tighter enviromental restrictions in Germany and as a result the paint on used on the German built cars is softer and is more easily damaged. I have no proof if this but I can say that the paint on my Stuttgart built 97 is not as durable as that on my Volvo or Mercedes.

[m60kaf]

Mines a 99 Stuttgart - and I have to say I'm not that impressed with the paint

[grover]

My 04 Boxster S was built in Stuttgart. The paint does seem a bit thin, but I hate no real point for comparison.

[ekam]

My 04 is Stuttgart built. Yay.

[tnoice]

I just looked and my 2004 S was built in Stuttgart. Does that mean that it may be immune to motor issues? :D

[boxster_micke]

My Boxster S -01 is also built in Stuttgart.

[kedf1]

anyone know production volume of the MY97? and subsequent years?

[borgein]

My 98 Euro spec is built in Stuttgart aswell, and the paint looks like new.

Edited January 27, 2009 by borgein

[dynodon]

MY 2000 S is a Stuttgart car. Was ordered in America for German Delivery. Previous owner used it on vacation and then had it shipped to the states.

Build quality and paint is excellent.

Don

Edited January 30, 2009 by dynodon