Production of the Porsche 356 began in Stuttgart 75 years ago. The first car of the new series was completed in Zuffenhausen on 6 April 1950. A success story began with series production of the Porsche 356. Since then, the site has been inextricably linked with the brand’s sports cars: the 911, which has been in series production there since 1964, the 718 model line and the all-electric Taycan.
“Zuffenhausen is and remains the home of our sports cars. It embodies pioneering spirit, state-of-the-art production technology and manufacturing quality,” says Albrecht Reimold, Member of the Executive Board for Production and Logistics at Porsche AG. “The development of the location shows how Porsche has transformed itself from a small sports car maker into a world-leading company that produces exclusive vehicles.”
The path to in-house production
Porsche got its start in Zuffenhausen in 1938, initially as a construction office. The company’s own car production under the brand name Porsche only began after the Second World War. On 8 June 1948, the Porsche 356 ‘No.1’ Roadster received its general operating permit. The first 52 units of the rear-engine 356 with rear emergency seats were built by hand with aluminium bodies in Austria between 1948 and 1950 and served as a model for the later 356 from Stuttgart.
After returning to Swabia, Porsche’s own plant was occupied by the Allies. While the actual construction office was located in a barrack on Schwieberdinger Strasse, Porsche rented space in the Reutter Plant II across the street for engine production and assembly. In return, the coachbuilder was commissioned to build the finished, painted and fully equipped bodies, which were produced at Reutter Plant I in Augustenstrasse in the west of Stuttgart until 1953.
The first Porsche 356 was completed in Zuffenhausen on 6 April 1950. By the end of 1950, Porsche had built 317 cars. Due to the early successes in races and the enormous demand in export markets, the 356 quickly turned into a huge success for the brand. As the handover of Werk 1 was delayed by the US military administration, Porsche commissioned the renowned Stuttgart architect Rolf Gutbrod to design Werk 2. This assembly hall, built on a site sold to Porsche by Reutter, went into operation in 1952 and was already being expanded by 1954.
In late 1955, Porsche also returned to its own building at Werk 1 in Zuffenhausen. The buildings would house the design department, the commercial staff, the repair workshop for company and customer cars as well as the test and development department for race cars. Production, sales and spare parts supply remained at Werk 2. Engine construction began in Werk 3 in 1960, and on 1 December 1963 Porsche acquired the Reutter body shop and its comprehensive know-how with around 1000 employees – almost doubling the workforce. And with that, Porsche also secured the Zuffenhausen site. That same year, the first 911, then still known as the 901, rolled off the production line in Zuffenhausen. By the end of production in 1965, the sports car manufacturer had produced some 78,000 units of the 356. In the decades that followed, Porsche continuously expanded and modernised its spatial capacities.
As early as the 1950s, Porsche in Zuffenhausen practised a production principle that still applies today: flexible production of various variants on a shared line. The Coupé, Cabriolet, Roadster and Speedster variants of the Porsche 356 were all manufactured in parallel and individually finished. This principle of having a range of variants combined with high efficiency and quality has remained a hallmark of production at the headquarters. Even today, it is characteristic of the site that all 911 models and variants – from the Carrera to the top GT models and Cup cars – are manufactured on a single production line. The elaborate interior equipment is produced in the factory’s saddlery.
Growth and expansion
In the 1960s, the 911 successfully supplanted the 356. Production was expanded and new production buildings were built. Engine construction was outsourced, and Werk 2, which was being continuously expanded anyway, was given an additional hall. Building 41 was built as a multistorey production building for final assembly in 1969. Porsche optimised its production flow and increased capacities.
In 1973, around 4000 employees worked at Porsche, and by the end of the 1980s more than twice that number were employed across the three sites: Production in Zuffenhausen, the Research and Development centre in Weissach and offices in Ludwigsburg. Over the next few decades, the Zuffenhausen site gradually grew thanks to the increasing production figures. In the 1970s and 1980s, front-engine models such as the 928, 944 and 968 were manufactured at the site, alongside the 911.
In the 1980s, body production in Zuffenhausen once again reached the limits of its capacity. The growing demand for sports cars required an expansion of the production facilities. Werk 5 was built in 1988, designed for highly flexible body production. One visible symbol of the new production logic was the conveyor bridge, which from then on would carry the manufactured car bodies over busy Schwieberdinger Strasse at a height of around 35 metres – directly to the final assembly line at Werk 2 across the way.
Over the decades, the Zuffenhausen site has been continuously modernised through a series of conversions, expansions and new builds. In the process, Porsche consistently met the increasing demands for precision, efficiency and flexibility with creativity and innovativeness.
Another significant change in the history of the plant was the preparation for the start of production of the all-electric Taycan, which went into series production in 2019. As part of this transformation, Porsche created new production areas: a new body shop was built in Werk 5, while a modern paint shop was installed in Werk 1 – all tailored to the specific requirements of e-mobility. At the same time, a modern assembly building with a modular linear structure was built at Werk 2, facing Adestrasse. A second conveyor bridge was built over Schwieberdinger Strasse to efficiently link the new production logistics setup.
Where Porsche combines high-tech and craftsmanship
Zuffenhausen is a symbol of precision, innovation and exquisite craftsmanship. The place where Porsche combines tradition with state-of-the-art production technology: driverless transport systems, a central factory cloud and the use of artificial intelligence – to name but a few innovations used in the production of the “Made in Zuffenhausen” sports cars. The production centre for the 911 and the all-electric Taycan is located at the Zuffenhausen site. In addition, on the overall area of around one square kilometre in the north of Stuttgart, the boxer engines for the sports cars and the V8 engines for the four-door combustion engine models and the electric motors for the Taycan and Macan Electric are produced in two engine factories.
In addition, the site houses a total of three manufacturers: Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur, where customer cars are extensively customised, the Sonderwunsch department, where unique cars are created, and CFRP Manufaktur, where the exterior body parts are manually assembled off the regular production line for sports car models with a special lightweight design, such as the 911 S/T and the 911 GT3 RS.
Alongside Zuffenhausen and Weissach, Leipzig also plays a key role in the world of Porsche. The Cayenne initially rolled off the production line there from 2002 to 2016, joined by the Carrera GT from 2003 to 2006. The Panamera sports sedan has been built there since 2009, as well as the Macan since 2014, for the production of which Porsche expanded the Leipzig site into a full plant between 2011 to 2014.
An anniversary that looks to the future
At its Zuffenhausen site, Porsche combines the benefits of industrial series production with the exclusivity of unique manufactured sports car products. “Zuffenhausen is and remains the home of our sports cars. This is where we produce cars that fascinate the world – with a production that has been combining craftsmanship and engineering skills for 75 years,” stresses Reimold. With this anniversary, Porsche is not only celebrating its impressive past, but is also looking towards the future: The Zuffenhausen site, like its counterpart in Weissach and the full plant in Leipzig, stands for groundbreaking technologies, manufacturing quality and Porsche’s abiding aspiration to come ever closer to the perfect sports car.
