Here’s something that many buyers of the Porsche Boxster don’t realize: much of the car’s production wasn’t handled by Porsche. Instead, many of the last-generation Boxsters were built under contract to Valmet in Finland. We’re not saying that’s a bad thing, since Valmet has built many cars for many manufacturers over the years. The Fisker Karma is assembled there, as was the previous Porsche Cayman and decades of Saabs.
When the new Boxster was released, initial production was handled in Porsche’s Stuttgart factory. Now, however, demand has outstripped the line’s capacity, forcing Porsche to turn to to a long time partner (and now, family member), Volkswagen.
Volkswagen will build Boxsters for Porsche at the former Karmann plant in Osnabrück, Germany. The plant is no stranger to the Boxster model, as it previously supplied rear and side components for the new Boxster. Over the years, Osnabrück has also supplied Porsche with bodies for the 356 hardtop coupe and the 968. It also assembled Porsche 914s from 1969 through 1975, building over 115,000 examples of the “people’s Porsche.”
Moving Boxster production to Osnabrück frees the Stuttgart line up to build more 911s, while Porsche’s Leipzig factory focuses on production of Panamera, Cayenne and (soon) Macan models.
