Porsche Cayenne and Panamera production temporarily stops

Porsche stopped production today at its assembly plant in Leipzig, Germany, after floods in the region disrupted supplies.

The factory builds the Cayenne SUV and Panamera sedan for global markets, including the United States.

Porsche told workers on today's early shift not to come into work after floods in the Czech Republic halted supply of Cayenne bodies.

"We have a bottleneck in the supply of car bodies built in the Volkswagen plant in Bratislava, which are transported by train across the Czech Republic to our plant in Leipzig," a Porsche spokeswoman said.

Cayenne sales in the United States surged to 7,696 vehicles through May, a gain of 41 percent compared with the same five months of 2012. The Panamera's U.S. sales through May fell 35 percent to 2,284 vehicles.

The stoppage will impact final assembly of the Panamera even though there is no similar supply problem because bodies for the sedan are produced in the northern German city of Hanover.

Porsche's flexible production system allows the carmaker to offset the lost output through additional shifts at a later date, the spokeswoman said.

According to the company, the plant produces 450 vehicles a day in three shifts.

Due to high water levels, freight trains are unable to deliver Cayenne bodies-in-white manufactured in Bratislava. Pre-assembly work on Panamera models will continue at the plant, Porsche said.

The automaker will decide later if further production stoppages are necessary, the spokeswoman said.

BMW, which also has a plant in Leipzig, is not facing any production disruption from the floods, said company spokesman Frank Wienstroth.

Residents in the eastern German cities of Dresden, Halle and Meissen were bolstering their defenses against the torrents of water still surging from the Vltava, Mulde and Saale rivers into the Elbe.

About 5,600 German soldiers are working in the flood areas, which also affected the southern German state of Bavaria, Austria as well as the Czech Republic.

Sourced from Automotive News: Porsche stops Cayenne and Panamera production as floods hit supplies

By Automotive News Editors