Strong demand for Porsche’s first electric car, the Taycan, forces Stuttgart to take unprecedented measures. One of them is to borrow up to 400 Audi employees, who will move over two years from the Neckarsulm plant to the Porsche plant in Zuffenhausen to reinforce the production lines.
The Taycan, which has been on the market for a year now, has become a sensation for the German brand, which from the outset has received enormous attention that moved to reserves that far exceeded the production capacity of the electric sedan, reaching 40,000 units. Something that initially meant the expansion of the factory’s workforce with 500 more workers than initially planned.
According to company data, currently, the lines have managed to reach a production of 150 units per day. A figure that is still in the development phase and is not enough to meet market demand.
This is why Audi will send in reinforcements that will allow accelerating the Zuffenhausen plant’s capacity to lighten the existing waiting list.
Once the loan expires, Audi employees will return to Neckarsulm, and will also return with more accumulated experience in the production of high-performance electric cars. Some vehicles that are produced in a different format than a traditional line.
And it is that Porsche decided not to install a traditional assembly line for the Taycan. Still, the protagonists are a series of autonomous robots that transport the components from one section to another according to the needs. Audi wants to replicate a format in the manufacture of its next models, such as the new e-Tron GT, that should start manufacturing at the end of this year.
Another of the repercussions of the strong demand and the low production capacity of the Taycan is the delay of what will be its first variant. The Taycan Cross Turismo will finally be delayed for a few months, and its production will not begin until early 2021. At which point, they hope to be able to count on a more incredible speed in their production lines thanks to this reinforcement coming from their partners at Audi.