Building a Porsche 911 GT3 Is as Complex as You Imagined

A new video from Porsche shows the entire manufacturing process, from sheet metal to final touches.
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Modern car manufacturing is a marvel of technology, science, and logistics. The world has seen up close how relatively small changes can ripple through the entire automotive industry as supply chain issues cause massive problems, but sometimes it can be unclear how, exactly, a change in the price of one raw material can lead to production snafus an entire globe away. I find this video from Porsche, showing the entire manufacturing process of a single 911 GT3, to be quite good for visualizing just how complicated it is to make one car. 

The video in question follows that 911 GT3 over the course of two days, as it’s built in Porsche’s Zuffenhausen factory located in the eponymous German town. Cheery piano scores the car’s journey from a few pieces of stamped sheet metal to a completed car. Around 1,500 workers are involved in the process as it goes from an order number to power-sliding around a circuit.  

The 911 in question is specifically a paint-to-sample car, which adds its own logistical complexity to the whole process. Ordered by Porsche racing driver and enthusiast Leh Keen, it’s one of 24 ever ordered in Gold Bronze Metallic and the first 992 ever painted in the hue. Normally, due to physical space constraints such as paint vat storage, only 17 colors are offered; with Porsche’s paint-to-sample, they can paint cars in over a hundred hues at the Zuffenhausen factory…for a price. The factory can produce up to 20 paint-to-sample cars a day, and if you need your Porsche to be truly unique, the company offers Paint to Sample Plus. This is strictly for cars produced at this specific plant, where the automaker will spend up to 11 months formulating a new paint that meets its consistency and quality standards. 

In my opinion, the company already has one of the strongest color catalogs in automotive history, and the regular paint-to-sample program is plenty to fight back against the oppressive mundanity of what’s in vogue. I don’t see myself on a Porsche order list at any time in the near future, but just in case, make mine Violet Blue Metallic, if that’s alright?

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