FRANKFURT, Feb 25 (Reuters) - A gas explosion at Porsche's (PSHG_p.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) Zuffenhausen plant on Monday has put a halt to its 911 sports car production for at least 48 hours.

"Assembly of the 911 model line will be idled for at least two to three days based on preliminary estimates. The daily production capacity is currently 160 units," the company said in a statement.

A spokesman for Porsche said the company expects it can recoup the lost production in the course of the year by negotiating Saturday shifts with labour leaders. The explosion in the plant's paint shop did not affect other areas of production, such as the line that assembles the engines used in all Porsches. As a result, output of Cayenne and Boxster/Cayman models in Leipzig and Finland, respectively, will not be affected.

Two employees were taken to hospital with minor injuries due to the blast, which occurred around 0400 GMT at the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) thermoplastic gelling oven in the paintshop.

"The amount of damages cannot yet be quantified," Porsche added.

The paint shop will be replaced in 2013 by a new one with daily capacity of 170 units, which is to be built at the cost of roughly 200 million euros ($296 million). (Reporting by Christiaan Hetzner; Editing by Quentin Bryar)

 

well that's not good!

 

I was debating with a friend of mine on his February build 911 TT, he said I swear it will arrive by end of april and I told him trust me its by end of May. Looks like I was correct, this might even schedule his car to be around June at least.

 

Well thank goodness no one was killed..A speedy recovery is wished for the two!! Porsche will figure out what went wrong and they will make it bigger and better.. Can't really see why this would cause any delay in production of already ordered units though..

 

that's too bad

 

I bet they were baking that damn mexicanblue color. I'm sure that's what caused it

 

Could well be. When I eat Mexican food I tend to get some explosions.

 

Porsche to start production of the 911 again on Monday Shortfall of about 800 vehicles can be made good

Stuttgart. Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, will be starting production of the 911 series again next Monday, March 3, at the main factory in Zuffenhausen. Production was stopped last Monday following a deflagration that occurred in the paint shop, in which a PVC fusion oven was badly damaged. The material damage, amounting to several hundred thousand Euros, is largely covered by insurance.

The causes of the accident have now been identified. External experts have ascertained that the gas escape was due to a technical defect. An examination of the other ovens has shown that they are in perfect working order and fully functional.

By adopting special measures, it will be possible to compensate the production backlog of 800 vehicles that arose during this week in the course of the current business year.