Having a Porsche made outside of Stuttgart is as much a tradition as the left-handed LeMans ignition.
Porsches over the years have been produced by Karmann, VW, AUDI, Skoda, Tatra, and numerous other sub-assembly contractors. They have been produced in Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and now Finland.
Saab NEVER assembled or produced ANY Porsches. Assembly in Finland was performed by Valmet Automotive, Inc. in their Uusikaupunki Plant. Valmet Automotive, Inc. was established in 1968 as a joint venture between Swedish Saab-Scania and Valmet, a long-standing Finish paper and plywood manufacturer. It was named Saab-Valmet. In 1992, long before contracting with Porsche, Valmet acquired Saab's interest and the company went solo. After another merger in 1999 with Rauma Oy, the company came under the ownership of the Metso Corporation, the resulting parent in the merger.
Valmet has been a quality assembler of cars for many years and produced the Saab 95, 96, 99, 90, 9000, 900, 900-93 convertible, the Chrysler Talbot, Opel Calibra, Euro-Samara and of course the Boxster and Cayman. In their 40 year history, the have produced more than 1 million cars with the 1 millionth being a 2005 Porsche Boxster. They employ 789 people, primarily in their Uusikaupunki location, Metso Corp. operates in 50 countries and employs 27,000 people worldwide. Valmet Automotive represents about 3% of Metso employees and approx. 2% of their €6 billion in annual sales.
Of course, as most of you know, the Valmet produced cars are identified by having a U as the 11th character in the VIN sequence.
Last edited by Lil bastard; 05-02-2008 at 10:05 AM.
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