As noted in yesterday's post, it is always interesting to see how a company with a good reputation handles an anomaly. And when that situation involves not one, but two cars going up in flames when they're all-new products, you better believe the automaker is going to act fast.
According to a note issued to an owner, which was posted to a popular Porsche forum — RennList — all Porsche 911 (991) GT3's will be having their engines completely replaced. Considering nearly 800 vehicles have been built, this is not exactly an easy undertaking.
Current owners will be connecting with their dealers to figure out when they will get shop time and compensation. Of course, there's no time horizon on how long it will take to address all of the vehicles. And as one forum user pointed out, how will this need for all these new engines impact production?
It's one helluva problem but at least you have to admit that Porsche did the right thing to the best of its ability.
That said, check out the details of the note below.
Porsche's letter to owners follows:
"Dear _____________
[Title] [Last_Name]:
As advised previously, engineers at Porsche AG have been conducting technical analysis of the Porsche 911 GT3 engine in order to find a solution to the problem which led us to recommend you stop driving your car.
This analysis is now completed, and we would like to inform you about the cause of the problem and the planned remedial actions.
As already communicated, two vehicles in Europe suffered engine damage, causing the vehicles to catch fire.
Analysis has revealed that in both cases the engine damage was caused by a loosened piston rod screw connection which damaged the crankcase. In order to avoid this in the future, an optimized screw connection is currently being tested. For the final validation of this solution, Porsche AG is currently carrying out extensive tests.
At Porsche we are rigorous when implementing an engineering solution, therefore, after the successful testing and validation we will be installing new engines with optimized piston rod screw connections in all 2014 Porsche 911 GT3 vehicles.
Due to the complexity of the necessary arrangement, we are currently unable to provide you with a specific workshop date for your Porsche 911 GT3. We will be arranging an appointment with you individually, as soon as the logistics planning is finalized. We will be providing you with additional information within the next three weeks.
We continue to remain committed to supporting your individual needs during this time.
Your personal contact person will make contact with you within the next days to discuss individual solutions to bridge the gap until you are reunited with your Porsche 911 GT3.
Thank you very much for your patience and your loyalty to the Porsche brand.
Kind regards,
Tim Quinn
Vice President, AfterSales
Porsche Cars North America, Inc."
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