Circular economy: How Porsche reconditions defective vehicle components

With a ‘cross-departmental pilot project’, Porsche wants to further expand its existing processes in the area of remanufacturing defective components from Porsche vehicles and thus also make a contribution to sustainability. By refurbishing defective components into functional ‘as-good-as-new’ spare parts, the aim is to help conserve resources during the product life cycle.

Remanufacturing is to be integrated into Porsche's development processes for vehicle projects in order to take specific requirements for the reusability of selected components into account as early as the product development process. In this way, Porsche aims not only to promote closed-loop concepts along the value chain of its vehicles, but also to contribute to the resource-conserving use of spare parts.

Reconditioning of components implemented in previous and current vehicle projects

Selected defective components from various vehicle model series are already being given a second life through targeted remanufacturing. Around 20 component groups are currently being remanufactured - including gearboxes, navigation computers, starters and alternators, for example. The following applies: the remanufactured component must meet the same quality and safety standards as a comparable new part. 

‘Remanufacturing of components is an important future field for Porsche,’ says Albrecht Reimold, Member of the Executive Board for Production and Logistics. ‘On the one hand, to fulfil our responsibility to the environment and our aspiration to conserve resources. But also to offer our numerous customers with classic and vintage vehicles good spare parts availability in the long term. We want to further increase the proportion of components suitable for remanufacturing in the future,’ explains Reimold, who is also the sustainability mentor on the Management Board.

Defective components for which a reconditioning process exists are specifically requested by dealers worldwide and stored centrally in Porsche's own spare parts warehouse in Sachsenheim. From there, the parts are transferred to specialised reconditioning plants - often the original manufacturers of the components - where they undergo careful cleaning, disassembly and comprehensive testing. Individual parts that can no longer be used are replaced with new parts, while fully functional parts are reused. After professional reassembly, the reconditioned components undergo the same quality and safety tests as newly produced spare parts. They are then offered back to Porsche dealers.

Proactive remanufacturing is to become an integral part of vehicle development

Porsche is continuously working on increasing the proportion of vehicle components suitable for remanufacturing. Further component groups with significant potential for a remanufacturing process have now been identified. These include components such as headlights, electric drives for rear spoilers or charging flaps and other electronic control units.

Based on the successful examples to date, Porsche is now pursuing the goal of firmly integrating the reconditioning of components into the development processes of its vehicles. The plan is to integrate remanufacturing capability as a permanent addition to vehicle development in the medium term. In addition, remanufactured parts are to be made available to Porsche dealers at an even earlier stage of the vehicle life cycle.

With this approach, Porsche aims not only to extend the service life of its vehicles and the components they contain, but also to contribute to reducing the environmental impact throughout the vehicle life cycle - from raw material extraction to the end of life. Initial calculation forecasts show that the remanufacturing of used components can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to half compared to the production of new parts. In addition, material savings of up to 80 per cent can be achieved compared to a comparable new part.