OEM vs OE vs Genuine vs Aftermarket Parts

Customers often ask us what is the difference between Genuine Porsche, OEM, OES, OE and Aftermarket.

Car manufacturer mostly make the body, frame and major engine components; the rest are often contracted out to auto part manufacturers.

GENUINE or OE (Original Equipment): This is the exact same part that came with your car from the factory when it rolled off the production line. These parts are typically manufactured by a single or multiple companies to Porsche's speficications. These parts are sold by the dealership in the Porsche packaging and are usually the most expensive.

OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) or OES Original Equipment Supplier): These parts are produced to Porsches specification from a current or a past manufacturer/supplier of the original equipment for a particular part number for the factory made vehicle. The manufracturer sells the part in their own packaging and typically does not carry the Porsche logo or part number, sometimes the logo is ground off so that it doesn't affect their contract with Porsche. Often these parts are better priced than a genuine part. A good example are side markers for 986/996 cars. On the left you can see the Genuine Porsche or OE version as you would get from your dealership. On the right it is the Hella version. Hella is an OEM for Porsche and produces the original side marker, but as you can see the one sold under the Hella brand has the Porsche part number ground off and sold in a Hella box while the Genuine or OE produced for Porsche has the part number and comes in the factory packaging. Hella is not allowed to use the Porsche part numbers or the little triangle stamp you find on genuine parts.

Genuine Porsche Side Marker Light   Hella Porsche Side Marker Light

Hella, Beru, Bosch, Bilstein, Mahle, Mann are all Original equipment manufacturers (OEM) or Original Equipment Suppliers (OES) to Porsche.

Aftermarket parts are copies of the OEM part and aimed to be a cheaper replacement. There are some great aftermarket manufacturers that will reverse engineer the original part and actually improve the functional and like everything else in life there are also some "not so great" aftermarket parts that will fail much sooner than the OE/OEM equivalent.

We carry only known brands for "aftermarket parts" and will not carry "cheap" aftermarket products that could be a risk to your safety such as low cost aftermarket brake, suspension, engine parts or counterfeit products.

Lastly many customers ask: "Are the Porsche parts made in Germany?"
A lot of parts are still made in Germany but due to globalization, all the OEMs/OES manufacturers produce parts all over the world including China.