Porsche country codes
Porsche makes cars for countries all over the world and each market has its own specific requirements, so a Porsche made for the USA will be slightly different to one sold in the UK; for instance, in terms of lights and numberplate mountings.
When buying a Porsche, it’s useful to know what country it was originally sold into, and this is done by checking the Porsche country code, which is the first number on the list of option codes (found under the front bonnet and in the service book on most models up to the mid-2000s).
For instance, Porsches sold in the UK have the code C16. If you find a Porsche for sale in the UK with another code, it’s not necessarily a problem, but you do need to investigate further to find out why. For instance, in the 1990s, it was common for people in the UK to order brand-new Porsches in other markets (Cyrus – C98 was a popular one) because they could buy the cars cheaper that way and they were, to all intents and purposes, identical to UK market ones.
Here is a complete list of Porsche country codes:
C00 Germany
C02 Rest of USA (in 1991 became all of USA)
C03 California
C04 Puerto Rico
C05 France
C06 French colonies
C07 Italy
C08 Japan (LHD)
C09 Sweden
C10 Switzerland
C11 Austria
C12 Denmark
C13 Finland
C14 Taiwan
C15 Hong Kong
C16 UK
C17 British service personnel stationed in Germany
C18 Japan (RHD)
C19 Luxembourg
C20 Holland
C21 Norway
C22 Belgium
C23 Australia
C24 New Zealand
C26 South Africa
C27 Spain
C28 Greece
C31 Saudi Arabia
C32 Arab Gulf States
C36 Canada
C45 Singapore
C69 France (pre-1986)
C72 Switzerland (pre-1986)
C98 non-specific RHD production (Cyprus etc)
C99 Special
