The airframe is made by Cirrus. The airframe halves are molded in Grand Forks and are trucked to Duluth for bonding and curing using heat-in-place fixtures.
The wing is also assembled in Duluth, with a Kuka drilling the holes and the panels in the skin.
It is of little surprise to me that non structural parts are subcontracted , however the factory spar line won’t look much different but the quality control will be tight.
2002 is a long time ago for Europe, for a small company selling to a big company. Today, to sell to BMW, or to any similar entity, you would need an ISO9000 quality manual to be written in the blood of the quality manager
The US doesn’t have that issue, AFAIK, which enables small companies to thrive and grow a lot better.
I had the same thought about the airframe, but don’t know the answer. The fairings are made by a small company occupying a row of hangars in my area, as per the photos. I don’t know their name, they neither have nor need a sign. They’ve been making these parts since at least 2006, when I first noticed.
I remember being surprised in 2002 when visiting a company in Slovenia that made OEM carbon fiber parts for BMW cars. That was a long time ago…
Cirrus must be subcontracting these parts to some small firm. I wonder who makes the airframe?
Just in case any might think Cirruses are made from ultra sanitized fairy dust by white coated technicians
A friend’s place is nearby, and I snapped the photos when leaving. I was helping him today and it was about 37 C in the shade – I think on a day like today I’d rather have been making Cirrus wheel fairings than struggling with his plane