Re: will Porsche still be Porsche in next 10 years
Quote:
MMD said:
Wow. Interesting. Thanks for the clues Jim.I certainly want Porsche to succeed. Thanks for helping me figure out what's going on; it helps my amateur hobbyist speculation(
).
I found some further information - sort of indirect - about Porsche's move into the SUV's and the Panamera. I found it in the May 2007 issue of "Excellence, the magazine about Porsche." In an interview with Roger Penske, on page 95, the Excellence interviewer asks Penske what he thought of the impact of the Cayenne and the Panamera (Penske's United Auto Group owns four Porsche dealers in the United Kingdom and five in the United States) on Porsche's brand identity.
Here's Penske's response (direct quote in quotation marks), which may include a bit of hype but which generally reflects the desire of Porsche dealers to be relatively less dependent on the swings in sales that occur with the 911's, Boxster's, and Cayman's: "As a dealer, the Cayenne has been like adding another franchise - it's doubled our business. It's given us access to a segment which has just been terrific and I think the new 2007 model updates are right on. And the performance of the Turbo is just breathtaking. My wife drives one, my daughter has one. To me, it's been a great vehicle. From a dealer's perspective, it's been a home run. It's been a great asset to the bottom line."
"Looking at the Panamera coming in, accessing a new group of customers, I think Porsche will set a standard from a standpoint of performance. There is a terrific amount of people out there who want to have a Porsche badge on their car and are also willing to pay a premium price for a vehicle like Porsche. Both of these vehicles are right on track. We've experienced Cayenne and it's been excellent. With the Panamera, we're hoping to see the same increase in unit sales at the dealership level while bringing an additional customer to the Porsche family." End of quote
IMHO, dealers like Penske have a big impact on Porsche's thinking and it's willingness to use "the badge" and the accompanying engineering to produce cars that appeal to others. Sales of other lines of cars also help Porsche stay profitable during times when sports car sales fall drastically. This latter event has happened a number of times in the past and put Porsche in a precarious financial position. I think that's Porsche's reason for diversifying it's line of models.
Jim
