Automotive News - May 6, 2019 - Retail - 30

30 * MAY 6, 2019

MARKETING

Can an electric Porsche win over loyalists?

he Taycan isn't just a
new vehicle for Porsche.
It's a brand-new powertrain platform and a fairly radical foray into electrification for
a brand that's cherished for its
heritage.
And yet executives are adamant that the Taycan, the
brand's first full-electric vehicle
and the vanguard of a broader
push into EVs, will be as much a Porsche as
everything that came before it.
As the Taycan nears its U.S. launch this year,
the task for Porsche's marketing team is to get
customers to agree.
In an email exchange, Porsche Cars North
America marketing chief Pedro Mota, 52, addressed questions from Staff Reporter Urvaksh Karkaria about early customer interest
in the Taycan and how the automaker plans to
get loyalists accustomed to the guttural growls
of a turbocharged flat-six to accept a nearly silent Porsche. Here are edited excerpts.

Q: How do you get the quintessential
Porsche owner, the loyalist, to accept
that an electric Porsche is still a Porsche?
A: Customers come to Porsche for an exceptional drive. Whether they choose a new-generation 911 or the refreshed Macan, they
want to feel engaged behind the wheel and
have fun. The Taycan will be no different. It
will have the Porsche soul, but electrified.
The car will be exciting to drive, with a low
center of gravity, and it will corner, steer and
brake like a true sports car.
The performance will be equally impressive, with a top speed of over 155 mph, producing 0 to 60 in less than 3.5 seconds. This
performance will not be just once or twice
but repeatable and consistent.
So while change can create uncertainty,
Porsche enthusiasts should have peace of
mind that whatever the powertrain, a
Porsche will always be a Porsche. And for at
least the next decade, we will offer three powertrains: optimized combustion engines,
plug-in hybrid models and purely electric
sports cars.
What challenges are there in marketing battery EVs - with the associated
perceptions about range, etc. - to the
performance-minded Porsche customer?
We would never come to market with a new
car unless we were convinced it lives up to
the Porsche crest. I think the biggest challenge for any performance EV is range anxiety. So we are laying the groundwork for a robust charging network. Together with Electrify America and our dealer network, Porsche
Cars North America will provide a national
infrastructure for DC fast charging.

&
QA
P E D RO M O TA

The Taycan's 800-volt system means it will
be able to charge faster than any EV currently
on the market, adding 62 miles in four minutes. Taycan owners will receive three years
of unlimited 30-minute charging at Electrify
America stations included in the price of the
car. And Electrify America will have more
than 300 highway stations in 42 states and
more than 180 sites in 17 metro areas, installed or under construction by July 1, followed immediately by a second phase of expansion beginning this summer.
In addition, all 191 U.S. Porsche dealerships
will invest approximately $70 million to install DC fast chargers. Beyond that, we anticipate most customers will charge at home or
at work, so we will also offer a Porsche-designed home charging system.
What does Porsche know about how
well the consumer understands electric powertrains? What market intelligence is it building on?
We have seen unprecedented interest in the
Taycan. More than 20,000 people around the
world have raised their hands for our first fully electric sports car, without having seen or
driven the final production car. In the U.S., we

have more people registering their interest in
the Taycan than in any other pre-release program we have had. More than half of the Taycan hand-raisers have never owned a
Porsche.
For us, this not only reveals consumers' appetite for premium electric vehicles, but also
indicates the market is ready to embrace
e-mobility.
How does a lifestyle-oriented brand
market a different kind of lifestyle -
one that involves plugging in?
The Taycan is by no means a different lifestyle. It is completely consistent with the core
of our brand: intelligent performance.
Porsche is defined by sets of principles that
include tradition and innovation, performance and everyday usability, design and
functionality. The Taycan fits squarely in
those fields.
The Taycan is the start of a new powertrain
at Porsche for the sports car of the future. But
what does not change is that we will offer a
superb product and an equally superb experience.
As far as plugging in goes, our hope and expectation is that the network we are creating

with Electrify America, our Porsche dealers
and home charging means nobody will have
to change their lifestyle. Instead, as a Taycan
customer, you will soon have a wealth of
charging options - with your garage serving
as the closest "gas station" right outside your
door.
The easiest way to sell customers on a
modern EV is to allow them to drive it
and experience the instant torque and
regenerative braking. What's the plan
to get people in the seat of a Taycan
and future electric offerings?
Our U.S. dealer partners will be the first line
of immersion for curious customers. But the
value of the physical connection, especially
in a digital world, is also why we invested
$160 million in two U.S. Experience Centers,
in Atlanta and Los Angeles. Both centers
serve as track-based brand embassies where
the public can indulge in everything Porsche.
Offering 90-minute drive experiences with
a driving coach as co-pilot, the Porsche Experience Centers are the perfect setting to experience our product offering. And we anticipate the Taycan in due time will be part of
that offering. a

A Porsche is a Porsche, says Mota, including its first full EV, the Taycan.

Automotive News - May 6, 2019 - Retail

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive News - May 6, 2019 - Retail