daveo4EV
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- David
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- Jan 28, 2019
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- Cayenne Hybrid, 911(s) GT3/Convertable
this is a great analogy - something like this is going on for Porsche with the transition to EV's - their decades old business model doesn't mesh with EV's…Made me think of trans oceanic travel industry. At first they only had ships. Then these 2 brothers invented an airplane, which seemed completely benign to the ships industry until larger passenger planes were developed and airlines started selling cross oceanic tickets - faster, cheaper (even though air travel was rather expensive compared to today). So what happened to people traveling on ships? Well, it turned into cruise industry - selling the experience, the prestige, rather than travel utility.
Perhaps that is where Porsche is heading with their ICE cars - status symbols, show/collector cars, attention magnets, emotional driving experiences. They will have to adjust their marketing though, just like ship companies had to do, nobody cares if you can get someone from Paris to new York in 7 days instead of 10 - a metric which might have had marketing value before commercial airliners. I am not sure what marketing metrics Porsche could use for their ICE lineup. Things which come to mind would be:
Then they could then market EV's as a different segment, though would have to limit the overlap between the two (so for example, remove exclusivity and customization from EVs) until the ICE car become a niche market. Maybe they could spin off the Porsche EV lineup to a new brand completely - call it ePorsche, or PORSCHe
- Limited editions, charge more money for exclusivity
- High customization for car individualization, such as PTS+
- Racing performance in some ultra-light endurance categories - weight limit combined with long distances will keep EVs out of the picture for those (at least for now). Think next generation go-karts
?
new brand for Porsche EV's…
PorschEV or FerdinandEV
they may have missed the boat by not branding their EV's under a new moniker - they are now muddled with their EV's having to fit into their ICE ladder - trim, permformance, pricing - they can't "Move" the EV's around in the ladder with out undermining the ICE pricing ladder…
the business model was premium prices for a premium performance product - competition was prevented via technical complexity that only Porsche had mastered or could tolerate - pricing was supported by no one else offering the performance at any price…with the reliability - EV's wiped that competitive advantage and pricing premium right off the map…hence the quote above…there is no barrier to entry for competitor to match Porsche on performance in the EV space…In July 2025, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume stated, “The business model that sustained us over many decades no longer is functioning today in its current form”
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