In mid-July this year, German sports car maker Porsche appointed Rod Wallace as managing director of its wholly-owned Indian subsidiary, Porsche Cars India. The company, named after its founder Ferdinand Porsche, makes cars for “successful people from every walk of life”.
The Porsche range starts from Rs 45 lakh. Two hundred people bought Porsche cars this year, up from last year’s 100. Wallace spoke to Leslie D'monte.
How are you positioning the brand ‘Porsche’ in India?
In keeping with our worldwide strategy, we target successful people from every walk of life since the Porsche car is known for its individuality. It does compete with the likes of the Ferrari too, but we would like to see it as a sports car you can drive everyday. We want our customers to be our best advertisement. This is the main reason why we choose our partners (dealers) with utmost care.
How many brands does Porsche have?
The Porsche range includes Boxster S, Cayman S, 911 Carrera (8 variants), 911 Turbo, 911 GT3/RS and the 911 GT2 in the sports car segment. The Porsche SUV range includes Cayenne, Cayenne S, Cayenne GTS, Cayenne Turbo and Cayenne Turbo S.
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The entire Porsche range is available on order, apart from Boxster and Cayman since their engine size is less than 3 litres.
But SUVs are under the government scanner for higher fuel consumption and emission...
Every new model we introduce improves on power efficiency and increases the fuel consumption ratio, besides reducing toxic emissions. This strategy is fundamental to Porsche. The Cayenne models, for instance, comply with the stringent EURO 4 emissions standard.
What about the Panamera being launched next year?
The new car is a premium class sports coupé with four seats and four doors and will be powered by various engine derivatives. The name is derived from the legendary Carrera Pan-American long-distance race and is scheduled to enter the market in late-2009.
Porsche’s total investment in the new model series, including development, will be more than ¤1 billion. Expected sales worldwide are at least 20,000 a year.
What about the Porsche designer line-up?
We have a whole line of designer clothing like suits, shoes, caps, pens and diaries, toys, prams, golfing accessories and other accessories likes belts and jewellery, besides model cars and luggage goods that are sold under the Porsche Design banner.
The Porsche centre New Delhi and Porsche centre Mumbai carry a very small range but all items can be ordered through the showrooms.