Luxury German car maker Porsche is upbeat on the India market, asserting that its growth has beaten the turnaround posted by many economies around the globe. The company — that already offers the 911, Cayenne, Boxter and Cayman models in India — launched on Thursday the Panamera sedan in the country, only five months after the car was launched globally. In a brief interview with Swaraj Baggonkar, Precision Cars India Managing Director ROD WALLACE spoke about the company’s strategy. Excerpts:
Tell us about the car in brief...
The Panamera is a four-seater Gran Turismo carrying the Porsche crest and DNA. It offers the sporting agility of the 911 and the space of the Cayenne. Porsche engineers started work on the car in 2005 and it was launched globally earlier this year. We have introduced three variants of the Panamera — S, 4S and Turbo — in the price range of Rs 1.41-2.01 crore (ex-showroom, New Delhi).
You sold 168 cars last year. Was the figure lower than what was expected by the company?
There is a difference between delivered and sold, as the build period of these cars can be anywhere between three and four months. As a practice, we do not hold large stocks of them in India. They have to be ordered directly from Germany. We have a few build slots at the Porsche facility available exclusively for the Indian market. Many of our Indian customers like to choose their own interior combination of leather and colour, so the delivery period varies.
What is the target for Panamera this year?
We are selling 50 Panameras in India this year (Porsche follows August 1-July 31 year). We have already received bookings for 13 units. However, an order was placed by us 12 months ago when the economic turmoil was at its peak. But India’s GDP has recovered so well that we are afraid we may fall short of availability of units. We may have to ask for more Panameras later. The wait may get a little bit longer than the usual 3-4 months today.
How many Porsches are you aiming to sell this year?
Our earlier target was to sell 200 units this year and we are still sticking to it. So far, we have sold 135-140 units by end of September. A chunk of the total sales come from the Cayenne (an SUV). So the next three months are pretty important for us.
How do you gauge the impact of last year’s downturn?
Our sales dropped by 23-24 per cent, which is pretty much what Porsche experienced internationally in 2008. This year, the company has already declared a production cut — to 75,000 units from 98,000 units — which was announced earlier. The demand, however, is coming back strongly now.
Are you hit by the surge in the value of the Euro?
Import costs have always been a cause of concern for us. The import legislation of this country is not very kind either (110 per cent). We had taken a decision of dealing in dollars than in euros. But, yes, it has hit us badly. However, we have absorbed the impact so far.
Which cities are on your expansion list?
We have two outlets currently, in New Delhi and Mumbai. We will be having centres in Hyderabad, Kochi, Bangalore and Chennai in the south and Ludhiana and Ahmedabad. Our target is to have centres in six cities by 2010.
