Porsche drops small two-seater plan

Porsche CEO Matthias Mueller, in an interview published by German site Stuttgarter Zeitung over the weekend, said offering a cheaper entry level car below the Boxster would undermine the brand and alienate its existing customers.

“Porsche lives primarily from its brand,” he said in the interview.  “The brand is the most important reason to buy a Porsche. Therefore, we must ensure that the brand remains what it is, namely highly desirable premium. “If we were to offer a car that would be positioned below the Boxster, we are talking to a completely new customer group. If we lose the established Porsche customers because of this, we would not do the brand any favours.”

Regarding reports plans for a small four-door sedan to sit below the Panamera, Mueller did not completely dismiss the suggestion, but said it could be up to six years away. “We must ask ourselves whether it would make sense right now to bring a little Panamera to the market,” Mueller said. “Not necessarily today or tomorrow... but may be developed in five to six years.” 

Porsche aims to double its global sales to 200,000 over the next six years as part of its ‘Strategy 2018’, and Mueller said a large part of that growth would come from the recently-confirmed Macan SUV that would slot in below the Cayenne. “The new Macan will make the greatest contribution (to growth),” he said. “The rest follows from the growth of markets and better market penetration, such as the expansion of the dealer network in China.”

Questioned on the Macan sharing underpinnings with the VW Group stablemate Audi Q5, Mueller said the platform and modular strategy would offer production economies, but that “the bottom line is, however, that the Macan feels like and drives like a Porsche.” He confirmed that the Macan’s engine line-up would also be sourced from the Volkswagen group, but “the top engine is, however, a Porsche engine. This is very important to us, and the drive performance should be to that effect.”