“In the next five years, Porsche will invest 15 billion euros in electrified travel, digital transformation and sustainable development.” A few days ago, Porsche Global Executive Board Chairman Obomo said in an interview with a reporter from the Daily Economic News.
As the helm of Porsche, Obomo believes that the epidemic has had a huge impact on all car companies, but every crisis also brings opportunities. After the epidemic, Obomo often asked himself the question: What will Porsche need to do in the future?
“Because many brands are reducing budgets and reducing new product development and investment. But we believe that investment should be insisted on after the epidemic.” Obomo believes that investment is very important for Porsche. Behind the huge investment, Obomo hopes to transform Porsche from a traditional automobile company into a sustainable technology group.
“In-depth study of cost structure, continuous improvement of our strategy, process and products, and more importantly, increase the proportion of digital technology used in the car models.” Obermu revealed that these content will be required to promote Porsche in the transformation process Initiative.
About half of new cars will be electrified in 2025
“The ‘three-pronged’ strategy gives us more flexibility to respond to the development needs of different markets at different stages. But we are convinced that the future must belong to electric mobility.” Obomo said.
It is understood that Porsche’s “three-pronged” product strategy is: first, continue to optimize internal combustion engine technology; second, develop hybrid models; third, develop pure electric sports cars.
According to Obomo, Porsche’s goal is to create pure sports cars for its market segments. In the process, Porsche will adhere to a “three-pronged” product strategy and will also pay more attention to electrification.
“By 2025, Porsche’s goal is that about half of new cars will have electric drive systems, including Panamera plug-in hybrid and Taycan pure electric models.” Obomo said.
A few days ago, based on the “three-pronged” product strategy, Porsche launched the new Panamera, a total of 9 new models, the official price range of 973,000 to 2.458 million. It is understood that the new Panamera provides fuel and plug-in hybrid power models, which is also the third plug-in hybrid model launched by Porsche.
It is worth noting that the new Panamera listed this time is a facelifted model. Prior to this, China has always been an important market for Panamera. In particular, the sales of the second-generation Panamera in China have increased by more than 80% compared with the first-generation.
Obermu said that the new Panamera launched by Porsche this time focused on the needs of the Chinese market. Specifically, some models of the new Panamera have further improved in terms of power, such as the Panamera Turbo S equipped with a V8 engine; at the same time, the new Panamera puts more emphasis on comfort; the new Panamera also introduced long-wheelbase models. Obermo believes that these improvements are catering to the needs of customers in the Chinese market.
At the level of pure electric models, Porsche has launched the first pure electric sports car Taycan, and will continue to expand Taycan’s product line in the future. It is understood that Porsche’s pure electric model Taycan Cross Turismo is scheduled to be launched in the first quarter of next year. In addition, Macan also plans to launch a pure electric version of the model.
15 billion euros invested in new technologies
In order to accelerate the transformation and maintain competitiveness in the future, Porsche has decided to invest 15 billion euros in new technologies in the next five years.
“Investment in future technology is the key to the survival of the company in the future. Past experience tells us that only by insisting on investment in products and research and development can we maintain a strong brand.” Obermu said that while ensuring the long-term development of the brand, Porsche, Will insist on combining tradition with new technologies that look forward to the future.
It is worth noting that for Porsche, the future large investment will be a huge challenge to maintain a high level of profitability. Obomo also said that Porsche needs to strike a balance between investment and income.
In Obermu’s view, strict cost structure optimization and control can achieve a good level of profitability, which allows Porsche to have better liquidity at the capital level, and can guarantee investment in new products and research and development.
In fact, in the first half of the year affected by the epidemic, Porsche insisted on cost control and accelerated product launches to ensure profits. It is understood that Porsche’s sales profit in the first half of the year was approximately 1.23 billion euros, making it the only car manufacturer in Europe that created high profits in the first half of this year.
At the same time, Obermu emphasized that the Chinese market has made a huge contribution to Porsche’s first-half performance. According to Porsche’s official data, in the first half of 2020, Porsche delivered approximately 117,000 new cars worldwide, of which 39,000 were delivered in the Chinese market. The Chinese market is still Porsche’s largest single market in the world.
In the face of Porsche’s future transformation, Obermo believes that the Chinese market will also play an important role. “China is the country with the highest utilization rate of digital equipment, and digital services are very advanced. Porsche will work closely with Porsche China and the digital team to further enhance the interconnectivity and digital functions of products.” Obomo said.