“For Porsche, acceleration is not everything. Five elements count for us: timeless design, performance, quality, travel experience and driving experience ”, summarizes Oliver Blume, CEO of the German premium manufacturer and Volkswagen Group safe. Naming Tesla, who just broke the electric record from the Taycan on the Nürburgring with the Model S, is not a taboo and the number one salesman, Detlev von Platen adds with a smile: “Acceleration is not everything. Anyway, that record won’t last long, I assure you “. “Anyone who drives a Tesla or a Porsche will notice the difference”, he then urges.
The leaders of the Stuttgart-based company are in Italy for the inauguration ceremony of the new Porsche Experience Center (PEC), built in 18 months in Franciaorta with an investment of 28 million euros. The rings of the new Bolshoj of national motorsport illuminated by a wedge of the moon are the stage for the dance of various models, which parade, rumble and “embroider” soft serpentines on the asphalt, as well as perform in off-road vehicles descending from the surrounding hills. A choreography performed by a group of pilots to which Mark Webber also pays tribute. Blume and von Platen applaud and congratulate the Italian team of Pietro Innocenti, CEO of Porsche Italy.
In the future of Porsche there are competitions, Formula E included despite the farewell of two German manufacturers (Audi and BMW) and that announced by Mercedes (at the end of the eighth season), there are e-fuels, there is neutrality carbon dioxide and there are problems with the shortage of microprocessors.
“The pandemic – says Blume – has prevented Formula E from reaching city centers, the element that characterizes this championship. For the moment we will stay and see how it develops: it is still a young show ”. The motorsport strategy responds to the logic of the market, because Porsche wants to reach even more young people. For this reason, championships are still planned for cars that are equipped with conventional engines, powered by synthetic fuels, which will be accompanied by competitions with electric cars. “Porsche is the brand that makes dreams come true and with the Mission R we let you imagine what the motorsport of the future will be like. As has always happened up to now, what we are presenting is destined to arrive ”, specifies the CEO. “The PEC of Franciacorta is a dream that comes true”, he will say on the occasion of the ribbon cutting.
The e-fuels, for which Porsche has started a project in Patagonia together with Siemens and which also involves Enel, are used to contribute to the Paris climate objectives: “The tests are very positive – explains Blume – and they say that the CO2 is reduced by up to 90% “. These fuels will end up not only in racing car tanks, but also in the 911 fleet, 80% of which is still in service.
“Decarbonisation is the great demand coming from this generation – insists the CEO – and Porsche is also determined to do its part. By 2030 we want to achieve carbon neutrality by avoiding offsets as much as possible. It is not for nothing that we will invest more than a billion over the next five years in the field of sustainable energy. We will also train our staff and work on the battery cells, which are the new combustion chambers ”.
Blume urges governments to intervene above all to speed up the creation of the necessary charging infrastructure and anticipates the intention to “follow” Tesla: “We are working on a project for our own network for which they already have an analysis on where we need to intervene, but in the meantime with Ionity we have pushed to invest even more “.
Unfortunately for motorists, the car – not just Porsche – is destined to become an increasingly exclusive commodity. “As a result of technological interventions to reduce emissions and adapt them to the new parameters – explains von Platen – the prices of cars with conventional engines will increase and those of electric cars will not go down. What will happen, however, is that the price lists of electric cars will eventually align with those of the others and even be lower “. In the meantime, due to the shortage of semiconductors which will continue into 2022 and which will affect the balance sheets (in the first half of the year Porsche recorded volumes up 31%, more than it had sold a year ago, so much so that we can expect a new record year) , Blume does not struggle to predict “long waiting times for customers”.
