Car Blog

New Campaign will Rely Heavily on Owners’ Everyday Stories

For the first time, Porsche is challenging many Americans’ perception of Porsche sports cars — and in particular the 911 — in a new campaign launching today. The “Engineered for Magic. Everyday” campaign, via agency Cramer-Krasselt/Chicago, seeks to show the many dimensions of the iconic Porsche 911 and the brand’s other storied sports cars through the lens of daily driving.

“The magic of Porsche is how thoroughly the cars transform your everyday, routine driving,” said David Pryor, vice president of marketing, Porsche Cars North America. “It’s not only about the weekend joyride. It’s the only car in the world that combines true sports car exhilaration and the drivability for daily use. This campaign brings this fact to life, painting a bigger picture of the real Porsche value proposition, in some cases through the words and images of owners themselves.”

Spanning TV, print, online, mobile, direct mail and a cinema promotion, the campaign drives home the engineering genius that allows these coveted sports cars to be everyday drivers.

“When most people think of Porsche, they think ‘magic’ — and the cars certainly are,” said Marshall Ross, chief creative officer, Cramer-Krasselt. “What is markedly different about this campaign is we’re not selling the dream-car mystique of Porsche — that’s already a given. The creative challenge here was to tell the truth of the drivability of the car and still make it feel as special as it really is.” Read the rest of this entry »

National search also finds 12 of the earliest models sold in America

As part of its 60th anniversary celebration, Porsche Cars North America embarked on a quest to find the oldest Porsche sold in America.  The Porsche Classic Search, conducted online at www.Porsche60Years.com, encouraged individuals from coast to coast to submit documentation that his or her Porsche was one of the earliest in its category to be retailed on American soil.  With awards and bragging rights at stake, the call for entries yielded an impressive collection of finalists, including the oldest U.S. – retailed model found, a lovingly restored 1952 Strawberry Red 356 Cabriolet.

Launched in August, the My Porsche Classic Search received hundreds of submissions from Porsche owners across the country.  Among them was a rare 1952 356 Cabriolet owned by Dr. Robert Wilson of Oklahoma City, Okla. Wilson’s car was imported in November of 1952 by Austrian businessman, Max Hoffman, in New York, who brought the first Porsche cars to the U.S. beginning in 1950.  The 1.5 liter, 60 horsepower gem was discovered in a salvage yard by Wilson years after arriving on U.S. soil and meticulously restored.

The My Porsche Classic Search also yielded the discovery of another distinguished and even rarer Porsche – a blue 1950 356 Cabriolet owned by Richard Brumme of Annapolis, Md. This car is one of the very first series production 356s built in Stuttgart, after the company relocated from Gmund, Austria. Impeccably restored with original parts sourced from around the globe, the 1950 356 Cabriolet was also recently honored with the 2010 Best in Show and Best in Class Awards at the 356 Registry’s annual gathering in Cleveland, Ohio. While Brumme’s car is unique and special, it was not the oldest Porsche actually retailed in America. This distinction goes to Wilson’s 356 Cabriolet of 1952. Read the rest of this entry »

The 911 GT2 RS, the fastest and most powerful road-going sports car Porsche has ever built, is not only an ultra-high-performance car on the road, but it is also just as fast from a sales standpoint.

With its worldwide debut less than two months ago at the Moscow Auto Show, this limited-edition  620-horsepower 911 has already secured customer commitments for all 500 units to be built.

In the U.S., Porsche has pre-sold 133 911 GT2 RS cars, all of which will be delivered to eager owners in February 2011.

New Carrera builds on time-honored GTS name, provides increased performance and efficiency

With 408 horsepower (hp), outstanding vehicle dynamics and additional standard equipment, the new 2011 911 Carrera GTS ascends to the pinnacle of the Carrera model lineup. With 23 hp more than the 911 Carrera S, the new GTS – available as Coupe and Cabriolet – narrows the gap between the Carrera S and the 435 hp 911 GT3. The additional sportiness goes hand in hand with an economic advantage: thanks to Porsche Intelligent Performance, as the new sports car consumes no more fuel than the 911 Carrera S. It also provides comprehensive list of additional standard equipment. The 2011 Porsche 911 Carrera GTS will celebrate its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show in early October.

Athletic, Muscular Design Statement

Unique within the Carrera family, the 911 Carrera GTS combines the 44 millimeter wider Carrera 4 body of the AWD models, including a wider rear track and wheels, with rear-wheel drive. There are many more details which distinguish the appearance and technology of a GTS from other Carrera models, for instance, the GTS runs on 19-inch center-mount RS Spyder wheels, painted black, with high-gloss rim flanges and 305/30 R 19 tires on the rear axle.

Other visual features include the SportDesign front apron with black spoiler edge, special sideskirts, also in black, and the Carrera GTS logotype on doors and rear lid, in black or silver depending on the body color. The area between the two tailpipes in the rear is also black. In combination with the standard interior color “black Alcantara”, the center sections of the driver and passenger sport seats are covered with black Alcantara and the high-quality Alcantara is also used wherever driver and passenger come in direct contact with the interior, like on the rim of the new three-spoke SportDesign steering wheel and on the gear and handbrake levers. Read the rest of this entry »

AutoPacific’s Coveted Award Is Based On Opinions of Thousands of Customers

For the third-year straight year, Porsche customers have rated the superior driving experience of their cars in AutoPacific’s annual 2010 Ideal Vehicle Awards (IVA) survey. Indeed, the Porsche owners’ ratings were so high that once again the German brand is the survey’s number-one rated premium car brand in the United States. Porsche took home the same honor in 2008 and 2009.

The AutoPacific IVAs are among the most comprehensive and respected in the industry and this year they were based on more than 42,000 owners’ ratings of their new 2010 model year cars and trucks across 15 key vehicle attributes that measure just how closely a vehicle matches their expectations. The cars that owners would change the least are considered the most ideal.

In addition to winning as a brand overall, Porsche also swept this year’s specific IVA sports car segment. The highly acclaimed Porsche Cayman was chosen as the winner of the Ideal Sports Car. Coming in second and third were the Porsche Boxster and 911 respectively. This also marks consecutive years that Porsche has taken the top spot in the IVA’s sports car category.

“An ideal vehicle is one that meets the owner’s expectations for the product. They do not want it changed. They don’t want it bigger. They don’t want it faster. They don’t want its styling changed,” says George Peterson, president of AutoPacific. “When asked what they would change about their new vehicle, buyers who want the least change are driving their ideal vehicle. This means Porsche has created cars that owners essentially say are perfect.”

The IVAs are driven by data collected from thousands of new car and light truck buyers measuring the fusion between trust, anticipation, expectations and reality within specific product segments. In addition to identifying segment winners, IVA also establishes numerical ideal vehicle ratings for virtually every passenger car and light truck in the United States market. These results come from calculating owner input across 15 specific areas related to a vehicle’s attributes, including: exterior styling, exterior size, passenger roominess, cargo space, driver’s seat comfort, driver’s seat visibility, interior technology, interior lighting, power and acceleration, ease of getting in and out, interior storage compartments, ride, handling, safety features and tires and wheels.

The Awards incite the notion that automakers that best understand their customers and create the vehicle their buyers demand, come closest to the ideal.

AutoPacific is a future-oriented automotive marketing and product-consulting firm. Every year it publishes a wide variety of syndicated studies on the automotive industry. The firm also conducts extensive proprietary research and consulting for auto manufacturers, distributors, marketers and suppliers worldwide. Company headquarters and its state-of-the-art automotive research facility are in Tustin, California, with an affiliate office in the Detroit area.

Other Porsche Highlights Include Silver Plant Quality Award in Europe for plant that manufactures 911 and Boxster

Once again underscoring its reputation as a true premier automobile manufacturer, Porsche has reclaimed what is arguably the industry’s most prestigious position/ranking as the highest-ranked nameplate in the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Initial Quality Study (IQS).

This highest ranking represents the fourth time in five years that the Porsche brand has been ranked highest among IQS nameplates.

Of course a car’s quality begins in the factory where it is built and in the highly regarded category of “Assembly Plant Quality Award,” Porsche’s acclaimed Stuttgart assembly plant–where the 911 is made–received the Silver plant quality award for Europe.

“Reclaiming the top spot among nameplates in the IQS ranking is not only gratifying for all of us at Porsche, it tangibly reflects our absolute commitment to providing our customers with the highest possible quality and ownership experience,” said Detlev von Platen, president and CEO, Porsche Cars North America. “We take great pride in this award which is a demonstration of the very hard work of everyone in the Porsche organization, especially our highly-renowned designers and engineers and the people who build them. Of course it goes without saying that here in the U.S. our very devoted dealers deserve a lot of accolades as they interface with our customers on a daily basis.”

The IQS serves as the industry benchmark for new-vehicle quality measured at 90 days of ownership. It captures problems experienced by owners in two distinct categories–quality of design and quality of production (defects and malfunctions). Results of the Study are presented using a problems-per-100 vehicles (PP100) metric, often referred to as “things gone wrong.” The study includes quality comparisons by manufacturer, assembly plant, model, and platform.

Porsche averaged just 83 problems per 100 vehicles, well under the industry average of 109 problems per 100 vehicles.