Porsche’s Middle East and North Africa regional office was established ten years ago in Dubai to promote the brand, which has enjoyed significant growth on the back of spectacular liquidity prompted by record high oil prices. Deesch Papke came to the helm in 2005 as managing director after having worked with major car brands in South Africa, Russia and Europe. Executive talked to him about the relationship between Porsche and luxury.
E What, in your opinion, is a luxury vehicle?
Luxury is personal choice. Each person has to choose for himself what “luxury vehicle” means. The customer is the one who determines that. The real strength of Porsche is that it has been truly consistent over time. It’s a brand personified and we have chosen to be a premium sports car. So, it’s a definition. But we are a brand, I’m firmly convinced, that is luxury, premium, and sporty.
E Is every Porsche model a luxury car?
The full range of Porsche cars we offer compete successfully in various premium segments and therefore meet the criteria of luxury.
E What are the best selling models in the Middle East?
For us it’s the Cayenne. Across the region, we sell 65% Cayenne and the rest sports cars. And then, within the Cayenne range, the Cayenne S dominates at 60%, although with the advent of the Cayenne GTS those percentages are beginning to shift. The GTS has become extremely popular, but at the moment the best selling is still the Cayenne S.
E Why is that? Is it the lifestyle in the Middle East that makes the Cayenne so popular?
The car is perfectly suited for the region. It fills all the criteria of the regional lifestyle, the need for sporty cars that can offer off-road ability. The Cayenne does this perfectly.
E What are the models that are selling the least in the region compared to other regions?
If you compare the sales to Europe, it is the Boxster range that is selling less, however if you compare us to other emerging markets the sales breakdown is the same.
E Why did Porsche stop producing the Carrera GT?
Right from the beginning we said that the Carrera GT was to be a limited edition. There were just 1,270 cars produced, of which we sold 100 in the region. We did the same 20 year ago with the 959, it was a “halo” super sports car for the brand and it was extremely successful.
E Will Porsche produce a new super car?
We recently launched the 911 GT2, which meets all the criteria of a super sports car. However, there are no plans for a Carrera GT super sports car replacement in the near future.
E In terms of competition and technological advances, many brands can now compete with Porsche. How are you dealing with this intense pressure from competitors?
Competition is extremely healthy. The more competition, the more we raise our bar. At this stage we are the benchmark in many segments of the market. As a manufacturer we are always looking to improve. The more competition we have, the better it is for everybody, especially the consumer because we will keep producing high end products for the customer. It’s important that we make the quantum leaps in technology.
E What’s next for Porsche in the region? How are you going to adjust to the new trends that you see in luxury cars in the region?
Our challenge is to secure the continued long-term growth of the brand and our importers. This will only be achieved through the continued delivery of excellent products and after sales service. The challenges in the region, as we all know, are the lack of suitably trained personnel and the added problem of soaring costs.
E And how are you dealing with that?
We’ve started an initiative in the Philippines, a vocational training center, where every 6 months 15-20 qualified graduates will be available for the region. The first 18 graduates will be available in October. So we’ve created a source of qualified people and we will employ them in the region on three-year contracts. The long-term challenge locally is that there are no vocational development programs.
E How would you define the Porsche buyer in the Middle East?
We have the traditional 911 customers who are connoisseurs and enthusiast of the highest level. It is the only car they will consider. Many of them aspired to it since they were children. Linked to this is the new entrant customer. A very large segment of graduate expats entering the region are buying into the Boxster segment. They often become the aspirers whose dream it is to drive a 911.
The Cayenne segment has a mix of customers. There are people who come in and buy the car because they see so many of them on the street and once they’re in they see how fine the car is and they stay. The customers come from all walks of life, are both male and female and various nationalities and ages, we do not have a clear demographic and this is due to the ever changing and growing population.
