P orsche has unveiled updated editions in five of its six model lines in the past year. This is an unprecedented rate of new releases for the manufacturer. E MOTION PROFILE | JOHN CAPPELLA
We chatted with Porsche Canada president and CEO John Cappella about the company’s direction and his role as its leader in Canada. EMOTION: Porsche CEO Oliver Blume, said at the company’s AGM that Porsche holds a trump card and now is the time to play it. What did he mean? John Cappella: The first thing is we currently have a strong financial position. So that’s a great starting point because the years ahead certainly require investment in new products. But I think even more than that it’s our exten- sively updated model range. This year in particu- lar, we’ve updated the Cayenne, just launched the E-Hybrid Cayenne. We have a new Panamera. The Electric Macan is coming out. We’ve completely updated the Taycan as well, and of course, we’ve just announced the updated 911. So, I believe it’s actually a first in the history of our brand. We’ve never come out in one year with so many new vehicles and updates to vehicles. And I think the final thing is, well, in this really interesting time of transition in the industry, we are well positioned and offering combustion engine vehi- cles, hybrid vehicles and fully electric powertrains as well. So, from that standpoint, we’re covering a lot of bases. EM: Are there plans to phase out the traditional gasoline powered sports car? JC: We’ve announced an all-electric 718 that is coming in the middle of the decade. So that’s not
too far away. We’ve also announced that an all-elec- tric Cayenne will be coming after that, and that’s in line with our ambition of getting to 80% of our new vehicles fully electrified by 2030. Of course, that’s going to depend market to market on demand from customers. And then on top of that, we’ve announced another electric SUV that will be positioned above the Cayenne. However, we have not announced an electric ver- sion of the 911, and we would love to continue to manufacture that vehicle as an internal combustion engine for as long as we can. EM: What are some of the investments Porsche is making in Canada? JC: We are continuing to invest locally in omni-channel and the customer experience. Customers are expecting, and deserve, a heightened experience when it comes to omni-channel as tech- nologies are developing, and we want to be at the forefront of that. A lot of the dealerships are updating their current buildings to our new Destination Porsche. We con- tinue to believe that the dealership is really the cen- tre for the brand in each community. So, we want that to be the hub where our custom- ers visit and get together for events. For example, a lot of our dealers over the next couple of months are having great events to launch the new Panamera. We want to continue that, but there needs to be
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