Single Owner, Special Natural Leather Interior, High Gloss Center Lock Alloys on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Porsche production will stay in Germany, says sales chief

At Porsche's recent opening of its new North American headquarters in Atlanta, we had a chance to chat with Bernhard Maier, the brand's head of sales and marketing. In our interview Maier opens up about Porsche's global growth, relationship with other Volkswagen Group products, and some of Porsche's future video. Read on for more. Autoblog: You're on a smooth trajectory of increasing sales in the US. Do you think there's an ultimate cap for Porsche in terms of volume? Bernhard Maier: If you look at the last couple of years, we have really seen a rapid growth in US, as we have seen in many other countries as well. Put that in perspective with our strategy for 2018. When we released that in early 2011, we said there are opportunities to grow for the brand in a number of ways. We are growing by entering new markets where we are not yet in, by taking part in the overall development of individual mobility, and in going in new segments where we are not yet in or that we were not yet in, such as the B SUV segment. And the Macan is, I think, a through-and-through success story. Let's take the US. Out of 1,000 inhabitants compare that with 700 cars on the marketplace. If we go to China, there are only 70 cars out of 1,000 inhabitants. So this is a huge potential, which we still have for the entire automotive industry and, again, we are in China now for 14 years. We started off in 2001, selling 226 cars. Last year, we did more than 27,000 units. With the economic recovery of the United States, we saw a tremendous comeback of the entire economy and also for the car industry. We took advantage of that as well in handling new segments like the Macan and in bringing more varieties in our already existing cars, so it gave us the opportunity to grow in America as well. AB: In terms of the portfolio, and speaking of Macan, are there other segments that Porsche will be expanding? Are any segments off limits? BM: We do have the number of ideas I can tell you, but we are not decided on what level [and] we are not talking about them. Let's look at our current model line-up. I think it's the most interesting one we've ever had in the history of the company. We do have a lot of derivatives in the 911 model lineup, we do have some derivatives in the Boxster and Cayman segment. There are some new ideas, which, as I've mentioned already, have not been decided yet. AB: Right. Is there any potential that we'd see something from the group MQB platform?

Porsche 918 Spyder pre-production version in all its almost-done glory

Porsche continues the long tease of its upcoming 918 Spyder, with the latest instantiation here at the Pebble Beach Concours, with the car presented in pre-production form to the throngs on the golf course.
Just a few days ago Porsche dropped an image of the car on its official Twitter feed. True to that leak, this 918 looks damn near what we expect the full customer version to be when it is officially debuted in Frankfurt. The neon-green brake calipers are items new to this version of the 918, and seem to be an identical color to those found on the Panamera S E-Hybrid.
When it shows up as a drivable piece, expect the Porsche supercar, with its gasoline-electric drivetrain, to be pretty insane. Horsepower in excess of 800 ponies will be available with a toe-tap, while the price of entry is expected to come within shouting distance of $850,000. A good deal for Porsche to bring the thing to Pebble then, where buyers with that kind of cash are think on the ground (and most likely wearing sherbet-colored trousers).

Driving the C8 Corvette, and previewing GM's electric future | Autoblog Podcast #617

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by West Coast Editor James Riswick and Road Test Editor Zac Palmer. First they dive right in to the experience of driving the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette, followed by their review of the Mercedes-Benz GLE 350. Then they talk about the week's news, beginning with the whole slew of electric vehicles General Motors surprised us with at its EV Day. Next, they discuss the possibility of Porsche building a hybrid 911, as well as news about Ford's electric Transit van making its way to the U.S.. Last, but not least, they take to the mailbag to help a listener pick his next car in the "Spend My Money" segment. Autoblog Podcast #617 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Driving the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Driving the 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLE 350 GM EV Day: Cadillac Celestiq and Lyriq, GMC Hummers and more A hybrid Porsche 911? Ford Transit electric commercial vans coming to U.S. Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: