Those are insightful comments, interesting info and excellent commercial ideas too. No doubt jury's still out and its too early too tell- in spite of all the "The Cayenne's a sales success" BS we've seen.

With respect to the ads who do you think are they trying to appeal to? I don't think Al Bundy can afford a Porsche and the businessman looks like a jerk. Whenever I see either ad I just shake my head. Talk about heading downmarket with a bullet. What potential Porsche driver would leave the wheel entirely? How many potential buyers even own RV's? Puh-leez.

There's an interesting bit of commentary about those ads in Car magazine this month but its not very Cayenne friendly. (a reference to carnal union between a dog and something else- and the character that would chase something that ugly....)

 

I think there is consensus Al Bundy isn't going to buy a Cayenne.

Well then, where do you characterize the potential success of a broadly purchased Cayenne line?

Can the marketing types get white collar John Doe to sell his Honda MDV? and part with 65K? You know, the John Doe sending his 2.5 kids to college @ 25K (?+) per yr each?

Hmmm not with those ads.

 

This thread seems to be changing into a commentary on PCNA's advertising - and that's an area in which they need to improve! I can't help but wonder if the combination of poor and infrequent communications with the potential buyers (advertising) is leading to much of the less than positive commentary out here.....
Dawktah, they need your help. Trust me, I know....
J

 

"Cayenne sold 1,400 units in the US in June (an annualised US selling rate of over 10,000 units)"

.....how the hell do you get an annualised rate of 10,000 a year?? A little over 800 a month gives you 10k year.

Also PCNA has sold almost 5k Cayennes in 3 1/2 months. To get to 10K they would have to sell only 400 a month, till the end of the year.

In short the guys conclusions make no sense.

 

Cayenne commercial:
The morning mist rises....Porsche Cayenne is seen rumbling though suburbia past rows and rows of dealerships with Cayennes on lot.....slow fade......Porsche management abruptly wakes up from a bad nightmare and they rush back to designing real Porsches again...

 

"Cayenne sold 1,400 units in the US in June (an annualised US selling rate of over 10,000 units)"

.....how the hell do you get an annualised rate of 10,000 a year?? A little over 800 a month gives you 10k year.


They are probably factoring in seasonality.

Someone else commented about Porsche owners who own RVs. Actually there lots of Porsche owners who do, particularly the ones who race. Check out a PCA event. Some of the RVs cost as much as a Carrera GT.

Charles

 

"but it remains to be seen how
successful it will be and for how long. It does not necessarily appear
to
be creating incremental demand, given recent weakness in competitors
sales
(M-class and X5 - in May Porsche sold 1,388 Cayennes in the US; X5 sales
fell by an almost identical amount). If a V6 is launched, Cayenne will
find
itself competing directly with Touraeg, and in a segment where price
pressure is high. There's too much capacity chasing too little new
demand
in top end SUVs, in our view. And that means returns can only go one
way."

The math may be a typo, but do you disagree with his conculsion. With so many offerings in the high price segment, will they cannabilize each other or is more demand going to be created.

Currently, PNA dealers are discounting. Maybe the discounting will rise to PAG thru the industry techinques like rebate, etc. This is a segment for the strong at heart.

Additionally, this chap is from the group who told us to keep buying into the dotcom boom/burst.

 

That's why I don't buy his analysis. In the mid 90's, there were a half dozen or so "players" in the high end car market, and only a couple in the same SUV market. Now, there are over a dozen in the car segment, and not even a half dozen in that SUV segment. While that car segment will always be the greater, there is still significant room for growth, and Porsche is looking for a very very small slice of a growing pie.
J

 

Good read guys...The unfortunate by-product of a lesser engine and unsold Cayennes will be lower sale and resale value. To me it would be prudent on "Wunderkind's" behalf to create a desire and undersupply of Cayennes and go with the market flow. In other words instead of flooding the world with unsold units, go slow at first, create a "lusting" effect on the market and then increase production. Porsche cars for years have been objects of desire, have adorned walls of dreaming children and have led us to own at least one. This "money hungry leach" approach degrades the name and from an object of desire, while it may sell more, it will lead the product to another high end luxomobile image ala Lexus and eventually hurt resale and image values....
The only upside for me is that I will get a used one for a very good price...

 

Reaching to a lower market can and has been done well. The MBZ C series is an effort in that direction, as well as the BMW 300 series.

The BMW 300 series has been outrageously successful according to a friend who owns a dealership.

I just don't think the V6 is the ticket to that success with a 5000lb car. I drove the V8 Treg and you could feel the weight. I don't think a V6 tow capacity will be more than 5000lb. Regardless of whether you tow or not, it is a major marketing point. And speed (performance), "Fa getta bout it".....

 

Here's another idea for a Cayenne commercial..

INT: Kitchen: Morning.
A little kid wearing snow gear comes running through the door into the kitchen.

Kid
Mom, I missed the bus..

Mom
Quick!! Get in the PEPPER.

Ext: House in the suburbs: It's snowing.
We see a wide shot of the house and cut to the garage door opening up. The car is facing outwards.

Int car:
Mom turns the key and Pepper fires up. She gives the engine a couple rev's, shift's into drive and the Pepper shoots out of the garage through a snow bank.

Cut to: Little cute kid in passenger seat playing with the navigation system.

Kid:
4.1 miles mom, the roads are slippery, better go manual.

Mom shifts the car into Tiptronic and downshifts to first gear.

Mom:
You call it, I drive it.

Kid:
(with the voice of a rallye co-pilot)
2nd gear, long easy left. Then a 120 ft. braking zone.

Cut to: Ext of car.
We see multiple shots of the car blasting through snow covered streets. The car is solid as a rock. We see the tires and wheels as well as the street in front quickly being absorbed into the
CUT TO:REARVIEW MIRROR
The mother is driving the car like a race car driver. Her eyes are up, she's shifting the tiptronic while apexing her turns. We see the kid grab onto the handle bars as he says.

KID
Hard right, 20 feet, into the straight. Track out MA! Track out.

MOM
Got it, got it.......

Cut to: Ext of car blasting through the snow covered streets again. The Pepper arrives at the elementary school. The mom Threshold brakes the car to a stop like she's pulling into the pits.

Kid:
6 min 23 sec. That's your best snow time yet ma.

The mom looks over and winks at the kid. We then see the school bus that the kid missed pull up behind the pepper and it reveals that the kid did not actually miss the bus, he just wanted to go for a great ride to school in the pepper.
FADE OUT:

 

...who cares?

Why would PAG care if the sales add incremental to the market sector or straight from X5 customers?

 

PAG cares, because they know BMW is the best German auto marketeer. Any gains would be temporary, Bimmer would react. Additionally, Audi may come out with the Pikes Peak, a direct competitor of Pepper TT. A very crowded segment of excellent cars.

PAG wanted to broaden their buying base and they said so. Its going to be tough, but I wish them luck. Why do I care? Today I just ordered a Pepper and I hope the depreciation isn't as bad as I think it will, be in three years.

 

I drive by HBL (local Porsche dealer) in Tysons Corner everyday on the way home from work. Looks like they have about 10 Cayennes sitting on their lot (where they are building a new Porsche showroom). Though I see Cayennes on the road pretty frequently, I wonder how good the sales numbers are.

Dawtah:
Great ad ideas. Much better than the lame ad with the cab driver chasing the Pepper.