Hi MIST 5720! For my blog post this week, I wanted to talk about attending the Porsche guest speaker event at UGA. Since I was young, my favorite car brand has been Porsche. I love how their cars strike a balance between class and high-performance. When I heard in class about Joe Lawrence, the Executive Vice President of Porsche Cars North America, speaking at a Terry Event, I knew I had to attend.
Background
I have always been curious how Porsche was able to continue to market their luxury cars and stay up-to-date with the latest consumer demands. One change in the automobile industry that stands out in the last few years was electric cars becoming more mainstream. After Tesla was able to pull off making electric cars more appealing to consumers, other car manufacturers like Ford and Porsche looked to enter the EV market. Porsche faced the challenge of keeping their brand’s identity of classic luxury while creating a new electric car. Here is a picture of Porsche’s first electric car, the Porsche Taycan.
Source: https://www.porsche.com/international/models/taycan/taycan-models/taycan/
Research Before the Event
Before attending the Porsche Event, I wanted to learn more about how Porsche is using the digital innovations we have discussed in class to maintain their competitive advantage. After researching, I found an article on Porsche’s website that talks about how the company is using artificial intelligence to optimize their driving systems. The two main ways they are incorporating AI into their company is by assisting in the prediction of oil foaming and reading the battery state analysis. The article mentions how Porsche was previously unable to have accurate measurements for oil foaming, but “AI solves the problem of predicting the gas content in the engine oil.” It is very impressive to me how Porsche was able to use AI to solve existing problems in their company, especially since this article is from two years ago when AI was not being talked about as much.
My Takeaways From the Event
After attending the event, I learned the reasoning behind many of Porsche’s latest moves. First, Joe Lawrence talked about how Porsche set up the North America headquarters in Atlanta because of the closer time difference to their Germany where the main headquarters is located (6 hour time difference on the East coast compared to a 9 hour difference on the west coast) and the lower cost of living in Atlanta. Also, Joe talked about how Porsche is transitioning to electric cars and the challenges the company has faced throughout the process. He mentioned how the introduction of electric cars, along with adding an SUV line with the Porsche Cayenne, has allowed Porsche to diversify their customer base, but makes it harder to balance the expectations from each segment. To battle these challenges, Joe talked about how Porsche is trying to be the sportiest car in each segment they enter to maintain the integrity of their brand. For example, with the Porsche Cayenne, the goal was to be the sportiest SUV on the market. Many Porsche enthusiasts did not want Porsche to introduce the electric Porsche Taycan, but after test driving the new vehicle, they were surprised how the car still turned corners like the previous models and overall “felt like a Porsche”.
Source: https://www.carscoops.com/2015/05/porsche-cars-north-americas-new-100/
Joe Lawrence also talked about his predictions for electric vehicles and how Porsche is trying to maintain a competitive advantage for the future. Porsche introduced the Taycan as their first electric car in 2019, and the company is looking to make an electric version of their SUV, the Porsche Macan, in the near future. Joe predicts that by 2030, 80% of Porsche’s cars will be electrified. However, there are many challenges the company faces including the infrastructure (more available charging stations) and the battery range.
Also, Joe talked about how less people are going to dealerships to decide which car they want because they are researching and deciding on a car online. Today, people are mainly going to dealerships to test drive their cars to verify their choice instead of looking at the available options. To take advantage of this trend, Joe mentioned how Porsche introduced a “Build Your Porsche” section on Porsche’s website to allow customers the opportunity to fully customize their potential car and help with their purchasing decision. The company is also experimenting with more ways to sell their cars completely online on their website.
One of the biggest takeaways I had from the event was Joe talking about Porsche Digital, which is Porsche’s in-house digital team that identifies technology trends and takes advantage of these opportunities early. Also, the digital team is responsible for building the online car selling platform I mentioned above to allow people to buy their cars directly on Porsche’s website. This really showed me how Porsche has been able to adapt to the constant changes in the market and the new advances in technology.
Conclusion
Overall, I am very glad I decided to attend the Porsche guest speaker event at UGA and learned many interesting aspects about Porsche as a car brand and an IT company. This event really helped me understand how some of the topics we have been talking about in class (electric cars, AI, etc.) are applied to larger companies.
Citations:
Article: “Artificial Intelligence – A Key Technology for Drive Development.” Artificial Intelligence – a Key Technology for Drive Development, 11 Mar. 2021, https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2021/innovation/porsche-drive-development-key-technology-artificial-intelligence-26288.html.
Porsche Taycan Picture: “Porsche Taycan – Porsche AG.” Porsche AG – Dr. Ing. H.c. F. Porsche AG, https://www.porsche.com/international/models/taycan/taycan-models/taycan/.
Porsche Cars North America Picture: Mihalascu, Dan. “Porsche Cars North America’s New $100 Million HQ Also Has a Circuit.” Carscoops, 18 Jan. 2018, https://www.carscoops.com/2015/05/porsche-cars-north-americas-new-100/.