Managing Innovations: Values Add to the Excitement
By: Porsche Ag
Tags: Innovation, Mobility, Digital Transformation, Transportation, Company Formation

In February, Porsche Innovation Managers from all over the globe met at Porsche Digital in Ludwigsburg and Berlin to discuss the innovations, challenges, and changes in their markets. Today, I want to give you some insights about my job as a Porsche Innovation & Digital Transformation Manager in the U.S.

The Porsche feeling is always exciting. When you drive our sports cars over winding roads in upstate New York or through breathtaking landscapes in southern California, you feel what our company has been about since we were founded: tradition and inventive talent, combined with pioneering technologies.

In the past, the outstanding quality of our cars has spoken for itself. Porsche Cars North America (PCNA) was established in 1984 and today employs approximately 500 people. They provide Porsche vehicles, parts, service, marketing and training for our 191 dealerships in the US. In turn, they work to provide Porsche customers with a best-in-class experience. PCNA also develops market-specific initiatives and strategies to make the brand and the company more digital, more innovative and more agile.

Customer experience is more important than ever

Consumers increasingly want to interact with brands on their own terms, when and where it suits them and with more individual choice. This is especially important for a premium brand. Porsche builds the best sports cars in the world, and our customer experience needs to be at least as good. Porsche Cars North America, was proud to rank no. 1 last year in two key customer-centric studies by J.D. Power, the Sales Satisfaction Index and the Customer Service Index.

Digital innovation at PCNA supports customer experience in a number of ways by providing omnichannel access to the brand and to mobility. We have launched online vehicle sales and continue to develop more services for the online ecosystem of MyPorsche and digital retail. PCNA is working to launch a mobile-friendly tracker for vehicle orders, to keep customers in the loop about their dream car’s journey from production to delivery. Porsche also expanded in-house development capabilities last year by opening a new Porsche Digital team at its North America headquarters, to be more closely integrated with the business. Cutting-edge digital development contributes to making Porsche an even more attractive employer.

Recently Innovation Managers from all over the world came together to talk about changes in the industry.

‘S’ stands for sustainability

Sustainability is a top priority for Porsche. We consider it our entrepreneurial duty to make sure that our actions benefit the environment and society. Our stakeholders also expect ­Porsche to strive for economic, equal social and ecological goals. This gives sustainability a central significance for Porsche when it comes to safeguarding its competitiveness.

Since 2019, Porsche has set binding sustainability targets for the entire company. From 1 July 2019, all of the company’s current and future suppliers and partners will have another binding criterion — the ‘S Rating’ — in the award process. ‘S’ stands for sustainability.

The sports car that symbolizes these values on the road appeared in 2019: the Taycan, the first full-electric Porsche. It combines the traditional Porsche feeling with forward-looking and sustainable technology. As you might have heard, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates likes this sports car a lot 😉

A modern mobility concept: Porsche Passport in the U.S.

Shifting values and the digital transformation are changing our ideas about ownership. People share music, movies or apartments instead of buying them. These changes are also taking place in the mobility sector. We’re working on modern mobility solutions that maximize our customers’ flexibility and freedom. One product that we’ve developed with this goal in mind is Porsche Passport, an all-inclusive monthly vehicle subscription service that allows a person to drive a Porsche when they feel like it — and to flip between different models and variants as often as they like. For example, they can drive a Cayenne or Panamera during the week and a 911 Cabriolet on a sunny weekend. It puts the Porsche fleet at the member’s fingertips via a mobile app and concierge delivery. It is currently available in Atlanta, Las Vegas, Phoenix and San Diego as well as Toronto, Canada., with more U.S. markets on the way.

Porsche Passport is an example of what we need to accomplish in the future. With the help of AI, data, and our own expertise, we need to develop new products and business models that make Porsche more attractive for the generations of the future.

To summarize — we need values and products that show everybody is welcome at Porsche. Stay tuned for more blog posts by my colleagues from all over the world and don’t forget to check out the learnings of Philip Ruckert here.

Martin Richenhagen is Manager Strategy and Digital Transformation at Porsche.

About this publication: Where innovation meets tradition. There’s more to Porsche than sports cars — we’re tackling new challenges, develop digital products and think digital with focus on the customer. On our Medium blog, we tell these stories. It’s about our #nextvisions, smart technologies and the people that drive our digital journey. Please follow us on Twitter (Porsche Digital, Next Visions), Instagram (Porsche Digital, Next Visions, Porsche Newsroom) and LinkedIn (Porsche AG, Porsche Digital) for more.