At Porsche track, potential buyers can let it loose
CARS ON, CALIF. In an age when the buzz is about “virtual test drives” and buying cars without setting foot in a dealership, Porsche has embarked on a $60 million experiment here in hopes that some serious time behind the wheel will turn skeptics into believers.
The Porsche Experience Center opened in this Los Angeles suburb last week, a place where prospective buyers and Porsche owners will have the freedom to drive their cars in a way that lets them see their full potential over 4.1 miles of track.
The 53-acre center is aimed at fulfilling this core belief in a way no ad or sales pamphlet can: that the driving pleasure and aural delights of its sports cars and SUVs
must be experienced to be fully appreciated.
Or, as the old advertising pitch goes, you’ve got to see it to believe it.
“In a digital world, we need to offer opportunities to try the real thing,” Klaus Zellmer, CEO of Porsche Cars North America, explains in an interview.
The German performance brand opens the center at a difficult time. Porsche parent Volkswagen Group is undergoing cost-cutting measures in the wake of its diesel-emissions scandal, which is costing it billions in buybacks, court settlements and penalties. Last week alone, VW Group announced it will reduce its workforce by 30,000 worldwide. It doesn’t help that the price tag for this latest Porsche Experience Center came in far above earlier estimates and that it took twice as long to develop as expected.
Yet, with its dedication timed just after the Los Angeles Auto Show, the center could become a model for other automakers dealing with customers’ increasing resistance to going to dealerships for test drives and the sometimes arduous task of completing a deal for a new car.
The Experience Center won’t sell new cars. Rather, it will refer would-be customers to dealerships once their driving sessions pique their interest.
What it provides is a deep dive into the capabilities of Porsche vehicles, not to mention the brand’s lore and history. It’s far more than any dealer, with the typical drive around the block, could ever provide.
The emphasis at the Experience Center will be about learning how to drive a Porsche for maximum enjoyment under different conditions. There are even steep hilltops to teach Macan and Cayenne SUV customers how to negotiate difficult terrain.
Students will take on any of eight “training modules.” They include two curvy courses to see the car’s ability to maneuver in action, a runway for straight-line acceleration, an “ice hill” and a slippery wet patch where the car’s wheels lose contact with the surface.
Now, including Carson, Porsche will have five Experience Centers in the world. A sixth is on the way next year in Shanghai. But Carson, second in the U.S. after Atlanta, is expected to play an especially crucial role because California is such a vibrant sales market for Porsche.