Porsche’s pursuit of innovation
Porsche has routinely juxtaposed the ordinary with the extraordinary. We continue to celebrate our historical brand lineage, but also challenge this same strength with new ideas and ways of thinking about sports cars.
As Canada honours the 150th anniversary of Confederation, Porsche has also been celebrating 2017 by paying tribute to our iconic brand and creating new triumphs.
The celebrations started early in the year for Porsche Cars Canada Ltd. We kicked off the new year with an unprecedented 7,061 new vehicle sales in 2016 — an increase of 10 per cent over the previous year. In 2017, we are on pace for another banner year. We are currently extending 68 consecutive months of record sales by retailing 5,364 new units year-to-date (as of August 2017), a more than 13 per cent increase over the same time frame in 2016.
Back at the headquarters in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, Germany, the company revelled in celebrating another milestone early in the second quarter of the year. One of the world’s most iconic sports cars, the Porsche 911, achieved the onemillionth unit of production. This proves the 911 has remained just as relevant, desirable, and compelling as it was when it first was presented to the world in 1964. Closer to home, we were honoured to learn that the unit that preceded the momentous one-millionth 911 would become one for the Canadian marketplace. A 911 Targa 4 GTS in Guards Red that I had the privilege of delivering to a happy Porsche driver at one of our recently relocated Porsche Centres — the new state-of-the-art Pfaff Porsche in Woodbridge, Ont.
As 2016 was the year of breaking ground, 2017 is becoming the year of cutting ribbons. In addition to Pfaff (mentioned above), Porsche Centre Calgary also relocated and opened the doors to a new facility, while Porsche Centre Lauzon has been undergoing an expansion project at their current location in Laval. Three all-new points for the brand started business operations this year: Porsche Centre North Toronto, Porsche Centre Kelowna, and Porsche Centre Rive-Sud on the south shore of Montreal.
While on the topic of new facilities, Porsche Cars Canada successfully opened the doors to our brand-new corporate headquarters, located between two major arteries in the Greater Toronto Area at the northeast corner of Highways 401 and 404. Although we just recently finished unpacking into this building, you can instantly feel that the passion originating from Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen is thriving within these walls. Our new headquarters incorporates our first dedicated training facility, enhancing the level of service we provide to dealer personnel and, in turn, further supports our commitment to the Canadian market and our valuable customers.
However, the excitement of the Porsche brand cannot stay still; it travels, and does so on four wheels, and is often found at racetracks. Calling the 2017 race season a huge accomplishment for the brand could be considered an understatement. Our national one-make race series, the Ultra 94 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Canada by Yokohama, witnessed an extremely competitive and tight season. The champion, Scott Hargrove, put up a great fight against the other drivers through each of the 12 races, managing to win the series by a slight margin of 25 points. Globally, this year Porsche celebrated a hat-trick victory, our 19th overall win, at the crown jewel of endurance motorsport: the 24 Hours of Le Mans. We also recently announced our factory entry into Formula E, where we will once again align our motorsport strategy closely with our corporate strategy.
E-mobility continues to be a trending topic with Porsche. As we are preparing for our first full battery electric vehicle based on the Mission E concept, we continue to make advancements with our hybrid offerings. Our plug-in model range has now grown to include the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid — the strongest model in the Panamera portfolio. The vehicle has a total system power output of 680 horsepower, 626 foot-pounds of torque, can accelerate from zero to 100 km/h in 3.4 seconds, and is capable of reaching a top speed of 310 km/h. The performance attributes of this vehicle are a clear indication of the direction and importance Porsche is placing on electro-mobility and the future of the sports car and commitment to our internal Strategy 2025, where we see fully electric sports cars as a fixture of our business.
One other attribute is also certain — we will build the future sports car to honour our brand history while continuing to innovate with new technology, as we always have.