Porsche to expand network in India

With improving economic indicators and the ever-growing number of millionaires in the country, Porsche is now looking to introduce more cars in India along with a focus on network expansion in a bid to climb the desirability ranking among Indian luxury car enthusiasts.

Speaking to sister publication Autocar Professional at the launch of the newly upgraded range of 911s in Mumbai on June 29, Porsche India’s newly appointed director, Pavan Shetty threw some light on the company’s priorities and the exciting product pipeline for the country.

“The first plan for us is to reach our customers and for that, we will increase our representation in the country. We will add more dealers in the coming months. We will have a dealer in Chennai and another in Hyderabad and also improve upon the existing service facilities,” Shetty revealed. The 37-year old, who took up reins of the company in India in January 2016 after being at the helm of VW-owned supercar manufacturer Lamborghini for more than three years, believes that this expansion would not happen overnight, as appointing the right dealers is top of the agenda at the moment. “We would rather have no dealers than wrong dealers for Porsche. It is going to be a strict process and hopefully, by next year we would have two more at least,” he said.

The plans for network expansion can be justified by the strong forecast for luxury car sales in the country. According to IHS Automotive, in 2015, luxury vehicle sales in India stood at 35,300 units. This is expected to grow to 87,300 units by 2020 with significant volumes being added by the existing players apart from new entrants. The carmaker currently has six dealerships and eight service centres in the country at major cities such as Mumbai, Gurgaon, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Kochi.

New products in pipeline

The German luxury brand which imports its entire range of cars at the moment is launching at least two new models this year, apart from the recently unveiled 911 range. It has already has opened bookings for the Porsche 718 Cayman and the 718 Boxster prior to their official launch, with price-tags of Rs 80.13 lakh and Rs 83.95 lakh respectively (both ex- showroom Mumbai).