why all Sports car brands Launching SUVs ?
Have you ever thought, “why almost all sports car brands are making SUVs?”. If yes then go through this blog and if not then think about it and find out the reason by reading this blog.
Introduction:
In 2014, McLaren’s CEO (Mike Flewitt) said, “We are sports car company and we won’t make SUVs.”
In 2015, Aston Martin’s CEO (Andy Palmer) said, “Our DNA doesn’t allow SUVs”.
In 2016, Ferrari’s CEO (Sergio Marchionne) said, “We will not play with SUVs”.
But today, the scenario has been changed 2 out of these 3 brands are making SUVs not only they are making SUVs other brands like Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini, Bently all are making SUVs. But these SUVs not tall as regular SUVs also not capable of doing hardcore off-roading. These SUVs are made to perform like a sports car & to give an amazing road presence.
Now, the obvious questions you may have…
a. Who started this category?
b. When it started?
c. How it started?
d. Why it started?
Well, the answer of first 2 question has one liner answer. This category was first introduced by Porsche with their SUV Cayenne. It started from the year 2002.
Now, to answer the last two question we need to take a deep dive into the history of Porsche.
History of Porsche:
The story of Porsche started from 1931 when Ferdinand Porsche started a company for Motor Vehicle Design and Consulting work named it Porsche AG.
Yes, this is the same Ferdinand Porsche who designed Volkswagen Beetle on Hitler’s request to make a people’s car. He became an important person in Volkswagen Group. But after WWII British government took-over the Volkswagen factories.
Starting of Porsche Sportscar:
After that Ferdinand Porsche and his son Ferry Porsche decided to make their own cars. In 1948, they launched Porsche 356 in the car they used the engine of a Volkswagen Beetle for better performance.
Till 1950 Porsche developed a better engine for their 356. In this time, they made various versions of 356. Porsche sold around 76313 units of 356 from 1958 to 1965. In 17 years after the launch of 356 Porsche also launched 550 Spyder, 718 but these cars were not successful as their 356.
In 1965 Porsche launched the successor 356 and named it 911. This car was an instant hit. The 911 had rear side engine. The engine was not too much powerful but it was small and light weight.
By 1970, Posche started to make front engine cars like 924, 928 and 944 but these cars failed badly in the market. Porsche soon realised that front engine cars are not their cup of tea. As a result, by 90s Porsche discontinued 924 & 944.
Downfall of Porsche:
In 1986, the global sales of Porche were 50000 units which is a big number considering the fact that they only make sports cars. From the 50000 units around 30000 units were sold only in USA & Canada. Hence, we can say USA and Canada were a big market for Porsche.
All these statistics changed in 1993. In 1993, the total sales of Porsche dropped to only 14000 units. In this 14000 units only 3700 units were sold in USA and Canada.
Now, you may wonder, “why this happened?”. Well, at that time the value of German currency Deutsche Mark was going up and the USA Dollar was going down. For this the German cars became costly in USA market. As a result, USA market shifted towards cheap and reliable Japanese cars.
Revival of Porsche:
1st Try:
To cut the prices Porsche hired Shingijutsu Global Consulting Company which was a Japanese car consulting company by former Toyota workers. They teach how to build cars in an efficient way.
By applying the methods, the time to make 1 Porsche reduced to 72 hours from 120 hours. The defects reduced to 50%, the labour cost reduced by 30%. The required space also reduced by 19%. As a result, the prices of Porsche went down. But this wasn’t enough.
2nd Try:
Porsche was making only sports cars and at that time other sports car manufacturers were either doing mergers or at the edge of bankruptcy.
In this situation Porsche played a gamble, and launched their 1st SUV named Cayenne in 2002. Cayenne brought good fortune for Porsche and saved it from bankruptcy.
Now, you may have the following questions....
Why SUV? Why not a luxury sedan or a glorified hatchback?
Well, I don’t know what was exactly in their mind by as per my analysis I have found 3 main reasons,
- In late 90s and early 2000s the popularity of SUVs was increasing in USA and Canada market. As I stated earlier these two markets were very important for Porsche.
- In early 2000s China was the fastest growing automobile market. Porsche wanted to enter that market with their SUV.
- Porsche wanted to attract female drivers. And as per statistics females love SUVs.
About Porsche Cayenne:
Though Porsche launched Cayenne as a SUV but it was not a regular SUV. It was designed to be a high performance sporty and luxury SUV.
To look like Porsche family, Cayenne had headlamps like Boxer and 911. And to inject SUV’s DNA Porsche used a hybrid chassis. The hybrid chassis is nothing but a ladder frame design under a unibody structure. Porsche used more than 10 types of hard metal in this chassis.
The 1st gen Cayenne had a twin turbo V8 engine, which produced 400HP and back in 2002 this number was massive. This car also had advance features like Traction Control and Air Suspension. In today’s date among all Porsche products Cayenne bring the best sales figure.
Conclusion:
Though Porsche launched Cayenne to save the company from bankruptcy but it gave birth a whole new category for the sportscar brands. Today most of the sportscar brands make this type of SUVs like BMW – X6, Jaguar – F-Pace, Bently – Bentayga, Maserati – Levante, Lamborghini – Urus, Aston Martin – DBX, Ferrari – Purosangue. And the amazing fact is all these SUVs turned out the best-selling car for their brand.
The product Porsche launched to save the company turns out to be a category creator. One very big lesson we should have learn from this instance of Porsche that is, You may fail but you should never stop taking the calculated risk.
Thanks for tuning in. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this post as much as I have enjoyed writing it. There’s still so much more to explore in the world of cars and bikes, and I’ll be back soon with more exciting content that’s sure, to get your engines revving. So don’t forget to subscribe our newsletter and stay tuned for our next instalment. Until then, keep on exploring all the thrilling adventures that the open road has to offer!
— by Shubhradwip Paul
