The Middle East debut of four new Porsche models yesterday at the Qatar Motor Show 2016 highlighted the brand’s latest advancements and legacy as one of the world’s best-selling sports car.
Deesch Papke, chief executive officer, Porsche Middle East and Africa, led the unveiling of the all-new Macan GTS, the latest 911 Turbo S, and the new 911 Carrera 4S and 911 Targa 4S.
“Through constant development in the form of technology transfer and a mindset of evolution our engineers have been able to advance the 911 range to a new high,” he said, adding: “With the premiere of the all-new Macan GTS we are celebrating a landmark moment, as we now have a powerful and dynamic GTS version in every Porsche model series.”
As the newest addition to Porsche’s SUV range, the Macan GTS promises even more driving fun as the sports car among compact SUVs.
With an output of 360 hp, the model features a 3.0 litre V6 bi-turbo engine, Porsche Doppelkupplung (PDK) and Porsche Traction Management, with flexible power distribution between front and rear axles. Completing the zero to 100 km/h sprint in 5.0 seconds with the optional Sport Chrono package, Porsche’s latest GTS model has a top speed of 256 km/h.
According to Papke, Porche has been investing heavily in long-term technology and spends an enormous amount for research and development.
Papke noted that they were also the first manufacturer in the segment to have a plug in hybrid in Cayenne, the first in Panamera, and the first in a super sports car.
“We are streets ahead and at the same time, we were the first one to introduce a completely electric sports car, which was announced recently,” the CEO stressed.
Porche sold more than 200,000 cars for the first time described as a significant achievement for the brand, heading towards its strategic direction set for 2018.
Papke noted they enjoyed unprecedented success with five years of double digit growth including in the Middle East.
“At the same time we have developed extremely well in the Middle East as well and we have the benefit of a very strong oil price and we have the benefit of massive investment of the government, of the ruling family,” he added.
The new 911 Turbo S is the top athlete in the 911 range and thanks to new turbo chargers with larger compressors, the 3.8 litre twin-turbo six-cylinder engine delivers an output of 580 hp.
This makes the Turbo S the first production 911 to accelerate to 100 km/h in less than three seconds, reaching the milestone speed in 2.9 seconds. The model’s top speed is 330 km/h, 12 km/h higher than its predecessor.
The same traits of Porsche’s sports car evolution displayed in the Turbo S are extended to the 911 Carrera 4S and 911 Targa 4S.
The completely new engine generation with bi-turbo charging featured in both models results in an increase of 20 hp across all models, amounting to a total of 420 hp in the 911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet and 911 Targa 4S.
About his forecast for 2016 given the oil price decline, Papke believes that they will endure and survive the crisis by doing the right thing: from investing to working well, making sure customers get what they deserve.
“We attract customers in the appropriate way to become part of the Porche world, success would be the result of the sales,” he said.
“But we must learn from the previous crisis in 2008 and 2009, many companies laid off people very quickly, and when it came back, it was expensive to get them back,” he said, adding: “We got to be careful to just get rid of people, it is an easy short-term solution but it is not a long-term strategy that one should follow.”