Photo: Porsche
For years, Porsche has been synonymous with the concept of performance. The Zuffenhausen vehicles were not the fastest nor the quickest out there, and yet they for many, they were the epitome of sportiness.
Owning a Porsche made you a connaisseur that could keep the head up even among much more expensive supercars or hypercar, knowing that in a track battle, your 911 GT3 RS would walk all over them. It was a nice feeling, and it didn't look like the Stuttgart-based manufacturer was in any danger of losing it.
And then came Tesla. The EV maker did not set out to compete with Porsche - it couldn't, considering the Germans weren't building electric models of their own - but with the entire industry that was stuck on making fossil fuel-powered cars.
That's how Tesla managed to steal customers away from Porsche. Not by building a car that could go quicker around Nurburgring - it didn't try to make a better Porsche -, but one that had a different kind of halo around it that a Porsche could never hope for as long as it kept burning gasoline to move forward.
Klaus Zellmer, the Porsche CEO for North America admits to it during an interview for CNBC. “I think we have lots of respect for Tesla – and, yes, I’m sure there are some Porsche customers, that in terms of connectivity, digital stuff in the car and electric battery electric vehicles, didn’t find the car that they wanted with Porsche, so they bought somewhere else,” he said.
“Now the good news is that we’re working on something that we might be able to attract them back with our brand,” he continued, pointing out toward the upcoming Mission E which was previewed by a stunning concept car with an excellent reception.
Porsche's electrification plans don't end there, though. The company is said to be mulling the possibility of launching a Macan-like electric SUV next, and it has also announced that it expects half the cars it sells by 2025 to be either plug-in hybrids or full electrics.
Yeah, just like pretty much the entire industry, Porsche is mounting an attack on Tesla, and it will be interesting to see if the financial might of the traditional companies is going to be able to surmount the considerable headstart of Elon Musk's company.
And then came Tesla. The EV maker did not set out to compete with Porsche - it couldn't, considering the Germans weren't building electric models of their own - but with the entire industry that was stuck on making fossil fuel-powered cars.
That's how Tesla managed to steal customers away from Porsche. Not by building a car that could go quicker around Nurburgring - it didn't try to make a better Porsche -, but one that had a different kind of halo around it that a Porsche could never hope for as long as it kept burning gasoline to move forward.
Klaus Zellmer, the Porsche CEO for North America admits to it during an interview for CNBC. “I think we have lots of respect for Tesla – and, yes, I’m sure there are some Porsche customers, that in terms of connectivity, digital stuff in the car and electric battery electric vehicles, didn’t find the car that they wanted with Porsche, so they bought somewhere else,” he said.
“Now the good news is that we’re working on something that we might be able to attract them back with our brand,” he continued, pointing out toward the upcoming Mission E which was previewed by a stunning concept car with an excellent reception.
Porsche's electrification plans don't end there, though. The company is said to be mulling the possibility of launching a Macan-like electric SUV next, and it has also announced that it expects half the cars it sells by 2025 to be either plug-in hybrids or full electrics.
Yeah, just like pretty much the entire industry, Porsche is mounting an attack on Tesla, and it will be interesting to see if the financial might of the traditional companies is going to be able to surmount the considerable headstart of Elon Musk's company.
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