They either misspent most of it or they have been had... but the investment Porsche makes on electronics does not correspond with the results !

[Pozuelo]

Porsche Budgets $1.1 Billion on Digitization for Its Cars
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...1-billion-on-digitization-china-buyers-demand

 

[amelen]

From the marketing side, limited by what I can say publically, but generally speaking Porsche is investing a significant % of their overall budget to promote the Taycan & EV's in 2021. There is also a continued push towards the app, app-services, etc.. as dealership visits tend to happen less often with an EV vs. ICE car.

 

[Genau]

There is also a continued push towards the app, app-services, etc.. as dealership visits tend to happen less often with an EV vs. ICE car.

Alex, just curious, how do app services and Function on Demand purchases benefit the dealerships that are losing service department revenue? I assumed the former benefit Porsche Corporate and not the dealerships.

 

[amelen]

Alex, just curious, how do app services and Function on Demand purchases benefit the dealerships that are losing service department revenue? I assumed the former benefit Porsche Corporate and not the dealerships.

Exactly, it benefits Porsche NA and Porsche/VW in general. Dealerships make a lot of their money from parts/service and will really need to come up with a new strategy to make up for that business going forward. Not only that, a lot of sales/upsells happen from a service visit - which will now be happening a lot less often. I promised to write an article about this stuff for an auto magazine actually, but have been too swamped to get my thoughts together on it. As always, those who are agile and adapt will be able to capitalize on this and those who expect the old way of doing business to continue will suffer the most (speaking in terms of individual dealerships). At the very least, I think dealerships need to get public charging stations put up and offer free charging to get EV users to come visit the dealerships. Once I have more & better ideas, I'll put them on paper for the magazine article lol

Not 100% related to this, but these were my last thoughts on how dealerships can recover, adapt, and change heading into 2021:

https://read.nxtbook.com/digital_de...2020_issue/covid19_in_the_automotive_spa.html

 

[daveo4EV]

software is hard - business is changing - and you can't expect every investment in new directions to be as ROI stable as a 100 year old business

remember guys this is all new to a lot of the world - Tesla, Apple, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle all spent decades to produce software as bad as they do today

it's going to take some time and there is going to be some mistakes. - now some of these mistakes are avoidable, but we also don't know what VW/Porsche's long term plans actually are for a few reasons:

• the Taycan was obviously schedule driven - corners had to be cut
• the plans are changing as we speak and VW/Audi/Porsche learn
• some of the plans are great but only partially implemented
• they have a profitable existing business that needs to be transitioned
• the actual vision and plan is a company protected intellectual property - they aren't going to tell us the entire secret plan
• they are learning…

we'll see how this all plays out - money isn't the entire solution but it helps remove obstacles…but alone is insufficient.

I'll give them some more time - I don't mind software with problems - I mind 3 year old software with the same problem it had 3 years ago…

 

[svp6]

Dealerships make a lot of their money from parts/service and will really need to come up with a new strategy to make up for that business going forward.

I am afraid we are in no danger not visiting the dealership for the foreseeable future as I doubt software glitches will be quickly solved. I have been to the dealership already 4 times in 9 months - which is the same as the previous 2 EVs in their combined 5 years of use (pick-up and turn in for each) . Still love the car though.....

 

[amelen]

I am afraid we are in no danger not visiting the dealership for the foreseeable future as I doubt software glitches will be quickly solved. I have been to the dealership already 4 times in 9 months - which is the same as the previous 2 EVs in their combined 5 years of use (pick-up and turn in for each) . Still love the car though.....

Porsche's intention is to service as much of that as possible remotely and outside of the dealership in the future. That's obviously not the case yet, but that's the plan. And unfortuantly it won't align with dealerships (who are all individually owned and operated). I haven't recieved my Taycan yet, but aside from regularly scheduled maintenance and recalls, it didn't have much wrong with it.

 

[Genau]

Dealerships make a lot of their money from parts/service and will really need to come up with a new strategy to make up for that business going forward.

The premier supercar customization shop in my region is becoming a Porsche authorized dealer with their own financing and insurance brokerage, and a private club featuring an entertainment space with high end bar/dining/performances/events. So that's one way to go.

 

[Jose Daniel Gomez]

I am afraid we are in no danger not visiting the dealership for the foreseeable future as I doubt software glitches will be quickly solved. I have been to the dealership already 4 times in 9 months - which is the same as the previous 2 EVs in their combined 5 years of use (pick-up and turn in for each) . Still love the car though.....

Many times in the dealership already and new appointment in two weeks.
Love the car but getting tired

 

[LovinTaycan]

Whatever they are spending, they need to double that. Their electronics and internet connections are as bad as it gets.

The interfaces all look nice, but their functionality is really poor.

 

[LovinTaycan]

Many times in the dealership already and new appointment in two weeks.
Love the car but getting tired

Ditto.

 

[charliemathilde]

It’s not just how much you spend. It’s how your prioritize the function internally. Politically, financially, knowledge

chassis development includes the Porsche GT racing division with a decades long history of world class competition. Software includes … contracting to rando auto suppliers who change every year.

if it’s not in house, it’s not important.

Tesla develops software in house.

 

[charliemathilde]

good software is a LOT harder than it appears.

anybody can pour paint onto canvas. Doesn’t make them a renowned artist. Really, same is true for pretty much every world class expertise.

anybody can drive. Not gonna make a career in racing.

 

[Jose Daniel Gomez]

Alex, just curious, how do app services and Function on Demand purchases benefit the dealerships that are losing service department revenue? I assumed the former benefit Porsche Corporate and not the dealerships.

Well, my Taycan 4S is in the dealership almost every month