The future\u00a0is electric, at least for Porsche.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in the beginning of a transition phase in the car industry, and to Porsche, to switch over to battery electric fully,\u201d said Klaus Zellmer, president and chief executive officer of the luxury automaker\u2019s North American division. \u201cLuxury consumers expect, with a brand\u2019s purpose, for sustainability to play a major part.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zellmer discussed the next phase in high-end automobiles during a conversation with Bloomberg car columnist Hannah Elliott at the second annual\u00a0The Year Ahead: Luxury\u00a0summit on Thursday. Hosted by the lifestyle group Bloomberg Pursuits, the conference was held at the company\u2019s headquarters in New York. Speakers included\u00a0\u00a0Tiffany & Co. CEO Alessandro Bogliolo,\u00a0architect Robert A.M. Stern, pastry chef Christina Tosi, and\u00a0Rent the Runway\u2019s Jenn Hyman, as well as executives from\u00a0Virtuoso Ltd. and\u00a0Marriott International Inc.<\/p>\n
By 2025 every other\u00a0car Porsche sells will have a plug, Zellmer predicted. He pushed back against the notion that luxury cars and sustainability are incompatible.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo remain what we are, we have to adapt,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we don\u2019t adapt, we\u2019re going to be left out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Porsche\u2019s legendary 911 will be the last in its line to go electric, Zellmer said. There\u2019s been considerable controversy over when and how the brand\u2019s oldest model will make the transition.<\/p>\n
He also noted that worries about \u201crange anxiety\u201d are less of a concern for Porsche because its customers have an average of three cars. Still, the company is working to increase the number of miles its vehicles can drive between charges.<\/p>\n
In addition, Porsche is\u00a0working to target new and younger customers with a Super Bowl ad in 2020. It will promote\u00a0the Taycan, the brand\u2019s first all-electric sports car.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor a car brand that only sells three cars out of 1,000 in the U.S., that is a big move,\u201d Zellmer said. \u201cWe want to engage new audiences. We want to be bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The future\u00a0is electric, at least for Porsche. \u201cWe are in the beginning of a transition phase in the car industry, and to Porsche, to switch over to battery electric fully,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3088,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n