Redesigning A Carmaker

 

Dychtwald on Porsche: "Forty-eight percent of the luxury cars in America are already purchased by people over 55, so certainly the money is there to buy a car as expensive as a Porsche. But to sell them, Porsche has to understand that the mature market is interested in experiences, not things. They've already done enough accumulating: they'll purchase things if they become a means to an experience.

"The folks at Porsche already know they're not selling cars. Their mistake is that they don't aim part of their line at the over-50 crowd, people who have more money and are probably more fascinated by the kind of experience -- freedom, liberation, performance -- Porsche can provide.

"What I'd do is build a special line -- maybe a new product, maybe just an ergonomically modified version of an existing one. Chairs might swivel 90 degrees and tilt for getting in and out. The dash and instruments could set higher, bigger. Simple Stuff. Then: market it. Turn the experience into something a 50- or 60-year-old can see himself doing. Convince older people that Porsches may be for them."