India a potential market for new-gen Panamera sedan

Mumbai: Sports luxury car maker Porsche has said India is a potential market for its recently-launched new-generation Panamera sedan, even as its focus will remain on all models across segments.

Porsche India also said the launch of the new-format showrooms in Delhi and Mumbai in a short span of three months exhibits investors confidence in its business here despite the pandemic. The company, which is part of the German auto giant Volkswagen group, had early last month rolled out the 2021 edition of Panamera in four variants - Panamera, GTS, Turbo S, and Turbo S E-hybrid, priced between Rs 1.45 crore and Rs 2.43 crore (both ex-showroom). After setting up its first Porsche Studio in Delhi in January, the company opened another one in Mumbai early this week under a new dealer partner Infinity Cars Pvt Ltd, a luxury car dealership group, which represents a variety of marquee brands across different cities. "For sure, India can also become a Panamera market in future. It is also one important segment which we want to develop in future," Monolito Vujicic, brand head at Porsche India, told PTI in an interaction.

He said the company delivered the first Panamera to a customer just after one week of the opening of the new outlet in Delhi in January. "It means there are customers here, we have to communicate it the right way." Vujicic said that even Panamera Exclusive, which is the limited edition of the luxury sedan, is an option for the India market. Currently, Porsche imports its range of products in India, which include the 718 and 911 sports cars, Panamera, and the Macan, Cayenne and Cayenne Coupe SUVs, as completely built units (CBUs).

"We will focus on all models and not on particular segments like cars or SUVs. Every Porsche is a sports car," Vujicic said when asked whether the company expects the SUV to drive sales volume going forward. "I already have information some customers say they are missing the supercar. So, the availability of supercars has not been appropriate," he said.

He added he was surprised to know that the customers ask models such as GT3 and GT2. The same amount of energy goes into bringing one of these cars into the market in the same sense as achieving 70 per cent of the SUV volume, he added.