Porsche Shows How a Sports Car Brand Can Expand

Porsche has had an up-and-down ride as one of the world’s premiere luxury sports car brands. And these days, it’s definitely on an upswing.

Porsche has become absolutely unsurpassed in its ability to set performance enthusiasts’ hearts aflutter, yet the brand also has succeeded with something that many purists scoffed at: Porsche SUVs.

And the brand has done so in a way that involves owners in more than just an emotional reaction to the cars’ speed, performance and design: Porsche also has emerged in recent years as one of the most reliable car brands on earth. And it’s making electric cars sexy with the brand’s $85,000 Mission E.

In fact, Porsche finished in at least a tie for first in two important indices of product quality and appeal released this year.

For the 13th straight year, Porsche in July was named No. 1 was in J.D. Power & Associates’ annual study of new vehicle appeal, which measures vehicle owners’ level of excitement and emotional attachment across 77 factors “ranging form the power they feel when they step on the gas to the sense of comfort and luxury they feel when climbing into the driver’s seat.”

And yet just a few months earlier, Power also had named Porsche (tied with Lexus) as the auto brand that showed the fewest quality problems after three years of ownership, a significant endorsement of Porsche’s ability to make cars that justify their price tags in more ways than one. Porsche pushed into a tie with Lexus after the Toyota-owned luxury brand had reigned atop the measure for six straight years.

Still, Porsche’s current success is also a tribute to the legacy the brand has built over more than 50 years. Mainly, it occurred around one vehicle—the iconic 911 sports car, which was introduced in 1963 as a larger and more comfortable replacement to the Porsche 356.

Porsche’s sales went up and down over the subsequent 20 years. But by several years ago, Porsche had come up with modernization of the 911 and other models to complement it including a new entry-level Boxster two seater. And the Cayenne, Porsche’s first-ever SUV, came along in 2003.

Cayenne has become a smashing success, and it yielded in 2010 to the Panamera, Porsche’s first sedan, a five-door hatchback that soon was selling as well as Cayenne. Macan, a smaller crossover, joined the family in 2014.

Porsche has shown that a true sports-car brand can expand as long as it remains true to its DNA. Now there’s even a Porsche Design Tower in Miami, a condo structure that also reflects the Porsche lifestyle.

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