Australia might be a minnow in terms of volume, but Porsche recognises the importance of the local market.
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The importance of Australia to Porsche is not volume, but passion, according to the brand’s local boss as it celebrates 75 years selling cars Down Under.
Speaking to local media, Porsche Cars Australia CEO and managing director Daniel Schmollinger said local customers are unlike anywhere else in the world.
“We can see and look at it from different perspectives, from a pure volume perspective, there are obviously bigger markets, and we are ranking in the mid-range from a global perspective,” Schmollinger said.
“But from an emotional point-of-view, Australia was always globally a very special market because of the enthusiasm we can see.
“The colleagues in Germany – board members, development guys – they all have a very special place in their heart for Australia, because the enthusiasm and the community and the way how Porsche is embedded into the Australian culture really is reaching Germany since forever.”
Australia was also Porsche’s first right-hand-drive market outside of Germany, with the 356 arriving in November 1951 – months before cars would be delivered to the UK.
To celebrate 75 years in Australia, Porsche has customised four models – the Cayenne, Macan, Taycan, and Panamera – to represent distinct
quadrants of the country.
Notably, Porsche’s celebrated 911 sports car was not included in Australia’s 75-year celebration, leaving the door open for a special-edition later this year.
“Australia definitely is a very important market, emotionally, but of course also volume to a certain extent,” Schmollinger said.
“And Germany, with our 75 years, is definitely thinking of us, supporting us in celebrating this year – we will see this later this year as well.
“We will see a lot of activities around these for models [Macan, Taycan, Cayenne, and Panamera], and again, early days, more to come.”
For context, last year Porsche Australia sales hit 5133 units out of a global total of 279,449, meaning the local market accounts for only around 1.8 per cent of overall volume.
Porsche’s biggest markets internationally are Europe and North America.
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Tung Nguyen has been in the automotive journalism industry for over a decade, cutting his teeth at various publications before finding himself at Drive in 2024. With experience in news, feature, review, and advice writing, as well as video presentation skills, Tung is a do-it-all content creator. Tung’s love of cars first started as a child watching Transformers on Saturday mornings, as well as countless hours on PlayStation’s Gran Turismo, meaning his dream car is a Nissan GT-R, with a Liberty Walk widebody kit, of course.
