A year ago Porsche launched the Porsche Passport subscription service as a pilot program in Atlanta, Georgia and now Porsche is looking at the possibility of expanding the service to other markets. Several automakers have jumped on the subscription bandwagon to give buyers another option if traditional leasing or financing are not appealing.
The Porsche Passport program starts at $2,000 a month and gives users access to the Boxster, Cayman, Macan and Cayenne. For those that have a bit more money, they can pay $3,000 a month to get access to the 911, Panamera, Macan GTS and the Cayenne S E-Hybrid.
Porsche Cars North America chief Klaus Zellmer recently spoke to Automotive News where he revealed that the Porsche Passport subscription service has attracted younger, more affluent buyers. 80 percent of the Porsche Passport users are new to the brand and on average the users are five years younger than the typical Porsche buyer.
“When we started the program, we said, ‘Let’s find out whether somebody’s out there who currently doesn’t engage with Porsche because they don’t want to commit to a car purchase or a leasing scheme.” So far the Porsche Passport subscription service has attracted 120 users.
Porsche hasn’t officially decided where the Porsche Passport program will be expanded to, but a lot of it depends on dealer participation. “The big question now is what’s the role of the dealers in a subscription model?” Zellmer stated. “A dealer would only engage in a program like that if you can make money.”
Unfortunately not every dealer is sold by the Porsche Passport program. Robert DiStanislao, president of Porsche of the Main Line in suburban Philadelphia believes that Porsche could spend its efforts elsewhere to bring in new buyers. “I would prefer rerouting those funds toward subsidizing the Macan lease. The Macan is at the core of bringing in new customers.”
Source: Automotive News
