Little arrogant... Though he said he ignores them, he does know about the financials. Hope he will be kicked in the butt soon :tongue: Porsche CEO Muller Ignores Tesla, Not Electric Cars - Corporate Intelligence - WSJ
If that's an accurate account of the interview, not taken out of context, etc..., then somebody needs to get the shovel and help dig his head out of the sand.
Based on Muller's remarks, it's clear that Porsche cares more about their financials while Tesla cares about their cars and their mission.
Sigh, why do CEOs say stupid things like this. I wonder if he's paying attention to people like me buying a Tesla after owing a 2015 Macan Turbo and a 2011 Cayman S before that. I'll never buy another Porsche. Of course I'm just one person, but I have a feeling I'm not the only ex-Porsche owner on this forum i remember the CEO of Nokia saying something similar when Apple entered the phone business. Where's Nokia now?
Love people that are "ignoring" Tesla. They do it at their own peril. It's ok to say they do not have the same strategy, the same values, the same approach. To say "ignore" is rather disingenuous, especially to anyone that has heard a sales pitch on the Panamera S E-Hybrid.
From a strictly financial standpoint. Muller is right. CEO's job is to maximize shareholder value. But it does suck that he poo poo'd what tesla is trying to achieve.
My wife promised to get me a Porsche to celebrate a big birthday milestone. She knows it's going to be a Tesla now instead. The luxury performance car makers are going to regret not producing convincing electric cars to compete with Tesla, it's only a matter of time...
Panamera sales and production have been declining considerably since the model S was released. Production is down 30% since 2011. Once the model X is released, cayenne will probably be hit too.
I got an email about six weeks ago from a local Porsche dealer. They were offering five different new 2014 model year Panameras at FIFTY THOUSAND off list! $18xk cars for $13xk. He can ignore all he wants but that biting sensation he is feeling on his corporate butt will eventually get his attention. PS He may have no choice but to ignore as Porsche does not have the financial strength to develop a cost effective battery supply.
Ex-Porsche guy here too. I wouldn't say I will never buy another Porsche; I definitely won't buy another ICE. If Porsche builds a compelling and reasonably priced EV with access to a supercharger-type network I would mostly certainly consider it. Build a less expensive all-electric 918 and we'll talk.
A typical CEO's execution would be conservative, and look for quarter-to-quarter results. *IF* Elon behaved as a typical CEO Tesla would likely not exist today, so I have to disagree with Muller's assessment. Tesla is a disruptive innovator, and the reason for the financial results that he is highlighting is because of capital expenditure to exponentially grow the business. Guidance has Tesla doubling production by 4Q of this year. It's all going according to plan, financials and all, and to make things even better Tesla will be free cash flow positive in 4Q.
When I was shopping for my next car in 2014, I met a Sr VP of Porsche at the Detroit Auto Show and told him I was thinking of moving away from Porsche to either Tesla or Audi and he spent the rest of the conversation trying to talk me out of Tesla and ignoring the Audi threat. I'd say that they were aware of the problem, no matter what Muller says.
"Correlation does not imply causation" And yet Boxster/cayman up 90% in that time frame. 911 up 44%. Cayenne up a mere 6.5%, but if you factor in the launch of the Macan ("Baby Cayenne"), total SUV sales doubled. Total production (including drop in Panamera) up 59%. Porsche's doing just fine (at least in the short term).
HE may not think much about Tesla but I promise DEALERS do...the Model S has been cleaning the Panamera's clock sales-wise for 2 years.
Well, this was pre-P85D and he knew I was a performance enthusiast so most of his talking points were about the failings of the P85+ as a performance car. Too heavy, too much body roll, like driving a boat. As I recall it, his other points were more concerns about the long-term viability of the company and what would happen to owners if they went bankrupt. I do actually still have some of those worries (what happens if the gigafactory doesn't deliver, etc) but I figure that the existing technical portfolio has significant value and the worst-case scenario would be that someone else buys what's left which would be terrible for stockholders, but probably not too bad for owners. He was actually a thoughtful guy and you could tell he was absolutely intrigued by Tesla as an engineering feat and much of what he said was quite complementary. I was initially introduced to him because I told the beautiful woman who first engaged me in conversation that I was probably not going to buy another Porsche because my local dealer is horrific and she said that this guy was really going to want to hear about that from me directly and went and brought him over. He was indeed very interested in that part of my story, but they still seem to suck as much as ever.
I think the fact that Fisker was brought back from the dead is a pretty good indicator that his would be a very likely scenario.
The same guy made a very positive statement about Tesla recently. Does he have multiple personalities or something? --> http://finance.yahoo.com/news/porsche-may-add-electric-car-110315674.html “Tesla has built an exceptional car,” Porsche chief Matthias Mueller said Friday at the brand’s annual press conference in Stuttgart, Germany. “They have a very pragmatic approach and set the standard, where we have to follow up now.” Why the change of heart? Maybe he's feeling pressure and figured he'd better dismiss Tesla as a way of discrediting them now.
I didn't read the original interview, but I could imagine he was just annoyed to be asked about Tesla, when he wanted to discuss Porsche. A bit like the main headline after the Q1 earnings call in a German newspaper was all about the remarks on Apple entering the car business - completely off-topic, not connected to the main point of the earnings call and a distraction from what matters. I wouldn't read too much into this little piece of WJS click-bait.