INTERVIEW
Porsche on a Mission to go electric
Mark Smyth spoke to Oliver Blume, chairman of the executive board of Porsche, during the German’s visit to SA
Twice a year, Oliver Blume visits SA. Usually we know nothing about it. He flies to the Volkswagen Group test facility near Upington with a bunch of executives, drives some models under development and jets back to Germany. This time, though, he stopped off in Johannesburg to officially announce the new Porsche Aftersales Technical Centre South Africa. You can read more about it elsewhere on this page. Blume was also kind enough to give us a few moments out of his busy schedule to talk about Porsche’s future. That future, says Blume, will be "to have very modern cars. Very traditional cars, but also with very good technology. "We have to develop our model range on the one hand to go to the new technologies like electrification and digitisations, but on the other hand we will stay with our traditional, sporty cars — purist ones, with manual gearshifts," he says. "This is our strategy we will do for the next years." Purists will be happy to hear the manual gearbox will live on, but in...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.