Chapter 4 The Marketing Enviroment

Porsche exhibited environmental management when they designed the 911. The car is small, it has backseats, it has great visibility and it is known for its reliability. They built the car with a purpose. From the beginning the car was designed to be very practical. It could be used everyday but was sporty enough to compete with a Ferrari. This set the bench mark for competitors in the price range of the Porsche. The Porsche was reliable, the interior felt luxurious while still being ergonomic, and it was practical enough that buyers could use the car everyday. Sports car manufactures did not have an answer for the 911 in 1963 and many of them still don't have an answer today. Porsche fundamentally changed what the market expects a sports car that costs a hundred thousand dollars to do.

In 1998 Porsche switched from air cooled to water cooled engines. One of the reasons they made this change was because the water cooled engines had a lower maintenance cost than the previous air cooled engines. Also the cars gained even more reliability due to better cooling from the new system. Porsche also changed the body shell of the 911 in 1998 to reduce the amount of drag the car had which improved performance and improved fuel efficiency.

The 911 has seen its demographic remain largely unchanged since its introduction. It has always been a desirable car and has found favor among a mostly male audience. It usually goes from the bedroom wall in a tween or teen's bedroom to their garage when they grow up. Because the Porsche has been around for fifty years, it has had a product life cycle that stretched to customers from before the baby boomers all the way to Generation Y.

During the 2008 recession the 911 saw interest from customers who usually, would have been buying more expensive cars from manufactures like Ferrari and Lamborghini. People who wanted the same performance and brand recognition but without the high costs. This prompted them to created special editions like the 997 Sport Classic

and the 997 Speedster that offered a more premium and exclusive feel than the standard 911 for buyers looking to spend a little more. Porsche also stimulated their sales by showing more focus on the Asian and Latin American markets.