Lessons in Domesticating a Predator
Porsche's public relations department does a great job of getting its message out to its customers, starting with the automotive
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| Although it has a relatively small lineup of models, Porsche does a great job providing numerous press cars for journalists to drive. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
journalists that review its cars. While some automakers, like Ford Motor Company, do a fabulous job of writing and delivering press releases, Porsche does this and then backs up its words with the opportunity to test more press cars than the world's number three car manufacturer. Yeah, it's bizarre really. Tiny Porsche with only three general models, Boxster, 911 and
Cayenne, actually managed to get me into four press cars this year while Ford could only muster three so far, plus no Lincolns or Mercurys. The German brand even had another one that I wasn't able to book.
This is smart of Porsche, of course, as they not only create the opportunity to sell their harshest critics on the merits of the brand and the many variations of its three models, but the strategy also gets the Stuttgart company more press than if they hadn't offered us so many test cars. I spoke with a Ford PR rep about this recently, and the fact that after five years of
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| The near bone-stock 911 C2 Tiptronic was spruced up with lowered seats, Xenon headlamps, 18-inch alloy rims, a premium Bose audio system, and an electronically tuned Sport Exhaust. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
asking I still haven't been able to allocate a Taurus press car. To be fair to Ford she had a point, why put a press car on the road if they know they're going to get a negative review. Still, despite Porsche being close to delivering its completely revamped 911, internally known as the 997, to dealers across the country, they saw fit to offer up a completely bone stock 911 C2 to their press fleet. Well, it wasn't exactly bone stock, as it included an automatic transmission, lowered seats, Xenon headlamps, 18-inch alloy rims, a premium Bose audio system, electronically tuned Sport Exhaust, that incidentally doesn't do a thing for performance but makes the note coming out of the tailpipe richer than the $3,360 the option costs.
