Porsche brings racetrack performance to road with latest Boxster

Porsche 718 Boxster

German automaker Porsche is showing consumers the only reason its drivers are ever late.

A new video starring professional driver Mark Webber shows the driver in the 919 Hybrid track car as well as the 718 Boxster road vehicle. Equating the two vehicles helps unify Porsche’s image, depicting it as a brand whose concerns for performance are unchanged regardless of whether a vehicle is for the racetrack or the road.

“A few things go into conveying to consumers about the Porsche brand in this video,” said Brett Levine, cofounder of Drive Anything, Huntingdon Valley, PA. “Not only the connection of motorsport to their production cars, but moreover that the cars they build the street are as desirable to those professional drivers and within Porsche.”

 

For the track or the road
The video begins with Mr. Webber test-driving a vehicle, presumably the Porsche 919 Hybrid. He is commanded to return to the pits, but Mr. Webber, for his part, counters that he is having too much fun and wants to stay out a bit longer.

Porsche 919 hybrid

Even as he is told the entire team is waiting for him, Mr. Webber continues discussing the acceleration, the handling as he turns corners and the sound of the engine. In a series of shots linked by fades to black, other drivers are suited up, occupying themselves with menial tasks as they await Mr. Webber’s arrival.

A cut to the exterior is greeted with a guitar track and Mr. Webber arriving not in a 919 Hybrid, but in a red 718 Boxster. He runs inside, where the other racers are waiting.

A title card says “the only reason to let a 919 Hybrid wait:” before another driver asks Mr. Webber for the keys. He gives a cautionary shrug before throwing the keys to the other driver, and another title card completes the previous: “To experience its technology on the road.”

There is a brief shot of the 919 Hybrid driving away, and then another from the windshield of the Boxster, with the driver who received the keys in the driver seat. Rather than being disappointed about getting the keys for a different vehicle, he is thrilled with the performance of the Boxster.

Porsche 718 Boxster video

The bait-and-switch in the video makes the two vehicles equivalent, telling consumers that the same features that make Porsche vehicles successful on the racetrack are fully displayed in its road-ready vehicles.

Porsche’s 718 Boxster takes its name from the 718 RSK racer from the 1960s, further cementing the vehicle as a natural progression of its lineage. This placement will help ameliorate concerns from some brand enthusiasts that the turbo four-cylinder engine is not suited to a Porsche.

Instilling heritage
Porsche is unafraid of instituting changes, however radical, in the name of performance, aesthetic, sustainability or any other reason. As a result, the brand regularly reasserts heritage and makes connections between past and present to maintain loyalty among initial skeptics.

For example, in late 2015 and early 2016, Porsche showcased a pair of hybrids in Canada to recover forgotten heritage.

On Nov. 20, Porsche Cars Canada launched an E-Performance mobile display at Yorkdale Mall in Toronto that has since traveled around the country to show off a racing and a road-built hybrid. Having vehicles and product specialists on-site will help consumers understand Porsche’s environmental ties and the brand’s history with hybrids, assuaging any potential worries about too-strong a shift in brand identity (see story).

Other automakers are also filling the gap between motorsport and consumer-facing vehicles in their own ways.

For example, British automaker McLaren is changing the game with the 570S, the first vehicle in its new Sports Series.

The 570S, which is powered by a twin-turbo V8 and can accelerate to 124 mph from a stop in 9.5 seconds, will have a small production and will allow a consumer to configure the car according to personal preference. While other automakers focus on electric and autonomous driving vehicles, the 570S and Sports Series indicate McLaren’s goal of attracting consumers based on style and personality.

The 570S vehicle also allows drivers to switch among track, sport and normal modes, making it a suitable vehicle both for racers and to take on vacation or into the city (see story).

Porsche is associating the two types of vehicles for similar reasons.

“Porsche always strives to maintain a direct link between their motorsports team and their cars for the street,” Mr. Levine said. “They want to emphasize the point that technology that goes in developing the race cars makes it into their production cars.”

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