New Opportunities for Development outside Austria
The rapid success of the Porsche Holding with the marques of the Volkswagen Group in countries of Central and South Eastern Europe was supported by the simultaneous setting up of own car dealerships of Porsche Interauto in Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia. With the help of these investments, the marques of the Volkswagen Group emerged on the market in no time. The automobile dealerships that meet the latest standards of the marques serve as models for the rest of the sales network.
At the same time the development of financial services by the Porsche Bank in Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro substantially promoted the market success in those countries. A large part of the vehicles is financed by Porsche Bank, which itself takes on the task of providing financial services for the distribution organisation.
Porsche Inter Auto, which acts exclusively for the marques of the Volkswagen Group and for the Porsche sports cars, is active not only in Austria and in the new markets, but also in Germany and in Italy. Thus Porsche Inter Auto is represented with car dealerships at various locations in Munich and in Southern Bavaria, as well as in the North Italian region of Friuli Julian Veneto.
Growth in Western Europe
The importer’s activities in Western Europe going back to the eighties (Joint Venture with Porsche AG in France with Sonauto and in Spain through Porsche España) and involving various manufacturers are totally independent of the rest of the automobile trade in Austria. Since practically all manufacturers are represented by their own subsidiaries in the French market, which is one of the biggest in Europe, the possibilities became more and more limited.
The Porsche Holding therefore sought other opportunities for retail business and in 1999 bought an interest in the PGA, a French automobile retail chain, which - strengthened by the Porsche interest - bought other automobile retail chains; first in the Netherlands, where they acquired an interest in the renowned car trading chain Nefkens in 2001. One year later, the PGA bought the French retail chain CICA and in 2004 acquired an interest in the retail group GGBA, which in turn widened its radius of action by acquiring the French car retail group SAIP in 2006. Since 2005 the PGA has also been working on developing its activities in Poland. In the year 2006 Nefkens bought the Ekris Group in the Netherlands. The PGA Group acts as a totally independent company and to date encompasses close to 260 enterprises in France, Holland and Poland. These companies are part of the distribution network for the marques Peugeot, Citroën, Renault, Mercedes, BMW, Mini, Volkswagen, Audi, Ford, Opel, Jaguar, Toyota, Honda and Landrover.
New Opportunities in China
Porsche Holding entered China as the first European auto trading company in 2004. Within a very short period of time, dealerships were established which exclusively focus on distribution and service of premium brands. The entry was realized at just the right moment and offered Porsche Holding the possibility to share dynamics of the world’s biggest car market. Porsche currently has more than 1,000 Chinese employees at its 11 sites.
