Porsche CEO Michael Leiters Talks New Supercar

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Romain (0:07)

Of course, Tesla and Musk, they certainly know how to grab headlines, but you know what? So too does Porsche. The luxury car maker we're learning right now is unveiling the first look of its reimagined sports car. I don't know if it's gonna fly, but it's having a world premiere out in Queens, New York today.

And Bloomberg's Matt Miller joins us out of retirement with the CEO of Porsche, Michael Leiters. Matt.

Matt Miller (0:34)

Romain, thanks. Yeah, I'm here with Michael Leiters as they introduce a new car that will be a new line above the 911, something that they've never really done before, maybe with the 928 to some extent. I can see a nod in this car to the 928 in the rear and the telephone dial wheels. Talk to me, Michael, about what this is, because it's not a successor to the 918, it's not a one-off super car, like a 959, that you'll only make a few hundred of. It's going to be an entire model line itself.

Michael Leiters (1:02)

Yes, it will be based on a platform with a mid-engine powertrain, so it will be a super car, but it will be placed well above the 911 As you said, we don't want to jeopardize anything on the 911, but it will be a special or particular model line with several derivates. And the platform is very flexible, so regarding the powertrain, we can offer hybrid powertrain or pure ICE. At the end, the customer has to decide, and the customer demand will tell us what derivative and what characteristics we will give this car.

Matt Miller (1:37)

So it was designed for a gasoline-driven powertrain, whether that's hybrid or specifically ICE. My question is, what drives it? Because the most special thing about the 911, as beautiful as it is, as amazing as the design is, is the flat-six screaming behind you, what's the motor going to be in this?

Michael Leiters (1:54)

It's still a secret, we will tell you later, but it will be something which is very much in line with the DNA of Porsche, that I can promise you. And we know how emotional an engine has to be to create the demand and the appeal of the car we need.

Matt Miller (2:11)

One of the things I noticed when I saw the interior is, I mean, it's beautiful, it looks incredibly well done, your team has done a fine job. There aren't these giant screens. It doesn't look like anyone glued an iPad to the middle. In fact, it looks more like an old 1960s, 1970s 911 on the interior.

Are customers pushing back on all that digitalization and what are you doing here?

Michael Leiters (2:34)

I think it depends very much on the segment and on the use cases of the car. This is a super sports car, so this is very driving focused, so that's the reason why we reduced, let me say the digital element of it. Anyway, we have to follow innovations, and for example, the dials are, the displays are digital, but we have analog needles running on them, and we have also some mechanical kinematics behind that to move actually the dials, depending on the mode you choose on the car.

Matt Miller (3:10)

That's very cool, so the tachometer can literally come out closer to the driver.

Michael Leiters (3:13)

Like that, like that, like a camera.

Matt Miller (3:15)

Let me ask about, you know, some other media have said, because you spent time at Ferrari as CTO before you went on to run McLaren and now have been brought back to run Porsche, that you were adopting a Ferrari-like model. They have their V8s that are lower priced, although still very expensive, and then they have their V12s, which is sort of the upper level. That's, they also run this scarcity model where, you know, they don't give you enough, and then you'll pay whatever they offer. You can do that, I guess, with this, to some extent, in the 911, but you still have a big volume business in the Cayenne, the Macan, and others, right?

Michael Leiters (3:51)

Yeah. So first of all, we don't have to copy anybody. Porsche is certified the strongest brand in the world. Why is that? Because we have one uniqueness. We can do both.

We can do high luxury cars, very high scarcity, very exclusive, and at the same time, we can also deliver top premium cars in a more volume and upscaled way. And that is a price and volume point, which is very unique, and only Porsche has it. So, and that is our concept. And by the way, we are not talking about a general price increase. We want to go with new cars in new segments, which are higher positioned, okay? But regarding the Macan, regarding in Cayenne, these cars are well positioned in their segment, and we want to evolve this development and the success of these models.