Porsche E-Performance campaign comes to Vancouver

If you still think of hybrids as slow eco-boxes driven primarily by activists and movie stars, Porsche wants you to think again. The automaker is in the middle of their nationwide E-Performance campaign to spread the word about its electric efforts, currently set up inside Richmond Centre Mall on No. 3 Road.

Jonathan Thomson, marketing planning and product manager for Porsche Cars Canada, was on site last week and explained why they’re travelling across Canada.

“A lot of people don’t know we offer a Cayenne and Panamera S E-Hybrid, so it’s really an awareness play. It’s also to let the provinces and the country know we sell these products, are supporting sustainability and that we’re not just a performance brand without any future orientation,” said Thomson.

“Hybrids are the way thing are going. Look at new entries into hybrid and plug-in hybrid segments, even 15 versus 2016 — 10 to 12 new products every year seem to be going into production. And it happens we make a lot of energy, a lot of hydro, in Canada so it’s actually a great market here.”

Visitors can walk right up to the kiosk and see a replica of Porsche’s winning 919 Hybrid that took part in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race in France, as well as a brand new 2016 Cayenne S E-Hybrid.

“[The booth] is meant basically to show the relationship and some of the lessons we learned on the 919, like regenerative braking and some of the other technology in there, and how that’s transferred to the production vehicles,” he said.

Unfortunately, the Mission E, Porsche’s 600-horsepower all-electric sports car concept debuting at Frankfurt Motor Show, didn’t make the journey, although Thomson repeated the comforting news confirming a production launch by the end of the decade.

Besides getting up close to the two vehicles, there will also be product specialists on hand to talk more about E-Performance and monitors showing videos on the subject.

For customers thinking about making the leap to a partially-electric luxury German automobile, now is a great time — Porsche has lowered the starting price of the 2016 Panamera S E-Hybrid to $106,600, which is $3,400 less than before.

The tour kicked off during the winter in Toronto, and finishes up in Montreal in July. Porsche fans can catch the display in Richmond Centre until June 12.