Porsche Romania focuses on market share growth

This year the company expects its sales volume to hover around last year’s level, even if the market might experience some consolidation towards the end of 2010. ‘Even if we are expecting things to go well starting 2011, we still won’t witness the same market boom we saw in 2006 – 2008. However, Romania holds huge potential in terms of car purchasing. Car ownership rate in Romania is one third of the Western European level, with 160 cars per 1,000 inhabitants as compared to around 500 cars per 1,000 inhabitants in Western Europe,’ said the Porsche Romania manager.
According to Seifert, Porsche Auto has invested more than 100 million Euro in consolidating its brands in Romania since 1998. These brands include Volkswagen and Skoda, alongside such premium brands as Audi and luxury brands as Bentley. Porsche Romania’s turnover reached 420 million Euro last year. ‘In the second half of last year, our priorities changed,’ Seifert told Business Arena Magazine, in an exclusive interview. ‘Previously, growth was the top priority. Now, it is the stability of our distributors’ networks. At the same time we insisted on maintaining high on our priority list our client’s needs and expectations.’
A fine connoisseur of the domestic automotive market, Seifert cannot entirely agree with the industry analysts who have sketched a bleak picture of the Romanian market. ‘That is not entirely accurate,’ he explained. ‘Romania’s auto market really prospered between 2004 and 2008, reaching major growth rates that could not be found elsewhere in Europe at the time. Therefore, the crisis hit Romania harder.’ In this context, he claimed that some companies operating in this market have reported distorted statistical data, declaring cars as sold while in fact they had been re-exported.’
Seifert said one of his company’s strong points was the ‘value for money’ aspect. ‘We offer authorized car service centers, car purchasing, financial and insurance services all in one place. Besides, our car brands maintain their value in time.’ Siefert and his team at Porsche Romania Group, which comprises nearly 1,000 employees, aim to consolidate the company’s market share and emerge stronger after the crisis, along with the company’s dealers. When he is not working towards achieving this goal, the Austrian general manager loves to read and to exchange views with his friends and colleagues.


Favorites:
City:  Barcelona, due to its fascinating combination between an old city, beach and sun
Country:  Italy, because of its cuisine
Romanian Hotel:  Ramada North Bucharest
International Hotel:  Cathedral, Barcelona
Bucharest Restaurant: Casa di David
International Restaurant: Kampa Park, Prague
Food: Tortellini alla panna
Drink: Italian ‘Amarone’ red wine
Actor/actress: Meryl Streep
Last book read: Martin Suter – ‘Der Koch’
Car owned: VW Touareg
Favourite vechicle: Except for the Touareg, my personal Vespa 300 GTS
Hobby:  Mountain biking, jogging, reading and skiing
Music genre:  Jazz
Artist/band: Coltrane
Last vacation taken:  In January, I spent a weekend in Prague with my girlfriend
Favorite office gadget: Blackberry
Date and place of birth: Austria, July 19, 1965