Your Porsche 911 will soon find its own parking spot

Porsche founded a unit in Germany, last year focused on creating digital services for cars

Porsche is shifting its focus beyond horsepower and handling to services like finding nearby parking spots and providing real-time weather data that warns drivers of icy roads.

The goal is for so-called digital services to generate at least 10 per cent of annual revenue in the medium term, the Stuttgart, Germany-based luxury division of Volkswagen said Friday. 

That effectively means that a $89,400 911 sports car would generate at least $9,000 from offerings like activating special lighting systems to help navigate mountain roads.

“Customer expectations are changing,” Chief Financial Officer Lutz Meschke said at a press conference. “They are demanding personalised services that are tailored to them.”

Porsche founded a unit in Ludwigsburg, Germany, last year focused on creating digital services for cars like the 911, four-door Panamera coupe and Cayenne sport utility vehicle. It also opened a technology lab for developers in Berlin and acquired stakes in venture-capital fund e.ventures and parking-service provider Evopark. The carmaker already offers the Porsche Connect mobile application, with features including navigation, real-time traffic data and remote vehicle monitoring.

“While the focus of our research and development investment has until now been almost exclusively on developing vehicles, we will spend significantly more on creating new digital services in the future,” Meschke said near the sports-car maker’s headquarters in Stuttgart. The company will be “forced” to generate much more in sales from the services as the industry adapts to new technology, including autonomous driving. 

Porsche’s success is vital for Volkswagen to stem the financial fallout of its diesel-emissions scandal. The brand posted record earnings, revenue and deliveries in 2016, and operating profit amounted to 17.4 per cent of sales, among the highest in the auto industry.