Wear a Porsche and go to work

NEW DELHI: Want to wear a Porsche? You read that right. German super-premium car maker Porsche is stitching together plans to introduce its Porsche Design line of clothing, shoes and accessories in India through exclusive brand shops, starting 2007.
The car maker is in dialogues with local firms for introducing the premium designer label in India, Porsche's regional operations manager (Middle East & India) George Wills said.
"We have a whole line of designer clothing like suits, besides shoes and other accessories that are sold under Porsche Design banner. We plan to introduce this line in India next year through special franchisee outlets," Wills said. "These products are in the same league as big designer brands like Armani and others, and their introduction here will help in promoting the Porsche brand in the country."
This will be the first time a car maker has decided to roll out branded designer wears in India. Prior to this, companies like DaimlerChrysler, BMW and others have talked of introducing special merchandise related to vehicles. "We have such Porsche Design stores in Germany, Middle East and some other markets. India, we feel, will be a good market for such products," he added.
Porsche, which debuted in India last year, has already sold over 200 units in Delhi and Mumbai — the two markets it is present in today. "Moving forward, we feel the market has great potential and we will look at expanding network to other cities like Chennai, Hyderabad and Punjab. We have finished our first Porsche road show in India and hope to soon finalise plans for expanding the Indian footprint," Wills said.
Besides expanding its sales network, Porsche is planning to widen its product portfolio here with the introduction of four-door coupe Panamera in 2009 with a price tag of around Rs 1 crore.
This will make Porsche the latest car maker, after DaimlerChrysler, Bentley and Lamborghini, to roll out crorepati cars in India. "The market for luxury cars is going to grow steadily. A lot of people have money and we hope to tap them with our cars," Mohamed Rahman, managing director of Porsche's Indian operations, said after launching its first showroom-cum-service centre in India.
"We plan to bring Panamera to India simultaneous to its global launch. We are confident this will bring higher volumes, though it will be priced around Rs 1 crore," said Ashish Chordia, CEO of Shreyans Motors, the exclusive dealer for Porsche in India.