ED Memories: July 19, 2023

Wednesday, July 19, 2023

Pretty amazing day ahead here today - after what feels like a short sleep (because of being super-pooped / jet-lagged) but was actually 7 hours or so. I sleep reasonably well on the firm bed, though apparently I do some snoring, even though I have my 'device' in AND nasal strips! Grrrr. Hope it's not often and too disruptive. I know how miserable it can be when someone is snoring.

We get up at 7:00 to pack the rental car so that it will be ready at lunchtime because we will go directly from the special Exclusif Manufactur tour to the train for Leipzig. We head to the Porsche museum where we get free entrance because of our ED. Nice. As we wait for our 'multimedia devices' (more about that later - but very cool), I have a delicious ham and cheese croissant at the café in there with some good coffee. There have been several flavourful food experiences here and I realize just how complacent I am back in Ottawa when it comes to seeking out good-tasting food. Like, go to Bridgehead for good coffee instead of the Tim Horton's swill, come on! Too often I am sacrificing goodness for convenience. Bridgehead is SO much better, and only a little off my route to work in the mornings.

Perhaps driving the Boxster to work will be enough of an incentive to take a slightly out-of-the-way route to the office to hit the Bridgehead instead. The delicious coffee here suggests to me I should do that. Right now, I need the caffeine hit, but that welcome jolt is soon to be replaced by the cool stuff we are about to see. All fatigue will fall away in the face of all the awesomeness.

We ride up the big, long escalator to the exhibit hall - a most impressive structure with some fabulous aesthetics. They give us clever smartphone devices with audio tracks on them about all the exhibits. You just type in the number of the exhibit, and get the story. Super-easy and very efficient. And boy do we see some stuff. Old documents from just post-war, engineering and design documents from the first Porsches, models of engines and suspension from across the 75 years. So cool.

And then … the cars. Wow. Just wow. So much history. There really isn't enough time here, because of the surprise bonus of the Exclusif Manufactur tour (which is an amazing and worthy trade-off) but the museum is definitely something to see. I think I could easily spend two more hours just drinking at all in. LOTS of amazing historical Porsches and there is a really interesting feel to the installations. Lots of mention of electric / hybrid. Clearly a prong (but only one prong) of Porsche's business strategy.

It's a different feel to the BMW museum from a couple of years ago in Munich - both excellent and extremely well put together - but I can't put my finger on the difference really. Perhaps it's that I'M different this time around, as I'm more directly invested in the experience now - not just a ride-along companion. That's not to say going along on one of these things isn't worth it even if one isn't getting a car - it is - and the BMW ED will always be a special trip in my mind, but this one is different (for me) …

From the museum, we head to the Exclusif Manufactur building, for a tour with Simone (chief interior designer) and Pinot (head of customization at Porsche) thanks to Bernd - the sports car club guy we met the day before!. This is where all of the personalization work goes on for cars delivered around the world; the tweaks that go far beyond the regular choices you make when selecting your car options from the configurator online. It was a hugely satisfying thing to pick out all of the options I wanted for my own car, making it unique to me and very specific to what I wanted, but this place is next-level. Of course, there's a price to pay though …

It is some impressive customization work that they do here, truly. If money is no object, Porsche will do pretty much anything you want. Change the seats? Sure, no problem. Wrap the steering wheel in a houndstooth fabric? Why not? Take parts from a GT3 and put them on your 911 Targa? Certainly sir, just sign here please and give us your credit card. Your unobtanium credit card.

As we walk around the designated spaces for all the custom builds being done, Simone explains a few things and (with a little prompting) talks a bit about how she ended up there. She is lovely and has a very interesting history with Porsche. She did her PHD research in customer preferences for customization before being hired at Porsche, and her latest project has been working on the interior design team for the 911 Sport Classic, after spending some time with the research team at Weissach. Quite special to talk with someone who has recently been so closely involved with one of the newest special models Porsche has just released. You don't get this kind of insight in the standard public factory tour I am sure!

After showing us around the main consultation area, she then introduces us to Pino (Giuseppe) who is the HEAD of Porsche customization (known as CXX). Wow. He then takes us through a complete tour of their facility. Not something the everyday Joe gets by any stretch. A large part of what they do there is service the 11,000 fleet cars with 120 mechanics - something I'd never really thought about. No dealership services for all those Porsche press cars - they are all cared for right here.

The truly special stuff is what CXX is all about though, and we get a real inside look at what goes on. A couple of lucky NB boys here, wow! We see a couple of projects that he asks us not to talk about (we promise), and see some truly bizarre custom jobs being doing for some high-end customers. The sewing shop is particularly impressive, where three (three!!!) employees work to do ALL the custom sewing for ALL custom designs globally. Crazy! There are multiple levels to the customization enterprise, starting with our basic level which is now done at the factory. Yes, even our cars are customized to a degree, based on the number of options Porsche offers - enough that no two cars go out of the factory with exactly the same spec. The next level adds on some 8-10 cars per year of paint and trim customization, and then they do 2-3 cars per year of full customization - those are the $100k-just-for-the-consultation customizations! That's a whole process with a design team working with the customer to spec out exactly what they want. Suffice it to say, we'll not be accessing that level ever, but it's quite something to see from the inside.

We wrap up this very special thing; I cannot believe the time these high-level executives spent with us, just a couple of small-town fellows from little ol' New Brunswick. I don't know what the dollar-per-minute price tag is, but I'm sure it's a lot. Gives you a real sense of the pride and commitment to the customer that the company has. Thanks so much Porsche! And Simone and Pino!

What a great way to spend an hour-and-a-half before the long train ride to Leipzig, which we now have to head for. We've got a couple of very big, heavy bags of stuff, and need to drive the rental car back from the museum to the train which is where the drop off for the rental car is. Handy stuff, and that's all down to Andrew's excellent pre-organizing he did while in Europe before I got there.

Apparently, I am already falling down on my self-imposed documenting duties, as I seem to have no notes for the train from Stuttgart to Leipzig! Nor for the arrival at the pre-arranged 'Porsche' hotel there! The only note I can find is "Gnocci for dinner with Italian sausage. Yum." I can recall that the train was standard European fare - as in fast, on-time, and fuss-free. Maybe I napped? Or yapped? I must have crashed hard at the hotel as I left off writing anything about the train or evening. Oops.

I shall try to do better.

~ Luke