ECONOMY

Porsche wants to power Albania’s posh car market

TIRANA – Austrian passenger car distributor Porsche Holding wants to get a leading position in the high-end auto market in Albania, a company official said. Porsche Holding, which has car dealerships in most of the countries in Southeast Europe, launched its Albanian unit last summer as part of an expansion into the region where the auto market is still dominated by used cars. «We want to be No. 1 in the premium segment, in the BMW and Mercedes segment. This is our target for the next two years,» the general manager of Porsche Albania, Alex Vaszi, told SeeNews in a recent interview. Porsche Albania will target the high-end segment with Audi, the premium brand of German automaker Volkswagen. Last year, Albanian car dealers sold 145 new Mercedes cars and 65 new BMWs, data of the Albanian new car distributors association showed. Porsche Albania is the exclusive importer of Audi and Volkswagen’s Spanish carmaker Seat. It is one of the few foreign-owned companies that sell new cars in Albania. «While the competing brands are being imported through local distributors, Porsche Holding made the difference by entering the market first-hand, thus implying proper European standards that are strictly maintained and nurtured,» Vaszi said. New-car sales in Albania reached 2,200 units last year while the used-car market was estimated at approximately 17,000 units. «We have a very good chance with our brands because they are two opposite brands. We represent a premium brand, Audi, for affluent people, on the one hand, and on the other hand, Seat is accessible for lower incomes, including a younger market,» Vaszi said. He added that the company could sell between 50 and 60 Audi cars in a year. Porsche Albania targets selling 100 Audi and Seat cars this year. The company has sold some 20 cars since October when it officially started operations. «However, the goal in 2005 was to assure brand recognition more than sales,» Vaszi said. Investment plans «Porsche Holding invests long-term only. In other words, we do not rush into entering a country quickly and abruptly. Let’s say we like the mature way of doing business. For us it is very important to make it step by step – small step to a second small step,» Vaszi said. «This means that this year we are planning to move from brand recognition to proper establishment in the Albanian market.» Porsche opened its first showroom in Albania in October. The 1,100-square-meter facility is located near Tirana on the highway that links the capital to the port of Durres. Porsche Albania, which has invested 3 million euros ($3.7 million) in its operations in the country so far, will initially concentrate on its activities in Tirana and then plan other investments. «Maybe we will have a second location here in Tirana and also in Durres but for us it is important to enter this market and to build up our business at the highway,» Vaszi said. Porsche Holding (www.porsche-holding.com), which runs subsidiaries in other southeastern European countries like Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, sold 344,000 cars last year.

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