A product strategy is basically a company’s game plan for what to sell and who to sell it to. The speaker is saying Porsche didn’t have a clear plan for its cars, which hurt sales.
Here, “press” means car journalists and media. The speaker is saying bad reviews and coverage were hurting the brand, and their new approach helped turn that around.
Re-engineering means taking a component and redesigning it from the ground up. The speaker is saying the team didn’t want to overcomplicate it and instead went simpler.
Suspension is the system that connects the wheels to the car’s body and controls ride comfort and handling. In the segment, the speaker describes stripping the car down to the base and then dropping it into suspension as part of building a more focused concept.
Racing seats are designed to keep you locked in during aggressive driving. Using lightweight “plastic” racing seats is one way to make a car feel more track-focused and less like a comfort car.
The British Motor Show is a big car event in the UK where automakers show cars to journalists and fans. The speaker is saying they used that spotlight to help change how people talked about the brand.
Car
Lamborghini GB
“Lamborghini GB” means Lamborghini’s operations for Great Britain. The speaker says they had problems there, then they improved things by asking customers what they wanted and building a new model.
The Lamborghini Diablo is a supercar made by Lamborghini. The podcast is talking about the Diablo SV, which is a special version of the Diablo made for a particular performance direction. It comes up because it shows how Lamborghini developed and refined the Diablo over time.
The “Porsche and Pieck family” refers to the family group that owned Porsche at that time. Their decision to “clear out the board” is a corporate governance action—replacing leadership when the company is underperforming.
“Cleared out the board” describes a governance move where the owners remove the company’s board of directors. It’s a high-level corporate action that typically happens when leadership is considered ineffective and a turnaround is needed.
The Porsche 924 is an older Porsche with a smaller, four-cylinder engine. The host is using it to explain that Porsche relied heavily on these smaller models for sales and money for a long time.
The Porsche 944 is an older Porsche with a four-cylinder engine. The point in the episode is that Porsche depended on cars like the 944 to make most of its sales and profits.
Concept
end of their life
“End of their life” means the model is getting phased out and people stop buying it. The host is using it to show how Porsche lost money when its older, high-volume cars were no longer selling.
The Porsche 928 is an older Porsche model that was meant to be a more comfortable, long-distance grand tourer. In the episode, it’s mentioned because it was already declining before Porsche’s situation improved.
The Porsche 911 is Porsche’s most famous model. The host is saying Porsche’s business was heavily supported by other models for a while, but once they aged out, the 911 became the main remaining product.
“Club Sport” is a Porsche trim/option package that typically emphasizes weight reduction and a more driver-focused setup by removing or deleting comfort-oriented items. Here, the host says adding the “club sport” word later increased perceived value, but at the time it coincided with taking things off the car—so it affected how buyers interpreted the changes.
The Porsche 968 is basically the next-generation version of the 944. In this segment, the host says it was a mild update, which is how Porsche tried to fix the brand without completely starting over.
They’re saying taxes matter for what the car ultimately costs. If taxes push the price too high, the car can’t meet the target price they need to sell it.
Term
FED in headlights
They’re talking about a prototype headlight setup using a specific lighting idea (“FED”). The important part is that they were trying different headlight tech while working toward a lower price.
Price positioning is how a brand deliberately places a vehicle in the market relative to competitors—often tied to perceived value, target buyers, and margins. The speaker says the prototype’s look wouldn’t solve the bigger problem: hitting the right price positioning.
Concept
take everything out the car
They’re describing a “strip it down” approach. The idea is to remove as much as possible to save weight and money, then add back only the essentials.
The steering wheel is the driver’s primary control interface for direction and steering feel. The host’s point is that, in a stripped “club sport” style build, the steering wheel becomes one of the first things you notice—signaling a more driver-focused cockpit.
“Margin” is the profit dealers keep from each sale, usually shown as a percentage. The host is saying the new plan left dealers with less profit than before.
“Color-coded wheels” just means the wheels are finished in a way that matches the car’s paint or theme. It’s mostly about looks—making the whole car look put together.
“Back to the roots” means going back to what the brand is known for. In this case, the speaker says the journalists felt the cars were closer to Porsche’s original spirit.
This means they tried to change what people thought about Porsche. Instead of only improving the cars, they also changed the story and image so journalists and buyers viewed Porsche differently.
AutoCar is a car magazine that gives out awards. Saying it won “Car of the Year” means a respected publication publicly picked it as the best overall car that year.
Steve Cropley is a car journalist the host is talking about. In this story, his involvement connects Porsche to major car-media attention and awards.
Concept
brand that was thinking about the future
The host is saying Porsche went from being in a tough spot to focusing on what comes next. That means planning new cars and a new direction, not just trying to get through the present.
The Porsche Carrera GT is a very special, very high-performance supercar from Porsche. It’s known for being rare and for delivering an extreme driving experience. The podcast mentions it because it’s considered a standout car in Porsche’s lineup.
The Porsche Panamera is a Porsche with four doors, so it’s easier to live with than a two-door sports car. It’s designed for people who want sporty performance but also need more everyday practicality. The podcast mentions it because it attracts a different group of customers.
The Porsche Taycan is an electric sedan made by Porsche. The podcast talks about how many Taycans you can see, but also suggests the business side hasn’t been as smooth as expected. That’s why it comes up—both its popularity on the road and its sales/cost concerns are being questioned.
Here, “electric one” means an electric car instead of a gas car. The point is that EVs are taking over the market, and that forces brands to adapt fast.
“Chinese EVs” are electric cars made by companies in China. The host is saying there are so many of them now that they’re making competition tougher for other automakers.
The Volkswagen Group is a big car company that owns several different brands. The host is saying Porsche being part of that group affects how Porsche designs and builds cars.
“Group components” are shared parts that different car brands in the same company use. The concern is that using too many shared parts can make a brand feel less special or less “Porsche-like.”
In an EV, there’s a lot of high-voltage electrical equipment that controls power flow. The host is saying even that kind of hardware could be shared across brands.
Ferrari is used as an example of a car brand that still feels unique, even though it’s part of a bigger corporate structure. The host is saying Porsche should try to keep that same kind of identity.
“Brand identity” means what makes a brand feel recognizable and different from others. The host is saying Porsche has to keep what makes it “Porsche” even as the company changes.
“Motorway basher” is enthusiast slang for a car that’s comfortable and durable enough for lots of highway miles. In the segment, it’s used to describe the “McCann” as a practical, high-use daily driver rather than a niche weekend car.
A “skunkworks” project is basically a small team working fast on something experimental. In this case, they’re using that approach to try to get an engine solution into the new car.
An internal combustion engine is the traditional gas/diesel engine that makes power by burning fuel. The speaker is saying Porsche may still need to keep using that technology for some buyers.
Electric vehicles are cars that run on electricity stored in a battery. Instead of burning fuel in an engine, they use an electric motor to move the car.
The “sensory experience” is about what you can see and hear when you drive—like the engine sound and the feeling of the car. The host’s point is that some people buy certain cars for that whole experience, not just getting from A to B.
Term
engine on each wheel
That phrase means the car has a motor at (or near) each wheel. Instead of one engine sending power through the drivetrain, each wheel can get its own power, which can help with grip and control.
Term
digital marketing agency
A digital marketing agency is a business that helps companies get customers using online ads and content. Here, the host says they do that work for car-related businesses too.
PPC means “pay per click.” The advertiser pays when someone actually clicks the ad, which helps target shoppers who are actively looking for something.
SEO is how you make a website show up more often when people search online. It’s about getting your page to rank higher so more interested people can find it.
A Porsche 911 Turbo is a high-performance 911 with a turbocharger. Here, they’re talking about whether Porsche should make it in right-hand-drive or left-hand-drive for different countries.
Right-hand drive means the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. It’s used in countries where cars drive on the left, and the speaker is saying Porsche was considering whether to build for that market.
Left-hand drive means the steering wheel is on the left side of the car. The speaker is saying Porsche planned to make only that version, not the right-side steering version needed in some countries.
“Green credentials” are the eco-friendly claims people make about something. Here, the host is saying those claims might not be as impressive as they sound for electric cars.
An Audi allroad is a rugged-looking wagon made for everyday driving plus rougher roads. The “twin turbo” part means the engine uses two turbochargers to help it pull strongly, especially at lower speeds.
Torque is the engine’s pulling force. More torque usually means the car feels strong and quick when you press the accelerator, especially at lower speeds.
Diesel is a kind of engine that works differently from typical gas engines. Instead of spark plugs, it uses high compression to ignite the fuel. Governments have sometimes encouraged diesel with tax rules, which changes what car companies focus on.
A V6 hybrid is a car that has a V6 engine and also uses electricity to help drive it. That can make the car feel different—sometimes smoother or quicker at low speeds—compared with a non-hybrid.
The Ferrari 458 Speciale is a special, more hardcore version of the 458. It’s known for a high-revving V8 and for feeling more focused than a typical Ferrari.
The Ferrari F40 is one of Ferrari’s most famous old supercars. It’s known for being fast and kind of raw, like something closer to a race car than a luxury car.
The Lamborghini Huracán is a supercar with a famous V10 sound and a very dramatic driving style. In this discussion, it’s the “better choice” some buyers would make with their money.
Concept
legislation driven
“Legislation driven” refers to decisions shaped by government rules—like emissions standards and EV mandates. The speaker contrasts that with customer demand, implying both forces influence how quickly automakers change.
Concept
sweet point
“Sweet point” means the best balance. In this case, it’s finding a car strategy that meets rules but still matches what buyers care about.
The Lamborghini Diablo SV is a special, lighter version of the Diablo. The idea is to make the car feel more exciting by removing weight and focusing on what drivers actually want.
Term
club support strategy
A “club support strategy” means the company supports car enthusiast groups. That helps build a loyal fan base and makes people more likely to talk positively about the car.
They’re talking about the headlights not working perfectly—like one side comes up and the other doesn’t. It’s a sign the car wasn’t always reliable.
Car
Porsche GB
“Porsche GB” means Porsche’s business in Great Britain (the UK). The host is asking who’s responsible for Porsche’s UK sales and what decisions might be hurting demand.
A V8 is an engine with eight cylinders. The host is saying that when McLaren had V8 versions, they sold really well.
Car
Aston Martin Signet
The Aston Martin Signet was Aston Martin’s attempt to sell a cheaper, more efficient car. The host explains it was basically a Toyota IQ with Aston Martin branding added.
The Aston Martin DB9 is a grand tourer (GT) that represents Aston Martin’s traditional lineup of larger, higher-performance cars. Here it’s used as a reference point for the kind of customer who might also buy the more practical Aston Martin Signet for a partner or spouse.
The Toyota IQ is a tiny, efficient car meant for city driving. The host says Aston Martin used it as the basis for the Signet by putting Aston branding on it.
“Fuel efficient” means the car uses less fuel for the same distance. The host is saying Aston needed more efficient cars in its lineup so it could still sell its big V12 models.
A V12 is a type of engine with 12 cylinders arranged in a V shape. The host is saying Aston wanted to keep building these big, powerful engines even while meeting efficiency rules.
McLaren is a well-known performance brand from the UK. The host mentions it alongside other top brands while discussing whether they’ll stay independent in the future.
This phrase describes industry consolidation where independent automakers or brands are folded into larger corporate groups. The speaker argues that this can dilute brand identity—making brands “neutralized” or “muted” by corporate priorities rather than their original vision.
Person
Adrian
The host mentions “Adrian,” but only by first name. The transcript doesn’t clearly say who that is, so it’s hard to pin down which person they mean.
The speaker is about to talk about electric cars. The clip ends before they fully explain what they mean, but it’s clearly setting up an EV-related point.
ICE engine means the normal gas or diesel engine that burns fuel. The speaker is saying people are used to thinking about gas engines, but electric motors are a different concept.
In an electric car, the electric motor is what actually spins to move the car. Not all electric motors are the same, so different cars can feel different and use energy differently.
V6 is a type of gas engine with six cylinders arranged in a V shape. The speaker is using it as an example of something people already understand about regular engines.
Brand positioning is how a brand tries to be seen by customers—what it wants people to think of when they hear the name. Here, the speaker says Porsche should be known for racing success and high quality.
Le Mans is a very famous long-distance race for sports cars. The speaker is using it to explain why Porsche cares about racing success and public image.
“World-class experience” means the company wants every part of dealing with them to feel top quality. The host is saying Porsche should make sure the car and the support around it are excellent, not just the product itself.
A dealer is a local business that sells cars for a brand and often handles service too. The speaker is saying Porsche dealers were used to an easier market where people would place orders without as much effort to sell.
Tom Purvis is the BMW UK executive the speaker talks to. The speaker credits him with giving advice and support during a business-planning conversation.
The VW Group is the big parent company that owns several car brands. Here, the speaker is saying Porsche can’t act completely independently because it’s influenced by the parent company.
The Porsche Macan is a smaller luxury SUV. In this podcast, the focus is on the Macan EV, which is the electric version. The speaker is upset because they think the electric model isn’t meeting expectations in the market.
Term
distribution strategy
Distribution strategy is how a car company gets its cars to customers. It often involves dealers and the sales setup in different regions.
“Four cylinder building” is a nickname for BMW’s headquarters complex, referencing the idea of cylinders from an engine. The host explains it as a tall building with four “spheres,” tying the architecture to the “four cylinders” name.
The speaker is describing the building’s shape. He says it has four sphere-like sections, and that’s part of why it’s called the “four cylinders” building.
Ben Pitchesreeder is the last person the host meets in the interview day. The host describes it as a big, top-floor suite, implying a senior role.
Car
BMW
BMW is a major car company from Germany. In this segment, it’s mentioned because BMW was involved in developing the engine used in the McLaren F1 prototype story.
The McLaren F1 is a legendary high-performance supercar that used a BMW-developed engine. Here, they’re talking about an early prototype test car that crashed after a run, showing that early braking/handling problems can be dangerous before everything is finalized.
Cars have brakes on both the front and rear wheels. If the rear brakes grab too much compared to the front, the rear wheels can lock up and the car can slide or spin.
“Back wheels locked” means the rear tires stop turning while you’re braking. That usually makes the car harder to steer and can cause it to slide or spin.
LIVE
Kevin, you are responsible for saving some huge names including Porsche.
You were CEO of Porsche at 32 years old.
Well, I got that position because they were in such trouble.
And why were they in that trouble?
Because they didn't have a product strategy.
How did you use in the word club sport and what you did to the car save the brand?
The press were killing us.
German engineers, they went away and started re-engineering stuff.
And we said, no, no, make it simpler than that.
Let's start with the base of an engine, four wheels and a chassis.
You know, let's take everything out.
So we take the waiter, we drop the car in suspension, plastic racing seats in it.
We showed it at the British Motor Show.
It was a commercial success because it changed the mindset of the press.
So I bought Lamborghini GB as a company.
It was broken.
We fixed it by asking the customers, what do you actually want?
And we created the Diablo SV.
Porsche and Pieck family owned the business at that point.
They decided they needed a change.
Myself and my finance colleague were invited in.
I thought we were going in there to get fired.
So we went in to talk to them.
What happened?
Kevin, you are a super entrepreneur responsible for saving some huge names,
including Porsche.
But you've also been at BMW.
You founded your own businesses and done so many things over the years.
It's hard to introduce a man that has done so much.
So in your own words, who are you and what do you do?
In my own words, I'm a lad from up north.
Grew up in a working class family, happy family.
Studied engineering at university.
Then I studied accountancy.
I've been fortunate enough to work in some great companies.
And including BMW, including Lamborghini, including Porsche.
And that was all great fun.
And at the age of 40, I decided I wanted to do my own thing.
So I walked away and I started creating companies.
And I've built 15, 16, 17 since then.
Outside of that, I'm an outdoors guy.
I used to play a lot of cricket.
I played international cricket.
Then I started mountain climbing and I've climbed the biggest mountains in the world.
I've walked to North Pole twice because my son was too young the first time.
So we went back together.
I've walked to South Pole.
I've rode and sent world records from rowing across the Atlantic.
I've set two world records from rowing across the Pacific,
one of which was picking the oldest guy ever to do it.
So not sure I'm proud of that one, but that's what I do for fun.
When you can do all of those things and have done all of those things
and put your mind over to them, you need time.
So it means to get all of those done.
You have to start fairly early.
And I think one of the most shocking headlines of your story
was the fact that you were CEO of Porsche in Great Britain at 32 years old.
Like to so many people listening, that is a shocking statement.
And you only got that position
because you thought you were going to be sacked that day.
Well, I got that position because they were in such trouble.
That was the reality.
And why were they in that trouble?
Because they didn't have a product strategy.
I'd been in the business for five years and I'd watched it gradually,
gradually, slowly fall apart.
And I got more and more frustrated.
And I had two or three very good colleagues who shared my frustration.
And eventually the Porsche and Pieck family who owned the business at that point,
they decided they needed a change and they cleared out the board.
And myself and my finance colleague were invited in.
And I thought we were going in there to get fired.
They'd come over to England.
They'd cleared out the British management.
And then Armin and I got invited to go and talk to them.
So we went in to talk to them.
Before we went in, we'd already built a plan of what we would do with this company.
And so we went in and we basically said,
hey, you're giving us a hard time.
We weren't running this business.
We were the guys that leveled down who were actually doing the work.
But you could fix this thing.
So don't shout at us.
You should be embarrassed because you're the big chiefs.
And they said, what would you do?
And so we stood there for four hours, four hours with flip charts,
explaining what we would do.
We'd already been through this a dozen times before we went in that room,
not practicing to make the presentation,
but we were deciding what we would do with the company
before they came in and cleared out the board.
We didn't expect that to happen.
And so they listened to the presentation.
They asked us to leave the room.
Armin and I went and sat outside
and turned this way to the invite us back in.
And they said, we've made our decision.
Right?
That's all.
Right?
I'm off.
They said, no, no, no.
You're the new management director.
You're the finance director.
That's the plan to make it happen.
That was me, me.
Okay.
And I walked out thinking, what the heck just happened?
And then we got to work.
And we got our team together.
And we said, we've just been charged with this great brand.
Are we really going to be the people behind the steering wheel
of this amazing brand when it goes off the road?
No, we're not.
Right?
Then we got to fix it.
And we started making some big decisions.
And some of those decisions were really painful.
I fired half the company, half.
And I knew everyone there.
They were my friends.
I knew them.
I knew their husbands, their wives.
I knew their kids.
I knew their dogs.
It was the hardest thing it ever had to do.
And I told somebody else this story.
And they said, ah, I bet you didn't feel as bad as they felt.
I probably did, actually, because it was heartbreaking.
But my job was to protect this brand, protect the company.
Because if I hadn't made the decisions I made,
the business would have fallen over.
So we made the decisions we needed to make,
to slim the company down, reorganize,
re-strategize, republicize, and off we went.
And in the next four or five years,
we took the business from last in the market,
32 brands, to first in the market.
And that was our target,
to become first in the market for customer satisfaction.
And people said to me in the early days,
how are you going to do that?
I said, no idea.
I have no idea.
But what we're going to do is make sure we explore opportunities.
We look at other companies.
We talk to our clients.
We get clients involved.
We get the drivers involved.
We ask them what's important to them.
We get the dealers involved.
I invited some of the dealers to come and sit on the board.
And people said, you can't do that.
They're dealers.
No, they're an extension of our brand.
They are the people who a driver talks to
when the driver wants to buy a car.
We don't do that.
So we need to make sure we're all on the same page.
And we just work together.
I mean, it sounds simple, but we work together.
We built a plan, the way we're going to go.
And then we worked on that plan every hour of every day.
And it was an 18-hour a day job for five years.
What gave you the fire and got you to that room
to be able to do that growing up?
Because if you come from a normal background
with no kind of entrepreneurialism behind you,
what made you that way?
What was the thing that kicked you in that direction?
Yeah, well, there's no entrepreneur.
My mom was the village hairdresser.
And my dad worked at the power station.
Dad was a power station engineer.
So no entrepreneurs in my family.
I think I like a challenge, right?
If you look at everything I've done in my life,
I enjoy a challenge and the harder the better.
And I heard a phrase somebody said to me recently,
don't ask Kev because he'll just say, hold my beer.
And I thought, I know it's a common phrase,
but not heard it before.
It just made me laugh because I'm just of that mindset.
You say I can't do that?
Hold my beer.
We're going to go and do it, right?
And so the drive was there because I was passionate about Porsche.
I loved that business.
I loved that brand.
I felt myself to be so lucky to be working in that company
for five years before it all went wrong.
And then when they charged me with the responsibility,
I was afraid of failure.
You first, it's imposter syndrome, isn't it?
Your first fear is of, I'm going to cock this up.
Well, I'm not.
I'm going to work so hard.
I'm going to give it my absolute everything.
I had a great team of people around me.
My right-hand man was my finance director,
who was great, a German guy, fantastic,
Army Muller, fantastic guy.
My left-hand man was a guy called Adrian Hallmark,
who you might have heard of.
And today Adrian's doing the job he's doing at Aston.
Highly, highly competent guy.
Highly, just a great guy.
And so we had a team of people who were passionate about this.
And so you couldn't relax because they would push you.
And if they relaxed, we would put,
you know, it was a team culture that we were going to do this thing.
Why were Porsche in trouble?
It was a lack of product strategy.
Now, they had the four cylinder cars, the 924 and the 944.
And they'd gradually, after 20 odd years,
they'd gradually run out of life around the 911.
The 928 had been on its last legs for some time before.
We had the 911.
That was it.
And when the bulk of your volume,
and thereby the bulk of your profit,
was the four-cylinder range, 924, 944,
and those vehicles reached the end of their life,
your revenue's gone.
And you need revenue to drive the investment,
to build the new product strategy.
And they'd lost sight of that.
And so it was poor management.
Poor management at global headquarter level.
One part of your story of how you turn that around
was the word club sport.
Oh, yeah.
And it's funny because these days,
if you add that word to the side of a Porsche,
it adds value.
Yeah.
Yet you added that word and took away value at the time
because you were taking thing off the car.
How did you use in the word club sport
and what you did to the car save the brand?
The press were killing us.
We'd got tired and flabby.
Us, the product, everything.
There was the accusation.
We'd lost sight of what the customer wanted.
And the four-cylinder 924, 944 was on its last legs.
And then the 968 was launched.
And the 968 was,
it was a gentle makeover of a 944.
That's what it was.
Heaven's alive.
You look really terrible, big devil.
Ah, tell me about little devil.
It's hotter than heck down here and I burnt out.
Here, try a Red Bull.
It's devilishly good.
Red Bull, eh?
Oh, that tastes heavenly.
But, but, what's this?
Oh, dear.
I forgot about that.
Wings, wings.
I can't have wings.
Not in my position.
Red Bull gives you wings.
Care for your skin, like you care for the game.
Dove Men Plus Care is an official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2026,
and has just dropped their new limited edition deodorant and antiperspirant collection
for 72 hours sweat and odor protection,
helping you stay fresh from kickoff to the final whistle.
Visit dove.com slash ca slash en slash men dash care to shop now.
But the trouble with it was it came in at a price that was not attractive.
924 had been down at a £20,000 mark,
and the 968 came in at £36,000, which is a big leap.
You've lost a lot of people in the middle, and TVR were out there,
they were stealing our customers left and right.
And we recognised that we needed a car sub 30,000,
and we actually said we want it sub 29,000.
And part of it was about tax,
part of it was about having a position in the market.
So we said to the factory, guys, we need a car at under 29,000 pounds.
And they said, we can't do that.
We said, no, you're not listening.
We need a car under 29,000 pounds, or we're dead.
And so can you ever think about it, please?
And German engineers being German engineers,
they went away and started reengineering stuff.
And we said, no, no, make it simpler than that.
And there were some concepts made of 968 with FED in headlights,
and you know, the thing looked like a dog's bollocks,
but it wasn't going to help us with the price positioning.
So we're in an internal meeting in Porsche GB,
and we said, right, how could we do this?
What could we do?
And we said, let's take everything out the car.
Let's start with a base of an engine, four wheels, and a chassis.
Let's take everything out, and then put a few bits and bobs back in.
And that's what we did.
We took everything that we could out of the car.
So it takes the weight down, but a few bits and bobs back in.
Well, you've got to be careful what you put back in,
because nobody wants to drive the cheap Porsche.
So you've got to reposition the car.
And Porsche had this classic nomenclature of the club sport.
We said, right, well, we'll grab that.
What does that mean?
So we take the weight out, we drop the car in suspension,
then change the suspension, which dropped it, you know, an inch.
And we color coded the wheels, got the least expensive wheels we could find.
Color coded the wheels.
We put plastic seat, plastic racing seats in it.
No rear seats, no nothing, but everything out.
And the car was a dream because of the same engine, the same power.
It was lower, it handled better.
It was lighter, it handled better.
We've got really nice steering wheel in it,
because you get in first thing you feel is a steering wheel.
Oh, that's lovely.
And we said, right, there it is.
We can do that at under 29,000 pounds.
We said to the dealers, guys, in those days,
they used to have 15, 16% margin.
Guys, your margin on this is 9%.
Our margin on this is tiny.
It's a positioning, it's a marketing strategy.
And the dealers were great.
They said, okay.
So we produced it in yellow, red, white, black, or blue.
Five colors, wheels color coded.
We showed it in a British mode show.
And we slapped a decal on the side.
Whereas Americans keep telling me it's decal.
A decal on the side, four feet long and a foot high.
Club sport.
And we stuck it on the mode show stand.
And the crowd went wild.
Wow, we want one of those.
And the thing starts to sell.
The order starts to come in and in.
Now, we only ever sold, I don't know what the number is, 300 or something of them.
But that wasn't the point.
The point was, people wanted this car.
It was lower cost than anything else we had.
It handled like a dream.
It drove like a dream.
And it looked sexy.
And so we delivered the cars.
And then we had phone calls from the dealer saying, where's the decal?
What do you mean?
They said, we want the decal decal on the side.
Well, you want club sport written on the side that big?
Absolutely.
So we had a guy, Steve Vaughan, in a van.
Out you go, Stevie.
Run for decals on all these cars.
And that's what we did.
We went around the country sticking club sport on the side of the car.
And the car, the journalists loved it because it was back to the roots of Porsche.
The dealers loved it because it was something new to talk about.
The customers loved it because it was cheap.
And it was cheap.
30 grand is not cheap, but it was inexpensive comparatively.
And it was a dream to drive.
And they rocked up at the golf club.
Don't forget 95% of our customers there were 98% were male.
So they'd rock up at the golf club in their yellow clubs and people would go, whoa.
And it was great because you get golf clubs in the back of it.
It's a perfect car.
But it changed the perception.
And that was the beauty of it.
You know, somebody said to me, it can't have been a commercial success.
Well, it was a commercial success, even though I only sold 300 cars or whatever the number was.
It was a commercial success because it changed the mindset of the press.
They were suddenly talking about Porsche having a future again,
instead of just having a past.
And AutoCar gave it car of the year, which I blew my socks off.
There's a great journalist called Steve Cropley here.
I used to meet now then.
Steve said, can I come out and have lunch with you?
Oh, can I?
I thought he was so forward.
Can I come out and meet you?
Yeah, come on, Steve.
Come out to the head office.
Sit down, let's have lunch.
Just like this, chitchat, chitchat.
They said, I have something to show you.
And he got out of his bag a mock-up of the page that announces the AutoCar car of the year.
And it was a 1986 club sport.
He could have knocked me over with a feather.
I mean, seriously, it was a 20, 25-year-old car.
But it was a dream to drive.
And it just changed.
It started the change from Porsche was a...
brand that was in trouble to Porsche was a brand that was thinking about the future again.
So that car was just axial to that shift.
For me, being an automotive lover of many big brands, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ferrari,
Aston Martin, McLaren, I've been very lucky to own a lightweight hardcore from most of those
brands, which would have started with something like the club sports.
Porsche is a legends brand for my generation because time has passed since those cars.
And so many more cars have come that have added to the legendary status and cars like that have
got older and become legends in their own right.
We've had the Carrera GT.
We've had the launch of KNs that everybody sees on the road daily.
The Panamera went down a treat with a whole different audience.
Porsche has built itself up to give it this legendary unicorn status of a brand.
But now I kind of look at them and think, are they in trouble?
Taycans everywhere, not selling, huge cost.
Every mechan on the road now you can only buy an electric one.
There's Chinese EVs everywhere.
Do you think these brands are going to need saving?
Do you think this is the most troubled Porsche has ever been in since that day you turned it around?
I think that Porsche has been absorbed into the Volkswagen group.
And with that come opportunities and come challenges.
The opportunities are you've got massive balance sheet behind you.
The challenges are you'll be encouraged to use group components at every level.
Everything from engines through to switch gear will be somewhere group components.
And I think the beauty of a brand like, and Ferrari is also part of a big group,
but they've managed to just stay aside and danger, but they're much full of volume than Porsche.
And they've probably made a big mistake recently, which we'll get onto.
Yeah, that's an interesting, that's one of those, really cars, isn't it?
But the point with Porsche is that I think it's just got to be carefully,
it doesn't lose its brand identity and is to be distinct and different
and its quality, heritage, engineering and design.
Those are the four values that we used to speak about.
And I think the McCann, I drive a McCann, right?
You've just driven in past it.
My day-to-day motorway basher is a McCann and I love it.
It's not electric, but to bring in your probably the highest volume car they have these days
as electric only, I think is a massive strategic mistake.
I really do.
50% of the market is still wishing to stay with internal combustion engines.
So why would you cut yourself off from that audience?
Well, Porsche was 10% down last year on global deliveries of all cars,
which is an enormous number.
Like I've heard you talk about the fact that you're only targeted to increase BMW by 4% years ago,
which is an enormous number in the company outside.
So to be 10% down on sale is absolutely enormous.
Is it?
And now they're running a Skunkworks back-office project to put an internal combustion engine
in the new McCann because they have to.
But it's just whoever decided that in the first place says, bulkers.
But you talk a lot in your story about being down on the shop floor, seeing people in factories,
in manufacturing plants, asking them why that forklift goes through that hole,
they're going into knockdown.
You really haven't been touching my stuff, have you?
If you've got that kind of mindset of talk to the actual person on the floor,
talk to the actual customer, what are Porsche missing?
Because are we, someone like me, thinking it's tough for those companies because of the rules
that they're governed by.
They have to make all these cars electric.
Do they actually have to?
No.
Or are they making some very silly decisions?
I think they are too early in making that decision.
You know what, 20 years from now, your children, my grandchildren, may well
not be allowed to buy an internal combustion engine car.
We don't know that rule keeps changing.
And they may want to drive an electric car, but at the minute that audience isn't there.
There are some, some people want electric vehicles and good luck to them.
And you should provide that option.
But for a brand like Porsche, which is built on petrol engines and performance and noise and
and people don't buy a Porsche for transport.
Yeah, you want to transport by golf.
It's a fantastic car.
Go buy a golf.
You'll do everything you want all day, every day, forever.
You don't buy a Porsche because you want transport.
You buy a Porsche because you want experience.
And part of that experience for a lot of people is still lifting the bonnet
or the boot and which model you're buying and looking at that engine and smelling that engine
and driving it and hearing it grumble and groan and rumble.
That's part of the sensory experience of driving this thing for a lot of people.
Now, I'm not arguing that the world won't move towards
electric vehicles.
I mean, I saw a report the other day about, I think it was the Luce who said,
and the report said he's got an engine on each wheel.
Yeah, well, congratulations.
Professor Porsche did that in 1908 or something.
The first Porsche was the Lona Porsche with four electric motors, one on each wheel.
So what goes around comes around.
The point is, for me, you've got to be careful not to cut off half or more of your audience
by focusing only on one product option.
That product option, the McCann has been electric.
I think that's a mistake.
And if I was still at Porsche, I would have been screaming from the rooftop.
So that's a mistake.
Many of you might not know this, but away from the recordings that I do in my van studios,
I've actually got a digital marketing agency.
Now, we specialize in a lot of automotive clients, but we cover everything really.
Our team is made up of PPC specialists, SEO specialists,
and the most talented designers I've ever seen, which have done work like the Starnagloss website,
the TWR website, and many more.
We've actually just built icon box for the Auto Alex crew as well,
meaning that people that watch their channel can buy their favorite merch seamlessly and in style.
So if you're interested in starting a project and you'd love to speak to us,
just tap the link below and let's hop on a call.
We've seen so many enormous mistakes.
I actually thought when Jaguar did their rebrand a couple of years ago,
it was potentially one of the most amazing marketing stunts about to happen in history,
because I was convinced that a week later there was going to be a video released of a load of
Jaguars coming out and sort of destroying the woke movement and taking back the brand.
And I thought there was like, oh my God, they're geniuses.
I can see what they're doing.
And it never came.
This moment never came.
And their customers, their audience, the people that had spent tens of thousands of pounds
on these machines over the years cut a spot in the timeline and said,
well, I'm a Jaguar fan until they're, and I'm no longer a Jaguar fan.
We keep seeing companies like Ferrari, who clearly to me just bought the Apple car,
not just designed it with Apple, they just bought the one that was designed.
Companies like Jaguar making enormous mistakes.
Companies like Porsche rewinding their own mistakes and launching ICE combustion engines again.
What happens as someone that's been a CEO of some of these brands?
What is going on inside those walls that the people in those companies just aren't listening
to the audience that are buying the product?
Where is the disconnect?
You know, I was in South Africa recently.
And I met a guy who imports Porsche in South Africa, Toby.
And I know Toby and I've seen him for a few years.
And it was 20 years and more since we were together.
And he said, Kev, there's one thing I need to say to you.
I said, what?
He said, I need to say thank you.
I said, Toby, thank you for what?
And he said, thank you for the right hand drive, Porsche Turbo, 911 Turbo.
And I said, right, why are you thanking me for that?
He said, because you were the only one who physically stood up in the meeting
and shouted and bang the desk and said, you have to build it.
There's a fact we're only going to build left hand drive, right?
Because right hand drive market, oh, for 911 Turbo, I don't know.
300 year, I don't know, making numbers up.
But it was tiny, tiny, tiny, so they weren't going to do it.
And I stood up and I literally bang the desk and said, you have to do this.
This is a brand issue.
Now, you've got to fight hard in a major corporation.
And if Porsche goes into Volkswagen, it becomes a major, major, major corporation.
You've got to fight hard to get the customer's voice there.
And some people keep saying the same thing.
Some people want to drive an electric car.
Good luck to them.
I don't.
I personally will never drive an electric car.
I have no interest.
Other people, like me, are saying, I want a nice car.
That's what I want.
I want it to rumble and groan and fill in our petrol.
And it takes me two minutes to drive off.
That's what I want.
And I should have that choice.
And people can say, yeah, but okay, if you need to think about the green credentials,
well, let's be careful when we start quoting green credentials
around electric vehicles because they ain't that green.
They're not.
By the time you've built those batteries and built those cars and everything and everything,
you know, there are various reports that say the car comes with 50,000 miles of emissions
built into it before you start.
So let's not get into that argument.
So for me, I actually like an ICE car.
An ICE car, not a nice car, like nice cars, but like an ICE.
I like a petrol car.
Actually, I've got diesel.
I've got a twin turbo Audi all-road in the garage there.
What a machine.
I drove it this week for the first time in weeks.
What a machine.
It's done 120,000 miles.
It's like a rocket ship.
It's got such torque.
Wow, man, it's fantastic.
So I enjoy that.
And people say, you get that from electric.
Maybe I will, maybe I won't.
But at my age, I don't need to go electric.
I don't want to go electric.
But there are other people like me.
So unless the government bans them all together,
but there again, I'm old enough to remember when the government
thought diesel was the best thing since widespread.
And so they changed the tax system so that they promoted diesel
and then they changed the mind subsequently.
So I don't believe the government anyway.
As a car manufacturer, you've got to look to the future.
But if you're a niche manufacturer, a Porsche, a Ferrari,
an Aston Martin, an XYZ, then you've got to have one eye on what
your customers actually want.
And they don't all want an electric car.
They don't also want smaller engines constantly.
I was at an event this weekend where Lamborghini were heavily
pushing the Tamario, which is their brand new
hurricane replacement with a V6.
And it sounds crap.
And no matter what they did, it sounds crap.
And they were coming out at 400 grand with options.
And I feel like Ferrari with the 296 was like a V6 hybrid.
Many of their customers that bought lots of cars
started to give these things a go.
And they're like, hang on a minute.
Before you all batter X as a V6 hybrid, we're the customers.
We actually quite like it.
It's quick, it's this, it's that because they're so passionate
about the brand.
But they still had 458 speciales.
They still had F40s in their collection.
It provided them something different to the Ferrari buyer,
the normal Ferrari buyer that has a multiple Ferraris,
provided something different.
But I feel like we're right now, we've pushed it so far,
that even that buyer is going, hang on a minute.
Like what the hell is that?
A 600 grand, a luce.
The Tamario people are going, I'd rather just go and spend
120 grand on a Huracan, which are all now going to 150, 160,
because they're worth more money, because nobody wants the Tamario.
That's like, my point is getting back to what are the mistakes
the brands are making to think they can get away with this?
Like, is there someone you've talked about the fact
that you were given these big glass offices over the years,
but you went down to the, on the boots and the ground floors
and spoke to the customers that are behind the gates and the weekend.
Are brands becoming so big that they're totally disconnected
and they think they can just tell the audience what they want
versus what they actually want?
I think, I think that's part of it.
But I think it's also the fact that the brands are looking to the future.
So the big many factors, you know, a transition from
internal combustion to EV for the whole of the Volkswagen group
is such a massive, massive transition.
Every factory in the world becomes obsolete.
You know, the cost is astronomical.
It is staggering.
And so you've got that poll, which is legislation driven.
And then you've got the smaller poll, which is a customer saying,
we don't actually want to go there.
And somewhere you've got to find that sweet, sweet point,
which is satisfying your customer.
And you know, the argument will be that tomorrow,
with a smaller engine and higher revs, and this and that,
there'll be less emissions, there'll be this and the other.
But the customer says, I don't care.
I don't care.
I like the fact.
So I bought Lamborghini GB as a company.
And it was broken.
And as well as a Porsche, and we wanted another revenue stream.
So when we bought Lamborghini GB,
they had a few 100000 for it, right?
And then we fixed it.
And we fixed it by meeting the customers.
We fixed it by talking to the customers.
We fixed it by asking the customers,
apart from a decent service and a decent part supply,
what do you actually want?
And we created the Diablo SV to the lightweight Diablo.
And that was, again, done by team in Reading.
We sat down and we had that conversation.
And it was a club support strategy all over again.
We stripped costs out of it.
We stripped weight out of it.
We made it hairy and people loved it and it's old.
And I used to occasionally take one home.
And I lived on an estate.
And in the morning, it wasn't the most reliable car in the world.
It wasn't.
But any more, I'd go out and I'd fire it up.
And my neighbors used to come out and look.
And I said, I'm sorry if I'm upsetting you.
They said, no, we just love the sound.
Do we use to come out and listen to it?
Because it would sit there for five minutes
till I was ready to leave.
It was always a bit embarrassing if it was dark
because you put the headlights on and one had come up.
And then the other had come up.
But if you got two up, that was a good day.
But it is, it's an experience.
You're not buying a car.
Lamborghini is a terrible as cars.
I mean, you want to go shopping.
Don't ever take a Lamborghini.
It's dreadful.
But you want to go and enjoy an amazing road or go on a circuit.
You know, it's an experience.
So that's what you're buying.
You're buying the experience.
And it was incredible, it's an experience.
But manufacturers have got to make sure they keep sight
of the customers who want that special car,
who want that experience.
So what are the people that currently are in charge
of Porsche GB or Lamborghini GB and all these people?
What are they getting wrong?
Because new cars aren't selling.
McLaren apparently aren't replacing the Artira,
which is 570 sold brilliantly.
Loads of models at their reliability problems,
but loads of V8s flew out.
Then they replaced it with the Artira V6.
I think we can get away with this.
They've sold next to none, like horrendous.
Apparently they're not even making a lightweight
Harcourt version of it,
because nobody wanted the original version of it anyway.
So who's going to actually buy it?
But like for me, it just brings the question of like,
it must just be governments that are making them do this.
Or is it them that is getting this wrong
and they could still get away with putting a V8 in it
or a V10 in it?
It's all about return on investments, isn't it?
All of these decisions now are being,
it's become corporatized.
It's too corporate.
It's just too corporate.
And the corporates have to report to the public markets
and they have to meet all of the standards
that are set by the governments
and emission standards and this standard
and that standard and the other standard.
And it just makes it dull.
It just neutralizes the passion
and the excitement of the premium brands we're speaking about.
The brands that we're speaking about now,
the models you're using to describe,
nobody needs one of those.
We choose to buy one of those because we want that experience
and we're fortunate enough to be in a position
where we can afford to enjoy that experience.
I don't want to do that in a luce.
I have no interest in a luce.
Well, I want a luce for one.
Your friend you mentioned is Aston Martin.
Aston for me did one of the best things ever
when they released a car.
My friend, Mark McCann, has got one in his collection.
It's called the Signet.
And it was like the car that I think was positioned
towards the wife or the partner of someone
that had an Aston Martin, a DB9 or a DVS.
And they then released the Signet.
And it was a rebranded Toyota IQ that they bought in bulk.
A load of these things put Aston badges on it.
As a substance, weirdly looked like an Aston somewhere.
But no one really hated it
because I think everybody got it
that they were trying to make enough models
that were fuel efficient of this completely different things
that they could keep making big V12.
Yeah, they saw that in aggregate.
They met the emission standards.
I've not really seen any of the other big brands
necessarily do that in the last few years.
They just seem to be thumping along,
numbing down their current models and range.
Do you think we're going to lose before 2030-2032?
One of the really big car brands, Porsche, Lamborghini, McLaren.
Do you think we're going to lose one with the direction they're going?
I don't think we may lose them as an independent company.
Like Porsche.
Porsche was an independent company.
It's now part of Volkswagen.
I think the Ferrari is part of the Fiat Group.
They get absorbed into these big groups.
And the danger then is that they become neutralized.
They become muted by the considerations of the big corporate.
So the brands themselves are so valuable that I can't see us losing.
You're Aston Martin.
Fantastic, but I've had Aston Martin as one of the garage.
Beautiful car.
Wonderful car.
I love to drive it.
I think they're pulling up Adrian here.
They've got a great CEO in aid.
But the cost of running that business will be extreme.
And they need investors who believe in the future.
Even if that business, even if the shareholders of that business decided
they couldn't continue independently and they sold themselves into a big group,
you wouldn't lose the brand name because it's so valuable.
Aston Martin as a brand, the James Moncar is just so valuable.
But I sincerely hope that won't happen.
I really do.
And I think they're going through some very interesting ideas with
product strategy and all from what I read that they're walking a small path.
And I hope that with aid at the wheel, they'll achieve their results.
So if you were running one of those big brands today, Porsche, Lamborghini,
then big threat, especially with someone like Porsche, is China is coming.
Is that what you would see as the biggest threat?
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
I mean, they've got almost bottomless pits of money.
The government are investing.
The Chinese government are investing in these firms,
which means that their R&D is huge.
Their ability to produce new cars is rapid.
The speed at which they produce cars is incredible.
So it's a massive, it's a shift.
But you know, the competition is there around forever.
And what you have to do is recognize them and then respond.
You have to respond.
Is the only thing that separates an electric
mechanical from an electric JQ, the fact that it has a Porsche badge on it,
which is in the same way that there's a Louis Vuitton hung bag,
because people struggle to get their head around electric motors with an ice engine.
You can understand V6, V8, V10, V12.
But I don't think people understand different electric motors in cars.
What separates an electric mechanic from an electric JQ?
I haven't driven either, but if I were to,
if I believed if I were to go and take those three cars and evaluate them,
would find that the mechanic is far more capable, but also the quality of the build,
the integrity of the product, the quality of the materials used, the long-term
sustainability of that car, I would think would be, I would expect to be a lot better.
That's what I would expect, the Porsche to be a lot better.
What would you be trying to do to compete with those guys and to gain strategic advantage?
I'd be using the brand, brand positioning.
I think, I watched Le Mans on the weekend and you see who won Le Mans.
It was Toyota again, and that's not good for Porsche.
Porsche have to be there in sports car racing and have to win.
So I would be focusing very heavily on my public positioning and that revolves around
brand positioning, which revolves around racing and integrity and design.
All things I spoke about previously, but you've got to keep promoting the quality of
your brand. People will invest in the brand as long as they believe in the brand,
and the product has to support that. The phrase I used at Porsche when we were running it was,
we've got to be world-class at every point. Wherever you touch my brand,
you have to get a world-class experience. So whether that's a product or the service
or on the telephone or the finance or part supply or whatever, world-class because that's
what you're buying into. If you want to charge a premium price, you have to have a premium
experience. Take us inside a corporate giant like a Porsche. Do you think people in those
businesses, maybe even businesses like BMW, etc, have a safety bubble around them that they think
everything's fine because we're so big, we're so huge, but in reality, when you lose 10% of your
sales, that can bugger off absolutely everything. From experiencing being inside those businesses,
is that what the culture can be like? I think in a very big company, it absolutely
can be like that. That comes down to leadership. Something I'm passionate about is
making sure that leadership is able to communicate the real values of the business.
That was my thought. To me, that comes down to leadership and that's where leaders have to
be able to communicate right through the whole organization what it is that we stand for here
and you can't allow the company to become
isolationist. When I went to BMW, it was a bit isolationist. It was a bit of a bubble.
You've heard me say before, I walked in and they gave me a plan that was grow at 4%. Here you go,
here's the plan. Grow in this business at 4% because that's what we plan to do.
I said, isn't it? They said, well, we love what you did at Porsche, but that was all a bit bumpy,
wasn't it? It wasn't bumpy. We just changed a lot of shit that needed changing. It wasn't bumpy.
There was a plan. We went from last to first in the market based upon a plan. BMW, they gave me
this 4% growth plan and they said, there you go. We want you to deliver that. I looked at it, I thought,
that's dull because look outside the window, guys. Lexus, Audi, Jaguar at the time. All these
people are all coming from my customers. BMW customers were enthusiasts and all those other
brands wanted my customers. I sat with my new leadership team and said, we've got to do something
different. They looked at me and said, really? We're doing all right here, Kev. We're all right.
Yeah, you're all right, but you're not great and you need to be great. If you're going to continue
to grow and develop, you need to be great. There's one guy in particular who said,
you're mad. I'm out of here. He was very, very senior. He was the next guy to me in the ranking
and he said, you're mad. You'll spoil it. I'm out of here. I said, okay, well,
I'm sorry to hear that, but let me help you and he left. Actually, once we engaged the team and
spoke to the team, people who are out in the market, the people who talk to
dealers, the people who are meeting customers recognize where we were failing to fulfill,
where we were missing opportunities. It's not about looking for market share. If you're going to
build a business, it's not about just looking for market share. Everyone's chasing market share.
It's about looking for opportunity share and that's a different thing.
So you need to look where others are not looking. You need to imagine where others are not imagining.
And so what we did at BMW was, over a process of weeks and months, I got the leadership team
and I remember the biggest workshop was probably 100 people in the room and said,
we're going to go to the next level. How are we going to get there? And once you get people
starting to buy in and dreaming with you and imagining the ideas flow. And so we very much
pulled ourselves back to listening to the market, to listening to the dealers, to understanding what
the frustrations were that we'd spent a lot of our time dealing with, dealing with admin share
instead of getting on running the business. So we cut out a lot of the noise and we shared a very
clear plan with the audience. And I remember one particular instance with my first dealer
convention was in Barcelona, Hotel Arts Barcelona. I remember it like it was yesterday.
And I had to do the big keynote from the state. Now these days I'm a keynote speaker. I speak all
over the world, but then I wasn't. It was all pretty new to me. I joined BMW at the age of 37,
so I'm still a young guy. And I thought I'm going to do this differently. And I said to the production
company, we're not telling anybody, but this is what I'm going to do. And they said, we don't
know how to deal with that. I said, you get a follow spot and you follow me. This is how I'm
going to do it. Because prior to that, it had been big corporate speak from the lectern, right?
And everyone holds onto the lectern as if that life depends on it. And they talk to the audience
from an auto queue. And I said, I'm not doing that. I said, I'm going to speak from notes,
but I'm going to remember the notes. And we can have some notes around, but I'm going to do it
differently. Okay, this is what we decided. So I've got a thousand people in the audience. This
is the dealers and some of their leaders and their wives, because their wives, they're many of the,
well, to be fair, some of the business we're owned by ladies.
So a thousand people, and they were used to being spoken at.
And so I started from the stage, and then I just walked down the audience. And you've never seen
a thousand people jump back so quickly in their whole life. Everyone like kind of took a metaphorical
step backwards. And I said, we're in this together. So not me on stage and you are here,
we're all in this together. So I went out and I stood in the audience,
and I walked around the audience and I spoke. And it was a way of saying we're in this together.
And then what I did is a change of mindset started the mindset shift. And we grew that business.
Instead of growing at 4%, we grew that business by 80% over four years. People say to me, I have
to go, how the hell did you do that? It's very straightforward. We just focused on the right
things. We just made sure we knew what the priorities were. And then we ruthlessly executed
on those priorities. Get rid of the noise. Hang the time for the noise. Let's do these things.
And it transformed the business. There's a story at Porsche that you were in. I think it was on a
Sunday or a day off and there was nobody else there. And a couple wanted to buy a car. And you
sold it to them some way. Somehow you've got this car done. No matter what the problems were,
couldn't take power and do this. You've got this car sold. Taking that mindset, and I'll let you
tell the story in a second. But where does that mindset come from? That walk out into the crowd
and everything? Because if you've not got and you've not grown up with necessarily parents of
their own businesses or a managing directors or CEOs or granddad or someone around you that's
like that, what made you the guy that walks into the audience with the microphone, not the guy that
felt the bollocks on stage to stand there and look at the audience? Because I've come from
a humble background where my dad, bless him, always taught me you need to be able to speak up
and speak down. You need to be able to speak to people. And he was a power station engineer,
I said that at the beginning. And he got promoted through the ranks till he was the boss of the
power station. But everybody, I used to go work in there to some holidays in the days when you
could go and get a job for six weeks, you know. And I used to go in there and I was a laborer,
sweep the floor, paint the wall, whatever it was. And I loved it. I absolutely loved it.
It was a working environment. And you're in there, the rough and the tumble. They don't give a
shit who your dad is. They don't care, which is great. But they always say, your dad, great guy,
great guy, your dad. And I'd say, why? Because he just talks to us. He's just talks to us,
does his job, he talks to us. And I learned from my dad that you've got to be part of a team.
Even if you think you're on your own, even if you think you're on your own, you're part of a
team. I did a speech at a conference in Chicago last Wednesday. Big audience,
big stage, big light show, huge. I walk on that stage alone. But for an hour before,
I'd gone backstage because there's 20 people behind those curtains, running all the AV,
making sure I don't look like a moped. And there's another sound desk out at the front,
and then there's the lights operates in the camera. I just walk around and say, hello to
everybody. Hello, how are you? I'm Kevin Yarby up on stage. And I'm not doing it
at a superficial level. I'm doing it because for me, it's comfort that when I'm on that stage,
I got 30 people around me protecting me. So that's the first thing. And the second thing is,
if they realize I'm not a complete tosser, they're more likely to help me. It's not cynical. But
we're in this together. And that's how I feel about business. We're in this together. And I
passionately believe that if I get off my backside, with my foot as BMW in my fourth floor
swanky office, and walk out through my anti office with two PAs in and go off and wander
around the building and say to people, I am Kevin. Once they get over the shock in the first three
months of finally the CEO came out and spoke to us, then you really find out what's going on
in your business. Because people will tell you, if you listen, people will tell you, they'll tell
you what's going on and they know better than I do. Because day to day, they're picking parts of
parts warehouse and walking there and the guys will say, you're having a good month this month.
They don't see the numbers. They just know because they know how many parts they're
picking. They feel it. Yeah, good month this month, a bit quiet last month, but a good month
this month. So involving the team, engaging the team, you're part of a team. I don't care
what it says when you do. I don't care it says CEO. It doesn't matter. You're part of the team
to get over yourself. If you're enjoying listening to me and Ben, chat about the world and business
and cars and life and everything, please subscribe to his podcast because that helps everybody.
And if you want to help other people, you can have a look at Smarter Britain or KevinGaskell.com
and follow me and help me to help the next generation of young entrepreneurs.
So how did you become a 27 operations director? Of course, should I give you the chance of
that moment where they chose you to be managing director at 32? Yeah. How did you put yourself
in a position of seniority at that kind of age that can give yourself the chance to go on to do
that? Well, I don't think I was. I don't think I had a spotlight on me at 27. I joined the company
to do the role of regional manager teaching the dealers how to run a business, which sounds
all very grand, but I got a degree in engineering and I'd got a qualification in accountancy
at night school because I wanted to learn how businesses operated. And then I was interviewing
and I was offered the role at Porsche and my job was to go out in the market and help businesses
to improve, help the dealers to improve because they'd had life very easy up until then. The
brand had been amazing and they were taking orders they weren't selling and it was all very, very
comfortable. And it was getting more difficult. And I think it was the dealers who first saw
that I was the cook who would dig in with them. I remember was having a meeting with a guy
in Newcastle on Tyne and I was trying to explain to him issues around his
management of his business. And at five o'clock, it was Friday afternoon, at five o'clock he said,
well, I have to leave now. I said, why? I said, we're still there. I finished at five. I said,
well, I don't know. I've got a bit of a drive home yet. And he said, where do you live? I said,
Cardiff. He said, well, you're driving from here to Cardiff. I said, yeah, I'm driving from here
to Cardiff once we finish this meeting. So let's finish this meeting. And the dealers could see
that you were passionate about it and you were prepared to put the effort in. You know, I wasn't
ducking off at two o'clock on a Friday because I had a 55 hour drive home. I would leave
when I would leave and I would get home when I get home. And so people see you, you don't set
out to be recognized, but people, I can spot the people who work for me who put in the hours.
I can spot the people for me who make a difference, who want to make a difference.
And those are the people you start to rely upon. You start to give more responsibility to and you,
you know, give them the slightly bigger pay rise. You'll promote them. You'll give them the
opportunities because they're the people you're relying upon. But getting a board of directors
and shareholders to trust a young person, especially back then, because I think when most
people picture boards at big companies and things like that, they probably picture the whole board
probably having an average age of about 57 plus. So how did you get dealers and principals for
anybody young and enthusiastic and feels that they've got it now to be able to do it like you
did at a young age? How did you get those people to actually respect you and give you that chance
and not just back you off because they were 20 years older? Well, partly by doing what I said,
which is working twice as hard as anybody else. Well, that's not fair, working twice as hard as
some people, partly by showing a lot of respect to seniors. Now, there are people that were dealers.
I invited some of the dealers to come and join my board. And people tell me you're mad. They're
dealers. No, hang on, hang on. They are the people who deal with the drivers of the car.
And they have been running dealerships some over 30 years. I need to harvest their experience. I
invited them to come and join the board. And they were fantastic. You know, I can mention names now.
I remember Peter Lovett, who, the principal in the Swindon area, you know, and I remember Peter
giving me a roast in their times. I love him to bits. He was fantastic. But sometimes he'd say,
Kev, you're wrong, mate. And here's why you're wrong. And don't ever do that again, because he
looks like this. And I took those lessons on board. And you listen to these people because
they've got 30 years of hard earned experience that I don't have. So don't be arrogant. Don't
be a dick. Invite people who know what they're doing to come talk to you and learn from them.
So for me, it was a case of growing up very quickly, but not being afraid to ask for help.
I think the reason that part of the reason I got the opportunity to work at BMW
was because when I'd worked out what I was going to do with Porsche, I rang, I called the chief
executive of BMW GB, a guy called Tom Purvis, great guy, great, great guy. And I knew Tom through
the industry. And I said, Tom, I need to fix this business. We're not really competitive.
I'm going to make some big calls here. Can I come talk to you? And he said, he was great. He said,
yeah, come talk to me. And we booked an hour and we probably sat there for three. And he was fantastic.
He coached me. I mean, Tom's 20 years older than me, whatever he is, but he coached me
and he gave me advice and support. And he said, right now, go and do it. And so
the way that I've learned to grow is by not being afraid to put my hand up and say, excuse me,
help. Somebody help me here. I don't know all the answers. And that's why when I said we want to go,
it was actually Adrian Hallmark who said, when I said, where do we need to take this business?
And he said, we need to be number one, Kev. This is abortion. We need to be number one, Kev.
And it was Adrian who said that. I said, see, how are we going to get there? No
chuffing idea how we're going to get there. But that's where we're going. Right now,
let's work it out. But you're still at mercy of the parent company, the VW group for argument sake
in Germany. How would you, like when you did the club sport model and that was you guys that come
up with the concept, the idea and they had to come put it in motion. How hard was it to get a
brand like that to do what you wanted? Well, Toby saying to me, 20 years later, Kev,
you were the only one who stood up, physically stood up in the meeting and physically bang the
desk and said, no, you have to do this because that is opposition market. You have to and you
have to fight for it. You really have to fight for it. And to be fair to Porsche AG and BMW AG,
they used to push back, but nobody ever threatened me. Nobody ever, you know,
people say, well, if I stand up, I'll get fired. No, you won't. No, you won't get fired.
Not if you do it sensibly and with passion and with honesty. There's only one version of the
truth. So be truthful. And so I've learned that you can find yourself in a position in a major
corporate where you're dealing with people who've never been at the front end. They've never spoken
to a driver. They've never had to sell a car. They've never never been there. So you're actually,
I look at it the other way around, I'm helping them. I'm giving them feedback to help them make
better decisions. That's why I get so frustrated. You know, the Porsche Macan EV only, that's just
frustrating. Just frustrating. Does that tell you there's no one in that room right now to bang
their fist? It tells me somebody's not banging their enough, that's for sure. Is that the business
that you would love to help and save the most now? You know what, I carry Porsche in my heart,
absolutely. I've never bought a 911. No, because I've never needed to. I was fortunate I've worked
there for many years. I can drive anyone I wanted. I know drive a Macan day to day. But here am I
as an old man still with an ambition? What damn could have a 911? So it's still the car that I
aspire to. I read the report on the on the GT3, whatever they call it, the road going GT3, the
touring, is that what they call it? Right, the GT3 touring. I read the report on that the other
day, I thought, oh, there's a proper car. And I still get excited about it. So yeah, listen,
if Porsche ever said, would you come and work with us for, come and do six months with us,
I'd love to. I'm not going back as an executive, I'm too old for that. But if they said,
just come and spend six months with us while we work out our product strategy and our distribution
strategy, I'd love to do that. People, especially in different roles, always quickly find a way to
oh no, we can't today because of that. But if you come back then or we can't do that now because
of that. But if you come back then or we're closing your next, we can't do that or we're not in on
something. There's always a reason why not. What happened on Easter Sunday all those years ago?
So it was a year or two into my tenure as CEO. And we were busy, you know, with a lot of stuff
to do. It was a big fight to get that business to where it needed to be in long hours, long,
long hours. And it was Easter weekend, I went into work. Nobody else around, nice and peaceful,
nice and quiet, get a lot done. And we had security because we had cars held there,
we had security, Dave, Dave and his dog. They had a beautiful sheep dog and lovely, lovely dog.
Anyway, so Dave, Dave just called me and I was in the office and he said, okay, I know you're in
because he's got cameras, you can see. He said, I know you're in. He said, we've got a couple of
people here looking through the fence, trying to look at the sun cars. He said, so I just wondered
over and talked to them. And they're interested in buying a car. What do I do? I said, I'll bring
him in, Dave, bring him in. So he walked him into a building with all the lights switched off, right?
It's a dark building, only lights in my office. And they came in and it was a young man and his
wife in their mid 30s. And they had decided they wanted to buy a Porsche. And this was their day
out. And it being Easter, we were closed and they were disappointed and they driven from
somewhere, somewhere. And I said, we'll sit down, let's have a chat. I'll make you a cup of tea.
So we had a cup of tea in a chat and I said, what is it you're interested in? They explain
what you're interested in. I said, well, let's go and find one. So we went off and we went,
showed them around the workshop. We're a massive workshop, right? A huge workshop. So I showed
them around the workshop and I showed them bits and bobs and whatever I showed them. I can't
remember now, but I did a tour of the building and I showed them the car that they wanted. And I
said, well, that's, I said, I can't get it out because everyone's locked up, but you can sit in
here and try it. And what happened was I gave, I said, right, we'll get somebody to call you
on Tuesday, whenever the dealer opened, somebody called them on Tuesday and they bought a car
over the next week. So it wasn't on the day. But what happened was on that week, somebody
phoned me up and they said, how did you fix that then? Fix what? Well, you are letter of the week.
Auto car used to have a letter of the week, right? Custom letter of the week.
A reader, reader, letter of the week. And they said, you are letter of the week in auto car.
And I said, I have no idea what you're talking about. Generally not a clue. And this couple had
written this lovely letter to say, we went to Porsche DB, CEO, unbelievably invited in, made
us a cup of tea, we had a chat, he showed us around, we bought a car. Wow, that's customer service.
And that was it. That was the story. And it never occurred to me not to, you know, if
look, you run your own company, if a customer comes to you on a Sunday,
and you just about do something else, but you still talk to them, wouldn't you? Because
that's how business works. I've come back tomorrow. Oh, bugger off. I won't come back tomorrow,
mate. I'm here now. And so it never occurred to me not to speak to them. And it just comes
back to the same old thing, but I'm one of a team. I'm just one of a team.
Do you think teams are easier to put together back in the day when everybody claims
before people claim that they've got this or X or Y?
I think there's a lot of noise made around reasons for people not to perform, not to
do this, not to do that. And I'm cynical about some of it, to be honest. I don't like virtual
offices. I don't. I'm a dinosaur. I like people to be together. And the reason I like people to
be together is because that's how we create. That's how we share ideas. That's how we learn
from each other. And the people I feel sorry for with this remote working are actually the
younger people because if you're in a business, you're doing a business, the way you learn in
that business is by watching what's going on, by speaking to people who've been doing it for 20
years, is by the lunchtime conversation, is by the chatter and the coffee machine. That's all
part of the way that you absorb experience, you absorb the culture of the business. So now
I'm not great on the virtual working. I frankly don't believe in it.
If there's a young person now that's in a managerial position and they're wondering
how to be a managing director of a CEO or the big company that they're involved with,
what is something unconventional that they should be looking to do to make enough noise to
give themselves that chance? Yeah, that's very straightforward. They should get a copy of my
book in spite leadership. I'm not being funny. They should all listen to me speak
or call me. Actually, don't call me. Too many call me in a minute. But they should build a plan
for their area. I show people how to build a thousand-day plan to go from position X to position
one. They should build a plan which focuses on the priorities, on the real actions that need to be
taken to drive that unit forward. They'll start to see their performance, their team's performance
improve. This conference I was at in Chicago the other day, it was great. A lot of people grabbed
me afterwards and asked me questions. But I get the same question again and again, which is,
I'd love to do what you say, Kev, but my boss won't let me. And my responses will ignore him or
ignore her. Just ignore them. Because once you start to show improvement in your performance,
productivity, target achievement, financial performance, whatever it is, they ain't going
to argue. And it's not about shoving something in people's faces about saying, I can do this.
I can drive it. That's all I've ever done. The unit I'm responsible for, I make sure it's the
best I can possibly make it. Talk to me about the man that come to pinch you from Porsche and what
he did to the rest. Yeah. Henna Heidman. So I told you I'd gone to Tom at BMW and asked him for
help. And Tom was fantastic and he'd given me help and advice. And then I met Tom through various
industry meetings. We used to have a SMMT meeting once a month, whatever it was once a quarter,
I can't remember now. And Tom was the chairman of the subcommittee and a huge respect for the guy
who was great. And we just stayed in touch. And then Tom left BMW GP, he was going on to a new
role within the BMW group. And I had arranged to have lunch with him just as a catch-up.
Just him and I. And it was announced he was leaving. So I called him and I said,
congratulations on the new role. I'm sure you won't want to do lunch now. So I, no, no, no,
okay. Well, made a commitment. We'll have lunch and I'll see you on Tuesday, whatever it was.
So we had lunch together and we talked about the world and his wife and his new job and that was
great. And he said to me, he said, part of my responsibility is to find a successor.
And he said, I think you might qualify as somebody to be on the shortlist. Would you be interested?
I remember exactly what I said to him. I said, Tom, if you told me the interview was in Munich,
then it would be a quarter. So he told me the interview was in Munich
and I had to walk there and ask you for 10 minutes to change my shoes. Does that tell you?
Okay, great. Off Tom went and I heard nothing more for weeks and weeks. And then one day,
one afternoon, late one afternoon. So my phone rang and it was Liz on reception. And she said,
Kev, I've got a gentleman from BMW here to meet you. Oh, he's gone. I don't know
where he's gone. It just walked off. So I said, okay, Liz, don't worry about it. The phone down,
thinking gone to the gents or wherever he gone. And I was up two flights of stairs and then through
two glass doors past my secretaries and then they're damned. And this guy opened the door and
he said, hi, Kev, my name is Ben Hightman. And I've been told that we should appoint you to the
role of, no, I've been told I should talk to you about joining us at BMW. I sat down and we talked
and that was it. So I had an informal interview with him there and then one afternoon. And
thanked him for his time and he left. And then the official lines opened and BMW HR got involved
and I got shipped out to Germany. I never did an interview in the UK, except in my own Porsche
office. I got shipped out to Germany and went to the four cylinder building, which for those who
don't know is a very tall building, which is the home of BMW. It's four spheres. That's why it's
called four cylinders, four spheres. And not spheres, tubes, cylinders, four cylinders.
And I went in and I started having interviews and they lasted all day. And it was an hour with him
and then an hour with him and then an hour with her and then an hour with him. And every time I
got on the lift and I went up and I thought, well, as long as this lift keeps going up, that must
be a good sign. And I was there just all day. And then the last person was Ben Pitchesreeder.
And I was shown into Ben's suite, which is top floor. And it's so big that you couldn't see,
because it's a cylinder. And his office went round the cylinder. So he was somewhere around.
But I knew he was actually a big cigar smoker. And he's huge waffs of cigar smoke coming out.
And he came out. He was lovely. Oh, Kevin. I'm told I should appoint you to run,
BMW, GB. I said, well, I'm very pleased to hear that. Thank you very much. I would be delighted
to do so. And he was lovely. And he said, he said, you have any questions?
And I said, well, not really. I said, I've asked questions all day. I said, but I do have one
question for you. And he said, what's that? And I don't know if you if you were aware, but when
they were declared when they were developing the McLaren F1 BMW engine, and burnt had gone out in
one of the prototype vehicles and taken it out for a run. And he'd lost it on the motorway and
parked it in the trees. Big, big smash. And I think he had his wife in thinking big,
big smash. And I said to him, I said, well, I hope you don't mind me asking, but what happened in
the F1? He just laughed. And, and then we talked about it. And he said, well, it was a prototype
car. And there was a balance issue on the front and rear brakes. He said, and I braked and the
back wheels locked and off I went. And we talked about that. And then he said, great, have you
on board? I'll see you at the first meeting. End of story. So even though you've reached the top
building at BMW to talk to the top guy, and then you come back and get the top roll in the UK,
were you still feeling unfulfilled as a person after all those years? I, do you know what,
I don't really ever feel unfulfilled because I don't ever look backwards.
It's a weird thing. And please take this in the way I'm trying to say it. But
I did something recently where I had to write out my achievements. I was, I was invited to apply for
a role, a very, very big role in it. It wasn't a corporate, it was an association, doesn't matter.
And I had to write down my achievements. And I wrote down all these things I'd done. I'm not
just sat there for a minute. I thought it's quite interesting list, actually. It was quite an
interesting list. I'd never looked at it like that. I'd never considered it like that.
And it was all the work stuff. And it was all the other stuff outside work and, you know,
the adventures and this and that and the other. So I don't feel unfulfilled. But what I feel,
you know, look, I'm, I'm, I'm 66. I'm looking at 70. But I've just entered myself into a 300
mile road race in September because, well, why not? Oh, sorry, cycling road race. Sorry, not,
but not car cycling road race in September. Why the hell not? So I never look back. I just look
at what's the next challenge. You know, we did the two rows over the last few years. They were huge
challenges. And now that I've done all the adventures of poles and mountains and rowing
oceans and stuff, I kind of scratch my head a bit about what's next on that. But I don't feel
unfulfilled. I just look for the next challenge. I just look for the next opportunity to test myself.
The trouble is my body isn't the same body I had when I was 32. You know, when I was 32, I was,
I could go and run 10 miles and not notice it. Can't do that these days. So certain things have to
change. But otherwise I'm still, and I do ask myself, at what point, Kev, are you going to slow
down? At what point? And I haven't found an answer for that yet. So what was your hardest day
since you were 32 or hardest period of something that nearly slowed you down? Something that
nearly made you stop? What was the biggest peak you overcame? Cool. So I've got a couple.
Some in adventure land since 32, rowing the Pacific last year was so hard, so hard. And by day 20,
we're rowing 24-7. We never stop rowing. There's a team of five in the boat and we set out to break
the world record for the fastest row across the Pacific. So it's not an insignificant feat we were
attempting here. And I know that by day 20, I'd gone bonkers. I was hallucinating. I was all over
the place. So physically, that's the hardest thing I've ever done. And if I hadn't had a great team
around me, it could have ended quite differently. But we all had bad days, but I had the worst days.
You can't row an ocean at that pace when you're 65. Well, I did, but I don't know how the hell I
did it, but I did. So that physically was that. I think mentally and commercially,
I got involved with a tech company, technology company, nine years ago. And I was asked by
some investors to go and work in this business, have a look at it, because they could see it was
all going a bit squirrely. They weren't happy with it. Kev, would you go and have a look? And
these guys knew me. So they said, can you just go and look at this for us? I went in and I
thought, oh, we can fix this. I can see what the issues are. And I said, yeah, I'll stick around
for a while. And kind of by osmosis, I became chairman of the company. I was biased. I just,
you know, put your finger in your hand goes in, you put your hand in your elbow goes in.
And I ended up as chairman of this business. And then I found out that the problems were a lot,
a lot deeper than I expected. And that just became a nightmare of handling
certainly inappropriate activities have gone on in the business. And handling
tax man who has no compassion at all and just wants to shut the business down.
People would have all lost their money. People would have all lost their jobs. And that one was
very, very challenging. But I've had a few like that. A few businesses where you go in and you
end up driving a turnaround. And it's hard, hard work, you know, it's 12, 14, 16 hour days,
grinding your way through process, grinding your way through to reaching a set of priorities
and bringing the team with you. I took on a boat company. I don't know how long ago,
12, 14 years ago, something. And I actually went there as CEO. My wife had gone nuts,
because I moved. I went and bought a house there. I determined I was going to fix this thing.
And again, it was like Porsche, but it was, it had more difficulties. And that one nearly killed
me. But we took it from, well, not nearly kill me as an overstatement. It was just such hard work
because the problems were massive. But we took that business from 10 years of losses
back into profit in 14 months. I don't think I've ever worked so hard as I did in those 14 months.
And I was living there on my own. So I was working all hours, God sends, you know,
grab 56 hours a night, sleep and then get back in and get on. But it was great because
the team was so proud of the business before it got into trouble. And they were so proud again,
because we were back into self-sustained mode and sales had dramatically improved and and and.
But it was all about the team. It was all about changing the mindset of the team
and changing the way we operated and changing some of the leaders truthfully.
But those, they were hard days, hard, hard days. And you know, building a business or
anyone ever says it's easy. Well, I've never found one that's easy. I've all I've ever found are
long day, short nights and hard, hard work. Who really inspires you?
You know, through my dad, I would say, my dad died last year. And you know, I had a very good life
and he had a very good death. He died very peacefully. Having just chatted to somebody
about golf, he was still playing golf twice a week, 89 years old, still playing golf twice a week.
And he sat down, fold his arms, died. And you know what, put me down for that.
He inspired me because he had a set of principles, honesty, transparency, openness.
And that's why the people at the power station he worked with had such high respect for him,
because he's just a good man. So my dad inspired me. I've met various people in business over the
years who I have learned from. Diet Osher, who sadly died a short while ago, who impressed me
so much, I can't remember his name, it'll come to me in a minute. But there are people who I have
watched through, you know, they've always been one or two steps ahead of me.
And I've learned from them. And I don't even know if they knew I was learning from them,
but I would talk to them and ask them questions. And they were very generous with their time.
So people like that inspire me. I have a friend, a buddy who I've walked to the polls with,
Alan Chambers, MBE. He inspires me. Pete Goss, Pete Goss is a single-handed round-the-world sailor.
He built the world's biggest catamaran and it failed, it collapsed on its first
mission. He was going to be the fastest, they're going to race it around the world.
I'm Pete's amazing guy and he inspired me. So I'm fortunate I've met people who think, wow.
You're now on a mission to inspire young people. What have you just built?
So we just built a platform we call Smarter Britain. And that comes about because,
you know, if you look out in the world of work at the minute, there are a lot of people who are
unemployed, some difficulties out there and challenges and Alan Milburn's just produced his report and,
and, and, and, and. But I speak at schools and I speak at universities and I meet young people who
want to go and build their own business but they don't know how. So I thought, all right,
well, I'll help you. So we've created Smarter Britain and it's free, it's open to anybody.
You can go in, you register yourself, bring your idea and we will help you to turn that into a
business and we'll take you through every step. We'll give you all the support you need. And
ultimately down the track, we'll put you in touch with a mentor and then further down the track,
if you need it, we'll, we'll offer you to offer your business to a panel of potential investors
if you, if you want it. And it's not the idea is my target is to create a thousand new businesses
in a thousand days. That's my target. And people say, crazy, God, do that. I say, no, we can do
that. I was only a thousand, only a thousand. And I've already been involved with all with
an organization in South Africa where we've done that. And I was helping other people to create
the same platform. And that's now trained 20,000 entrepreneurs. So, so I know we can do it. But
it's the next generation of British entrepreneurs. And this country needs entrepreneurs. We need
people in the middle. And I don't care whether it's the simplest business, a bucket and a ladder
and a wash ladder and go wash windows, or whether it's, you know, the next Elon Musk,
I don't care. Somewhere there's a position for everybody. And I just want to help them get
that business going, be successful. Well, Kevin, I think that you've helped many people today with
sharing some of your absolutely incredible stories and experiences on this podcast.
So thank you so much for your time on Road to Success. I'm sure we'll meet up again in the future.
Thanks very much. It's been a pleasure.
About this episode
Porsche’s UK turnaround is traced to a lack of product strategy, then a rapid reset: slim the company down, listen to dealers and customers, and rebuild the lineup around price, weight, and perception. The “club sport” approach—stripping cars, dropping suspension, and adding value through branding—helped shift press and buyer talk. The episode also widens into today’s brand pressures: EV timing, VW-group standardization risk, and China’s speed and investment.
What does it really take to save one of the world’s most iconic brands?
In this episode, former Porsche GB CEO Kevin Gaskell shares the incredible story of how he helped transform Porsche during one of the most challenging periods in its history. From rebuilding a struggling business to leading BMW and Lamborghini, Kevin reveals the leadership principles, business strategies and hard decisions that shaped his career.
We dive into why some of the world’s biggest automotive brands are making costly mistakes, how listening to customers changed Porsche’s future, what modern businesses continue to get wrong, and the mindset required to build and lead successful companies.
Whether you’re passionate about cars, business or leadership, this is an episode packed with lessons from someone who has spent decades turning struggling companies into success stories.
Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel for more exciting content about your favourite shows and celebrities. Hit the bell icon to stay updated on all our latest episodes
👍 Like, Comment, and Share this episode. Join our discussion in the comments section
