Move over, turbos: Porsche CEO says tech takes priority in new strategy

A Porsche Taycan 4S electric car at the 19th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition in China. With its curved driver display and expansive passenger touchscreen totalling 53 inches of unadulterated screen time, plus real-time traffic updates and charging-station mapping, the Taycan is programmed to make smartphone-groomed consumers salivate. — AFP

Steve Jobs trained consumers too well, says Kjell Gruner, the new president and chief executive officer of Porsche Cars North America Inc. And now car companies have a lot of catching up to do to match Apple Inc’s standards for user interface.

“With their ecosystem and their seamless customer experience, they have shaped the customer expectation,” Gruner says of Apple. That has a direct impact on how people feel when they get into – or shop for – a piece of technology as big as a car. “We have to integrate [digital] with the physical experience because we are a very, very physical product. If you don’t have digital experiences, you are not on the radar screen. You’re irrelevant.”