Porsche China appoints Carsten Balmes as Director Marketing and Peter Vogel as Director Network Management and DevelopmentTwo new executive appointments bolster Porsche growth and consumer outreach in booming market

Shanghai. Porsche China today announced that it has named Mr. Carsten Balmes Director Marketing of Porsche China; Mr. Peter Vogel will succeed him in the role of Director Network Management and Development. Mr. Balmes and Mr. Vogel will report directly to Porsche China Chief Executive Officer Mr. Helmut Broeker. Both appointments are effective immediately.

Mr. Balmes, a native German, will focus on raising the profile of branding activities for the marque in China, expanding the range of its customer service programmes and further improving customer relationship management throughout the Porsche China network. Mr. Vogel, also a native German, will oversee the development of the Porsche dealer network in China, integrating the Dealer Support and Service Support Teams as he heads up the new Network Management and Development department. He will focus on strategic planning and optimising customer satisfaction as Porsche continues its rapid dealership expansion across the country.

A Porsche China veteran of nearly three years, Mr. Balmes becomes its new Marketing Director after playing a lead role in the growth of the marque in this market as Director of Business Development since 2009. After growing the Porsche dealer network throughout China from 20 to 36 in fewer than three years, Mr. Balmes has cultivated the deep knowledge of and expertise in growing a rapidly developing business that will prove invaluable as he now shifts his attention to developing it amongst the consumers themselves.

For more than a decade, Mr. Balmes has contributed to the global growth of Porsche at offices in Germany, Latin America and China. He drove teams as Project Manager in International Marketing & Sales Training from 2003 to 2006 and as Area Manager of Sales for Germany, France and Switzerland from 2006 to 2009. Mr. Balmes also led all Cayenne product training activities in Ludwigsburg and has further deepened his product knowledge as a certified Porsche Sport Driving School instructor since 2005.

Another Porsche China veteran, Mr. Vogel returns to Shanghai after priming his expertise in business development across several markets worldwide. For the last three years, as Director of After Sales, Spain & Portugal, at Porsche Iberica S.A., he has driven After Sales in the region. In the crisis years of 2009 and 2010, he achieved 8 per cent growth against a market trend of -18 per cent. He also led new retail strategy, managed After Sales skill and technical training and directed strategic planning and quality control of the dealer network for Porsche Iberica throughout his tenure.

Mr. Vogel served in various positions at Porsche AG since 1996. Before Spain, as Regional Manager After Sales for the Middle East and South America, Manager, After Sales Marketing & Concepts, at Porsche AG in Stuttgart, Germany and, more recently, as General Manager of Business Development for Porsche China from 2003 to 2008. In his first post at Porsche China, he was responsible for planning and establishing much of the foundation of its current dealer network, opening many of its earliest dealerships. Mr. Vogel’s achievements in Spain and early involvement in laying the groundwork for the current success of the Porsche China network make him uniquely suited for his new role.

“I am very pleased that Carsten is becoming our new Director Marketing and that Peter is returning to Shanghai to take over the leadership of the new Dealer Network Management and Development Department for Porsche China”, said Mr. Broeker. “They both bring a wealth of experience and global perspective to these positions. Their years spent developing the Porsche network in China will be unrivalled assets as we accelerate our dealership expansion and consumer outreach in the coming years. I have every confidence in their abilities to drive the marque to ever greater success here”.

11/1/2011