Recently released.911DAYS 2018AUTUMN Vol.73The theme of this issue is "The World's Most Beautiful and Most Beautiful People. This issue's featured theme is.Our 70th Anniversary of Porsche Sports Cars - This is how we all fell in love with Porsche.This is called.
The content is interesting and very entertaining, as well as a look back at the history of Porsche.(I also excerpted from a magazine in my last blog, "What I think from the lyrics of "Playback Part 2" by Momoe Yamaguchi - don't be ridiculous, it's your fault.(I wrote an article called)
As I flipped through the pages again, I noticed that there was an article that I had skipped over at the beginning. The title of that article was.
What was going on with Porsches in Japan in the 50's and 60's!"
I see - sounds interesting. And then I read the first few lines, and lo and behold!
To unravel "Our 70th Anniversary of Porsche Sports Cars," one must know the starting point of Porsche in Japan. So, we haveShowa Jidosha (Porsche Center Nishinomiya, Sakai), the oldest Porsche authorized dealer in existenceWe asked advisor Masaru Okubou, founder of
This "Showa Jidosha" is the dealership where my family has always been indebted to. Or ratherI didn't know they were the oldest Porsche dealer in existence! I didn't know that!
So I decided to read through the article as soon as I could, because I couldn't believe that it was something else.
The first Porsche was imported to Japan in 1953. At that timeSanwa Jidosha, which had an authorized import agency agreement with Porsche, imported just two 356s."The first time it was done, he said.
Later in 1955, ten 356 Pri A's were imported, three of which came into Osaka. However, two of them were purchased by a certain major company, so only one remained in private hands. The person who purchased this Porsche as an individual at that time was a person with appropriate social power before and after the war.(Who could that be?!)
At that time, Okubo was working for Yanase Jidosha(Currently Yanase Automobile)He worked as a mechanic atTo his surprise, the company received a request to service that one precious Porsche.Naturally, I refused once because of course there was no maintenance manual or anything, but I couldn't refuse and decided to do the maintenance.
Porsche at that time.It's a beautiful handmade body, and the parts and engine sounds are unlike anything I've ever seen on a car.Mr. Okubo, a car enthusiast, was immediately attracted to Porsche and established Showa Jidosha in 1959 as a maintenance shop for foreign cars. Later, he happened to find an advertisement in the automobile magazine "CG" for an authorized Porsche dealer, and immediately applied for the position, becoming the first authorized dealer.
Incidentally, the price of a new 911 in 1965 was 4.35 million yen.It was the equivalent of 37 million yen today.Moreover, at that timeNearly all were cash lump-sum purchases."I am surprised that this is the case. We're just starting to get our monthly installments out.24 payments at the longest, which means monthly payments of say 1.5 million yen each month now.Therefore, only a person of high character could buy it, and only a person who understood the value of a Porsche could sell it.
Today, a used Porsche can be had in a matter of weeks, and a loan can be taken out to drive a Porsche with low monthly payments. A new car can be bought within a year of delivery if it is a regular model. But the fact that this situation has been created today is thanks to our predecessors who paved the way for us from a place where there was no foundation at all.
When I think about it, it makes me think about a lot of things.
I used to be an employee who wanted to know the history and background of a product or service, even when I was in sales.
Why was the product created?" "What were the thoughts of the creators?" "What was the process of trial and error like?" "What did customers who knew the product at the time think?
I never had a chance to present them to my clients, even though I knew about them.Knowing the history and background, we can operate with enthusiasm, carrying the thoughts of many different people.I had a feeling. In fact, the more I learned about such things, the more I was able to sell, and conversely, products that did not make sense to me did not sell at all, even though I studied them.(I'm really not suited for organization.)
Whenever I told my husband that I had researched the history of Porsche, or that Porsche was a "certain kind of Porsche," he would say, "I've heard that Porsche is a certain kind of Porsche.
What, are you going to be a Porsche salesman? Why don't you take one of the job openings at the Porsche dealership?
And I'm not happy about it. And I'm not too happy about it.
I wonder if they will hire a female sales person since it is rare to see a female sales person at a Porsche dealership."
What a thing to say (laughs)!
