It’s not where you expect it to be either
by Kirby Garlitos, onTo date, Porsche has more than 700 dealerships all over the world, including 100 showrooms in China alone. The German automaker is also adept at creating pop-up stores, and the newest example just opened at the top of the French Alps. The store sits 7,500 feet above sea level, making it the world’s highest pop-up store. More importantly, it’s not actually a store in the traditional use of the word. It’s nothing more than a small dome enclosure that can fit one Porsche Cayenne.
The store has a hostess and a product specialist, the latter of whom can answer whatever question you have about the Cayenne
If you think this is nothing but a gimmick by Porsche, you’d be right and wrong. The whole idea of a pop-up store at the top of the French Alps has “gimmick” written all over it, but it’s also a functioning store located in the alpine resort of Meribel. The store has a hostess and a product specialist, the latter of whom can answer whatever question you have about the Cayenne. The specialist can even book you for a test drive along the mountain roads in the area.
As for the dome itself, it’s not your typical tipi tent that you can buy at Target or Walmart. According to Porsche, it was built to withstand extreme weather conditions, including heavy snowfall and temperatures that can drop to as low as minus 25 (-25) degrees Celsius. At that altitude, the dome can also withstand 100-mph winds, something the Cayenne will probably need for its own survival.
Building the dome was also just one part of the complex puzzle that needed to be solved in order to create the presentation. The other important aspect was bringing all the structural components up to the top of the French Alps. On that end, Porsche actually airlifted these components by helicopter and pulled the Cayenne into place using snowmobiles.
The store itself will remain in the resort until April 2018.
All that hard work resulted in one of the most unusual Porsche pop-up shops in the world. It’s probably not the most effective way of spending marketing dollars, but it did get the job done as far as getting people to talk or, in this case, write about it. The store itself will remain in the resort until April 2018. So, if you happen to be in the area, be on the lookout for a Porsche Cayenne encased in a small dome, sitting on top of the French Alps. Considering how it looks, it wouldn’t be too hard to find it.
References
Porsche Cayenne
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