Your next Porsche may find its own parking spot

Porsche is shifting its focus beyond horsepower and handling to services like finding nearby parking spots and providing real-time weather data that warn drivers of icy roads.

The goal is for so-called digital services to generate at least 10 percent of annual revenue in the medium term, the Stuttgart, Germany-based luxury division of Volkswagen says.

That effectively means that a US$89,400 911 sports car would generate at least US$9,000 from offerings like activating special lighting systems to help navigate mountain roads.

“Customer expectations are changing,” Chief Financial Officer Lutz Meschke said at a press conference. “They are demanding personalized services that are tailored to them.”

Porsche founded a unit in Ludwigsburg, Germany, last year focused on creating digital services for cars like the 911, four-door Panamera coupe and Cayenne sport utility vehicle.

It also opened a technology lab for developers in Berlin and acquired stakes in venture-capital fund e.ventures and parking-service provider Evopark.

The carmaker already offers the Porsche Connect mobile application, with features including navigation, real-time traffic data and remote vehicle monitoring.

“While the focus of our research and development investment has until now been almost exclusively on developing vehicles, we will spend significantly more on creating new digital services in the future,” Meschke said near the sports-car maker’s headquarters in Stuttgart.

The company will be “forced” to generate much more in sales from the services as the industry adapts to new technology, including autonomous driving.

As part of a push to expand its model range, the brand unveiled a station wagon version of the updated Panamera this month, along with the GT3 racing variant of the 911. It’s also considering coming out with a coupe-like version of the Cayenne.

Development of its first all-electric sports car is “proceeding fully in line” with the planned rollout in 2019, Chief Executive Officer Oliver Blume told journalists.