Porsche is expanding its electric-vehicle offerings, including with its Taycan model (pictured), to help define what luxury driving in a renewable future will look like. | Photo: Porsche Cars Canada
Luu credits some of the critical thinking skills she's developed to professors in Concordia’s marketing program and first-hand experience in the commercial world through the John Molson School of Business.
Lecturer Brent Pearce was especially a formative influence on Luu. He taught her to never accept the status quo or think in a singular way. When students shared experiences about being told “these are the rules” in business situations, Pearce would encourage them to change those rules.
“It led to deeper thinking to find the source of a problem and then try new things,” Luu recalls.
That thinking has directly informed some of her goals in her current role. Luu says she wants to turn a new, younger generation of drivers into Porsche die-hards with offerings such as Porsche Drive, the carmaker’s rental program, or curated sports-car-friendly travel with Porsche Experience. In effect, Luu is helping to cultivate Porsche drivers before they can actually drive their Porsche.
She has additionally been tasked to help Porsche transition to the next chapter. “The automotive industry is changing,” she says. “The electric vehicle is a completely new beast.”
As the company expands its EV offerings with its Taycan model, it creates the opportunity to define what luxury driving in a renewable future will look like, while assuring customers that the sports-driving experience associated with Porsche won’t be compromised.
Luu has also made it her goal to tackle whatever comes with her extensive industry experience and with the principles that have guided her to where she is today.
“I’ve managed to move up the corporate ladder, without losing integrity or playing the typical boys’ games,” she says. It’s not an easy feat.
“In the automotive industry, a female executive is not yet the norm. It’s even harder to find any female executive with a multicultural background,” says Luu, who is Chinese, born in Vietnam and raised in Montreal.
Where she once imagined a day she might drive a Porsche, Luu now looks ahead to a day — maybe 20 years from now — where she’ll reflect on her career and think, “I’ve done what I needed to do, and remained myself.”
Until then, while she enjoys the present moment, she says “Being at Porsche is beyond my wildest dreams.”
