California and Porsche go together like peanut butter and jelly. The West Coast has been hugely important to Porsche’s North American business for decades, with the relationship between the two going all the way back to the 1950s, when the 356 gained Porsche a loyal following out west. Fast forward to now, and California makes up 23 percent of all Porsche sales in the U.S.?or, as Porsche puts it, if California were its own country, it would be Porsche’s fifth-biggest-selling market globally.
So it’s no surprise that Porsche is opening a $60 million Experience Center in the heart of Porsche country: Southern California. To be more specific, the new Porsche Experience Center Los Angeles (PEC LA) is in Carson, about 15 miles from LAX and ideally placed halfway between downtown Los Angeles and Orange County along the 405 freeway. The PEC LA is the fifth facility of its kind, following similar centers in Leipzig, Germany; Silverstone, England; Le Mans, France; and Atlanta, Georgia, where Porsche’s North American headquarters are located.
Visitors to the new PEC are greeted by a 50,000-square-foot modernist building that houses conference rooms, meeting spaces, a large lobby with numerous Porsche models on display, an upscale restaurant called 917, and a gift shop. But the fun of the PEC’s 53-acre complex is found in its 4.1 miles of track (built on a former golf course) just behind the building. The various sections of track are home to all...