| Ferdinand Porsche played an important role in the | | | | the 911. |
| development of airplanes and racing cars, and the | | | | The 911 became easily recognizable: it had attractive |
| construction of tanks for the Wehrmacht. He is an | | | | sloping bonnet and what later became characteristic |
| automobile engineer with more than a thousand | | | | "frog eye" headlights, curves running from the top edge |
| patents to his name. He was appointed chief engineer | | | | of the windscreen to the rear bumper and a straight |
| at Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart in the 1920s. Later on, | | | | waistline. From a functional and technical point of view |
| he set up his own engineering workshop and designed | | | | it was more like BMW 1500, although it retained the |
| among others the Volkswagen. At the plant where | | | | stylistic features of the original Porsche. The new 911 |
| Volkswagen was made, Wolfsburg, he was chief of | | | | will become the foundation stone of Porsche's identity, |
| operations and at the end of the war he was interned | | | | even though the design was not always appreciated. |
| by the Allies.He was released a few years later and | | | | During the 1970`s and 1980`s, the designers attempts to |
| started building his first car with his son, Ferry Porsche. | | | | distance Porsche from its legendary design brought |
| The car was named the Porsche 356 and it was a | | | | the company to the edge of disaster. The more |
| sports car and a reminiscent of the Volkswagen. It had | | | | modern 924 model, "a people's Porsche", developed |
| the same four-cylinder boxer engine that was | | | | with Volkswagen, as well as the 928 were far from |
| rear-mounted, just like the VW. It was far from being a | | | | fulfilling the expectations. |
| powerful sports car, developing only 40 bhp and a | | | | In the 1990`s, the company realized that what for over |
| maximum speed of 87 mph (140 km/h). First produced | | | | twenty years was perceived as a straitjacket, it was |
| as a convertible and later as a hard top it distinguished | | | | in fact a marketadvantage. During the 1990`s, Porsche |
| by the very elegant and innovative body. It was | | | | became highly profitable since they now knew that the |
| developed in theworkshop of Erwin Komenda, a | | | | typical Porsche features were timeless. Nearly forty |
| master of restrained streamlining who had been in | | | | people now worked in the design department on |
| charge of sheet metal and design techniques at | | | | further developments of the long-running 911. These |
| Porsche since the VW Beetle. The new stle of closed | | | | developments included the 911 GTI, a powerful |
| coupe was designed by Komenda and it soon | | | | combinationof sports and racing car, put forward by |
| became the embodiment of the sports car, thanks to | | | | the in-house designer Anthony R. Hatter. In 1999, chief |
| its fastback. | | | | designer proudly presented the new Boxster which |
| This tradition was continued by Komenda and | | | | enabled Porshe to establish a second independent |
| Ferdinand "Butzi" Porsche, the founder's grandson, with | | | | range of models. |