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