Factory Porsche

The origins of the company date to the 1930s when German Bohemian automotive engineer Ferdinand Porsche founded Porsche with Adolf Rosenberger and Austrian businessman Anton Piëch. In its early days, Porsche was contracted by the German government to create a vehicle for the masses, which later became the Volkswagen Beetle. After World War II, Ferdinand Porsche was arrested for war crimes, and his son Ferry Porsche began building his own car, which would result in the Porsche 356.

Ferdinand Porsche founded the company called "Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH" with Adolf Rosenberger and Anton Piëch in 1931. Initially, the company offered motor vehicle development work and consulting, but did not build any cars under its own name. One of the first assignments the new company received was from the German government to design a car for the people, which resulted in the Volkswagen Beetle. Later, the Porsche 64 would be developed in 1939 using many components from the Beetle.

During World War II, Volkswagen production turned to the military version of the Volkswagen Beetle, the Kübelwagen, and Schwimmwagen. Porsche produced several designs for heavy tanks during the war, including the chassis used for the Elefant tank destroyer and two prototypes of the Maus super-heavy tank. Ferdinand Porsche's biographer, Fabian Müller, wrote that Porsche had thousands of people forcibly brought to work at its factories during the war.

At the end of World War II in 1945, Ferdinand Porsche lost his position as chairman of the board of management of Volkswagen and was arrested for war crimes. During his imprisonment, Ferdinand Porsche's son, Ferry Porsche, decided to build his own car. The first models of what was to become the Porsche 356 were built in a small sawmill in Gmünd, Austria. The Porsche 356 was road-certified in 1948.

In post-war Germany, the Porsche 356 automobile used components from the Volkswagen Beetle. The sleek bodywork of the Porsche 356 was designed by Erwin Komenda, who also designed the body of the Beetle. Porsche's signature designs have featured air-cooled rear-engine configurations.

In 1964, Porsche launched the Porsche 911, an air-cooled, rear-engined sports car with a six-cylinder "boxer" engine. The team to lay out the body shell design was led by Ferry Porsche's eldest son, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche (F. A.). The designated 901 nomenclature for the Porsche 911 was adjusted to 911 due to Peugeot's trademarks. The Porsche 911 has become Porsche's most well-known model.

In 1972, the company's legal form was changed from Kommanditgesellschaft (KG) to Aktiengesellschaft (AG). This led to the establishment of an executive board with members from outside the Porsche family, and a supervisory board consisting largely of family members. With this change, most family members in the operation of the company, including F. A. Porsche and Ferdinand Piëch, departed from the company.

F. A. Porsche founded his own design company, Porsche Design. Louise's son and Ferry's nephew Ferdinand Piëch, who was responsible for mechanical development of Porsche's production and racing cars, formed his own engineering bureau. He later moved to Audi and ultimately became the chairman of Volkswagen Group.

The first chief executive officer (CEO) of Porsche AG was Ernst Fuhrmann. Fuhrmann was responsible for the so-called Fuhrmann-engine, used in the Porsche 356 Carrera models as well as the Porsche 550 Spyder. He planned to cease the Porsche 911 during the 1970s and replace it with the V8-front engined grand sportswagon 928. Fuhrmann was replaced in the early 1980s by Peter W. Schutz.

In 1990, Porsche drew up a memorandum of understanding with Toyota to learn and benefit from Japanese lean manufacturing methods. In 2004, it was reported that Toyota was assisting Porsche with hybrid technology.

Following the dismissal of Arno Bohn, Heinz Branitzki was appointed as interim CEO. Branitzki served until Wendelin Wiedeking became CEO in 1993. Wiedeking transformed Porsche into a very efficient and profitable company.

Ferdinand Porsche's nephew, Ferdinand Piëch, was chairman and CEO of the Volkswagen Group from 1993 to 2002 and is chairman of the Volkswagen AG Supervisory Board since then. He remains the second-largest individual shareholder of Porsche SE after his cousin, F. A. Porsche.

Porsche's 2002 introduction of the Cayenne also marked the unveiling of a new production facility in Leipzig, Saxony. In 2004, production of the Carrera GT commenced in Leipzig.

The company has always had a close relationship with, initially, the Volkswagen (VW) marque, and later, the Volkswagen Group, because the first Volkswagen Beetle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche.

The two companies collaborated in 1969 to make the VW-Porsche 914 and 914-6. Further collaboration in 1976 resulted in the Porsche 912E and the Porsche 924, which used many Audi components. The Cayenne, introduced in 2002, shares its chassis with the Volkswagen Touareg and the Audi Q7.

Porsche SE was created in June 2007 by renaming the old Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, and became a holding company. At the same time, the new Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG was created for the car manufacturing business.

In August 2009, Porsche SE and Volkswagen AG reached an agreement that the car manufacturing operations of the two companies would merge in 2011. As of the end of 2015, the 52.2% control interest in Volkswagen AG is the predominant investment by Porsche SE.

Porsche AG, as a 100% subsidiary of VW AG, is responsible for the actual production and manufacture of the Porsche automobile line. The company currently produces Porsche 911, Boxster and Cayman sports cars, the Cayenne and Macan sport utility vehicles and the four-door Panamera.

In 2010, Porsche launched the Cayenne S Hybrid and announced the Panamera S Hybrid, and launched the Porsche 918 sports car in 2014, which also features a hybrid system. Also a plug-in hybrid model called the Panamera S E-Hybrid was released in October 2013 in the United States.

Porsche developed a prototype electric Porsche Boxster called the Boxster E in 2011 and a hybrid version of the 911 called the GT3 R Hybrid, developed with Williams Grand Prix Engineering in 2010.

In August 2018, Porsche announced that the formerly named Mission E electric car would be named "Taycan". The Porsche Taycan went on sale in 2020.

Porsche has a record 19 outright wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Porsche is currently the world's largest race car manufacturer. In 2006, Porsche built 195 race cars for various international motor sports events.

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