Ferdinand Porsche founded Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche GmbH on 25 April 1931 together with Adolf Rosenberger and Anton Piech, with main offices at Kronenstrase 24 in central Stuttgart. Rosenberger was a key figure in the creation of Auto Union, the German automotive manufacturer that became an Audi precursor. The company's full name derives from Ferdinand Porsche's honorary doctorate title — Doktor-Ingenieur honoris causa. Initially offering vehicle development consultancy rather than building its own cars, the firm received an early commission from the German government to design a mass-market vehicle. The result was the Volkswagen Beetle — one of the most successful car designs of all time. A prototype sports car, the Porsche 64, followed in 1939, using many Beetle components.
During the Second World War, Porsche submitted designs for heavy tanks, losing both the Tiger I and Tiger II contracts to Henschel. However, the Tiger I chassis Porsche had developed was repurposed as the base for the Elefant tank destroyer, and two Maus super-heavy tank prototypes were completed near the war's end. Ferdinand Porsche's biographer Fabian Muller noted that Porsche had thousands of people forcibly brought to work at its factories during the war.
At the end of the war in 1945, Ferdinand Porsche lost his position at Volkswagen and was arrested for war crimes on 15 December 1945, though he was never tried. During his twenty-month imprisonment, his son Ferry Porsche built the car that would become the Porsche 356 — beginning production in a small sawmill in Gmund, Austria. The prototype was road-certified in 1948. After Ferdinand's release in August 1947, production was transferred to the Stuttgart-based Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche GmbH in 1950, with steel bodywork contracted to Reutter Karosserie in Zuffenhausen. A dedicated assembly plant, Werk 2, was constructed across the road from Reutter in 1952. Ferdinand Porsche died on 30 January 1951.
The 356 went through three distinct evolutionary stages — A, B, and C — while in production, with most Volkswagen-sourced components progressively replaced by Porsche-designed parts. Beginning in 1954, the 356's engines used cases designed specifically for the car. Sleek bodywork was the work of Erwin Komenda, who had also designed the Beetle's body.
In 1964, following racing success with models including the 550 Spyder, Porsche launched the 911: an air-cooled, rear-engined sports car with a six-cylinder boxer engine. The body shell design team was led by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche (F.A.), Ferry's eldest son. The designated project number 901 was changed to 911 because Peugeot held trademarks on all three-digit numbers with a zero in the centre. A cost-reduced four-cylinder variant was sold as the 912. Racing models followed the original numbering sequence: 904, 906, 908.
In 1972 Ferry Porsche converted the company from a Kommanditgesellschaft (limited partnership) to an Aktiengesellschaft (public limited company), influenced by Soichiro Honda's policy of keeping family members out of direct company management. This brought external executive board members into the firm and led most family members — including F.A. Porsche and Ferdinand Piech — to depart. F.A. Porsche subsequently founded Porsche Design, while Ferdinand Piech moved to Audi, eventually becoming chairman of the Volkswagen Group.
Ernst Fuhrmann, Porsche's first CEO following the restructuring, planned to phase out the 911 in the 1970s in favour of the front-engined V8 928. His successor Peter Schutz, appointed in 1981, reversed this decision. Schutz was replaced in 1988 by Arno Bohn, who was dismissed after costly miscalculations, and Wendelin Wiedeking took over in 1993, transforming Porsche into one of the automotive industry's most consistently profitable manufacturers during his sixteen-year tenure.
Porsche's connection with Volkswagen began with the Beetle and deepened through collaboration on the VW-Porsche 914 and 914-6 in 1969 and the Porsche 924 in 1976, which used Audi components and was built at Audi's Neckarsulm plant. The Cayenne, introduced in 2002, shares its chassis with the Volkswagen Touareg and Audi Q7, built at the Volkswagen Group factory in Bratislava, Slovakia.
In June 2007 the original Porsche AG was renamed Porsche SE and restructured as a holding company. A new Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG was created for car manufacturing. In August 2009 Porsche SE and Volkswagen AG agreed to merge their car manufacturing operations into an integrated automotive group. By the end of 2015, Porsche SE held a 52.2 percent controlling interest in Volkswagen AG, which in turn owns brands including Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, Skoda, SEAT, Ducati, Scania, and MAN. Porsche AG, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, is responsible for the actual production and manufacture of the Porsche automobile range.
Headquarters and the main factory are in Zuffenhausen, a district of Stuttgart, where Porsche manufactures its flat-six and V8 engines. Cayenne and Panamera models are produced in Leipzig, where a facility opened alongside the Cayenne's 2002 launch. Boxster and Cayman production was outsourced to Valmet Automotive in Finland from 1997 to 2011 before returning to Germany. Since 2011, the Zuffenhausen plant area has more than doubled, from 284,000 square metres to 614,000 square metres, through acquisition of adjacent industrial sites.
In May 2017 Porsche built the one-millionth 911 — an Irish green Carrera S — which was taken on a global tour before becoming a permanent exhibit at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart.
Porsche entered hybrid production with the Cayenne S Hybrid and Panamera S Hybrid in 2010, introduced the plug-in hybrid 918 sports car in 2014, and launched the fully electric Taycan in 2020. In May 2025 Porsche confirmed the end of production for all current 718 Boxster and Cayman variants, with fully electric replacements to follow.
In September 2022, Porsche AG listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The share capital was divided into 50 percent non-voting preference shares and 50 percent ordinary shares. Volkswagen AG retained 75 percent of ordinary shares while Porsche SE acquired 25 percent; 25 percent of the preference shares (12.5 percent of total share capital) were sold to the public at the upper end of the price range of 82.5 euros per share, valuing the company at 75 billion euros. Qatar Investment Authority committed to acquiring 4.99 percent of preference shares as part of the cornerstone investor group.
Porsche's 19 overall victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans represent the most of any manufacturer in the event's history. The company is also the world's largest builder of dedicated racing cars: in 2006 it produced 195 race cars for international competition, and in 2007 it was contracted to deliver at least 275, comprising RS Spyder LMP2 prototypes, 911 GT3-RSR customer racers, and 911 GT3 Cup vehicles for various international series.
Porsche won the J.D. Power and Associates Initial Quality Study in 2006, 2009, 2010, and 2014. A 2011 Canadian study found that 97.4 percent of Porsches built in the preceding 25 years remained in use on public roads.
Porsche's operating profit fell by approximately 98 percent in 2025, from roughly 5.3 billion euros in 2024 to 90 million euros, producing an operating margin of only 0.3 percent against 14.5 percent the prior year. Global sales declined ten percent from 310,718 vehicles in 2024 to 279,449. Contributing factors included a 3.9 billion euro write-down from restructuring electric vehicle investments following BEV sales stagnation, a roughly 26 percent sales decline in China following a 28 percent drop the previous year, and increased United States import tariffs reaching 15 to 25 percent on finished vehicles. New CEO Michael Leiters, who took office on 1 January 2026, stated a focus on a leaner, more efficient model lineup while reducing dependence on volume sales.