About
A little bit of history about the car we all love.
Professor Ferdinand Porsche founded the company called "Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH" in 1931, with main offices at Kronenstraße 24 in the centre of Stuttgart. At first, 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 inherited was from the German government to design a car for the common man, a German: Volkswagen. The result was the Volkswagen Beetle, one of the most successful car designs of all time. The first Porsche, the Porsche 64, was created in 1939 using many components from the Beetle.
Ferdinand Porsche's son, Ferry Porsche, chose to build his own car because he could not locate an existing one that he wanted to purchase. He also had to steer the company through some of its most trying days until his father's release from prison in August 1947. The first models of what was to become the 356 were built in a diminutive sawmill in Gmünd, Austria. The prototype car was displayed before German auto dealers, and when pre-orders reached a set breaking point, production was begun. Many regard the 356 as the first Porsche simply because it was the first model sold by the nestling company. Porsche commissioned a Zuffenhausen-based company, Reutter Karosserie, which had before collaborated with the firm on Volkswagen Beetle prototypes, to create the 356's steel body. In 1952, Porsche constructed an assembly plant across the street from Reutter Karosserie; the main road in front of Werk 1, the oldest Porsche building, is now known as Porschestrasse. The 356 was road certified in 1948.
In 1964, after some success in motor-racing, namely with the Porsche 550 Spyder, the company launched the Porsche 911 an air-cooled, rear-engined sports car, this time with a six-cylinder "boxer" engine. The team to lay out the body shell design was headed by Ferry Porsche's eldest son, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche (F. A.). The design phase for the 911 caused internal difficulties with Erwin Komenda, who had led the body design department until that point. F. A. Porsche complained Komenda made unauthorized changes to the design. Company leader Ferry Porsche took his son's drawings to near by chassis manufacturer Reuter. Reuter's workshop was later acquired by Porsche . Shortly there after Reuter became a seat manufacturer, today known as Keiper-Recaro.
As of 2005, the extended Porsche and Piëch families controlled all of Porsche AG's voting shares. In early October 2005 the company announced acquisition of an 18.53% stake in Volkswagen AG (VW AG), and disclosed intentions to acquire additional VW AG shares in the future. As of June 2006, the Porsche AG stake in VW AG had risen to 25.1%, giving Porsche a blocking minority, whereby Porsche can veto large corporate decisions undertaken by VW AG. Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Porsche and Volkswagen automakers agree to merger In mid-2006, after years of the Boxster (and later the Cayenne) as the dominant Porsche in North America, the 911 reclaimed its position as Porsche's backbone in the Europe. The Cayenne and 911 have cycled as the top-selling model since. In Germany the 911 clearly outsells the Boxster/Cayman and Cayenne.