History & Heritage: Porsche

By Kris Palmer, Star Tribune Sales and Marketing

Last update: December 28, 2007 - 1:02 PM

When Porsche says it is committed to "spiritual mobility," you know the company is a little different. But the German carmaker (the name is pronounced "PORSH-uh," by the way) is also practical and committed to capitalism. Porsche says that it currently earns the highest profit per car sold of any auto company in the world. Along the way, the brand has also earned icon status.

While Porsche has had its share of downs over the years, the brand is definitely enjoying an upside currently.

The company (officially Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG) owns 30 percent of Volkswagen. The Porsche brand was voted the most prestigious in a Luxury Institute survey and topped J.D. Power and Associates' 2006 Nameplate Initial Quality Study. The company also makes more race cars than any carmaker - about 275 this year.

The first Porsche car, though it didn't bear the name, was the Type 64 in 1939, but the company's roots go much further back. Founder Ferdinand Porsche had his name on the Lohner-Porsche electric car in 1900. He also designed an early all-wheel drive race car and the world's first gas/electric hybrid (and you thought the idea was new?).

After designing cars for Daimler in the 1920s, including successful racecars, Ferdinand Porsche started his own engineering firm in 1931 in Stuttgart. He designed the torsion bar suspension used later in Porsche cars and the original Volkswagen Beetle, including its air-cooled, rear-engine setup also used in Porsche's 911 cars.

Ferdinand's son Ferry designed the first Porsche that used the name, the 356, in 1948. Commercial production began in 1950. Here are just a few other Porsche milestones:

1964 - The six-cylinder 911 series, still with us, debuts. Ferry's son F.A. designs the body shell.

1974 - The 911 Turbo is the first production sports car with an exhaust turbo charger and pressure regulator.

1975 - The 924 is Porsche's first front- engine, trans-axle sports car. Porsche is the first to use double-sided galva- nizing for the body steel of its cars.

1989 - Porsche's Tiptronic shiftable automatic gearbox first appears.

1996 - The Boxster debuts; total production surpasses one million cars.

1999 - Porsches have the world's first ceramic composite brakes.

2002 - The Cayenne SUV is launched; the $440,000 Carrera GT, with Porsche's most powerful production engine (605 hp), begins its four-year run.

2004 - New generations of Boxster and 911 come out as 2005 models.

2005 - The first Cayman coupe goes on sale.

Early Porsches used a lot of VW parts and the carmakers even collaborated on the VW-Porsche 914 and 914-6 in 1969. The close relationship between the two companies continues to this day. The Cayenne has the same chassis as the VW Touareg, for example.

No look at Porsche can ignore its racing success, but what do you leave out? Porsches have won more than 28,000 races! There have been manufacturer championships and numerous wins in prestigious races and series like the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 24 Hours of Daytona, Formula One Grand Prix, Can-Am, the Sebring 12-Hour races, the Paris-Dakar Rally and many, many more.

Today, Porsche offers four lines: two Boxster roadsters, two Cayman coupes, the 911 (a whopping 14 varieties, including coupes, convertibles, targas, turbos, 2WD and 4WD), and the mid-size Cayenne SUV (3 kinds, including a turbo). Joining them in 2009 will be the four-door Panamera sports coupe. You can bet it will strive, as Porsche says of its vehicles, to embody "the epitome of sporty driving."

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