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Country of car origin : Germany
First Car : 1948
 

 

Porsche Car history

 

Taken from Porsche Official "Press Kit"
 

From the 356 to the New 911

While products and technologies designed and created by Porsche now look back at more than 100 years of successful history, the first car bearing the brand name Porsche was homologated by the state government of Kärnten in Austria "only" 50 years ago on 8 June 1948 – the very first Porsche 356 to see the light of day. The intellectual and, indeed, spiritual "father" of the car was Professor Ferdinand "Ferry" Porsche, who died on 27 March 1998 at the age of 88. Moving his Company during the war from Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen to the town of Gmünd in Kärnten, Ferry Porsche had started with his faithful employees in 1947 to "build a sports car of the kind I like myself" based on the Volkswagen Beetle developed by his father.
 

Without counting "Old No 1", exactly 52 units of the 356 model were built in Gmünd, all subsequent cars as of 1950 being assembled in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. Up to the end of production of the 356 in 1965 no less than 78,000 purchasers the world over had joined Ferry Porsche in his opinion, clearly expressing that they, too, liked the car. Other sports cars – in particular, of course, the 911 – quickly made the brand one of the most renowned and outstanding automobile manufacturers in the world consistently renowned for beautiful design, progressive and reliable technology.
 

Porsche's worldwide success in motorsport also started with the 356. For the very first model with chassis number 356.001 was only a few weeks old when, in July 1948, it scored its first class victory in the Innsbruck City Race. And to this very day hardly any other marque has brought home as many overall wins and world championships as Porsche. In the 24 Hours of Le Mans alone, now the oldest and most famous long-distance race in the world, Porsche has clinched victory no less than 15 times. In Formula 1, in turn, the world championship engine has come from Porsche on no less than three occasions.
 

Many of the winning cars are based on the Porsche 911 and its technology. Like the VW Beetle beating production records the world over, the Porsche 911 presented to the public in 1963 now looks back at a longer life-cycle than any other sports car in the world. And even today, demand for the latest 911 with its water-cooled six-cylinder horizontally opposed power unit fitted at the rear exceeds all expectations. Which explains why Porsche aficionados already speak of the "never-ending story" (and success) of the 911.
 

Porsche's Research and Development Centre in Weissach, 25 kilometres west of Stuttgart, is of equally great significance in the automobile world as Porsche's sports cars from Zuffenhausen. The Weissach Centre continues the tradition initiated by Professor Ferdinand Porsche, the father of Ferry Porsche, at his original Design Office in Stuttgart, developing not only the sports cars of the marque, but also technical projects and new technologies for customers the world over. Indeed, no other manufacturer these days is able to offer such a complete, all-round range of development services extending from detailed solutions all the way to complete vehicles. The main customers of Porsche's Development Centre with more than 1,850 engineers and technicians are international automotive manufacturers proud and readily willing to admit that "there is a piece of Weissach in every car on the road".
 

The History of Porsche Sports Cars
 

Motoring at Its Very Best
 

The very first car proudly bearing the name Porsche was built 50 years ago – a 356 roadster with chassis number 356.001. With its modified 1.1-litre VW engine developing 35 bhp at 4000 rpm, the car had a top speed of 135 km/h or 84 mph. Prior to the construction of this first-ever Porsche, the Company had worked exclusively as a design service handling assignments from other manufacturers, the most famous example, of course, being the Volkswagen Beetle.
 

"Every single bolt was just right"
 

During the war Ferdinand "Ferry" Porsche (who died on 27 March 1998 at the age of 88) and a handful of his proven, faithful employees had started work on development number 356 in their workshops moved to the town of Gmünd in Kärnten. The first design drawings were completed on 17 July 1947 and on 8 June 1948 the Kärnten state government issued a special permit homologating the car. Returning home after being held by the French as a prisoner of war and bailed out of custody by his family, Professor Dr.-Ing.h.c.Ferdinand Porsche, Ferry's father, stated right away that "every single bolt was just right". No 1 was then followed by a small series of 52 additional cars built in Gmünd, production in Stuttgart from 1950 – 1965 subsequently amounting to 78,000 units of the 356 model series.
 

 

Then, at the 1963 Frankfurt Motor Show, the story of Porsche was continued with the world-famous 911.
 

The 911: the sports car with the longest production run ever
 

"We had to move on from the 356", said Ferry Porsche, "because basically we had started building the car with VW parts and components". Despite ongoing evolution of the 356 and the addition of various engines extending up to 2.0 litres and 130 bhp on the road models, Porsche's very first sports car had its limits. So Ferry's son Ferdinand Alexander Porsche designed the successor to the 356, the Porsche 911, originally bearing the model designation 901. The four-cylinder engine was replaced in the process by an all-new six-cylinder offering a huge potential for further improvement. Initially, this new flat-six displaced 2.0 litres and developed maximum output of 130 bhp, giving the car a top speed of more than 210 km/h or 130 mph. Even back then one of the car's technical details was the safety steering system allowing the engineers to "kill three birds with one stone": Fitted just above the floor panel, the steering transmission left more room for luggage beneath the sloped engine compartment lid, the arrangement of the steering spindle in the middle of the car facilitated the production of left-hand and right-hand-drive models, and the steering column folding if necessary at two points protected the driver reliably in the event of a head-on collision.
 

Like the Volkswagen Beetle built in huge numbers, the Porsche 911 now looks back at the longest production run of any sports car in the world. A particular highlight in the 911 model range was the 911 Turbo presented by Porsche at the 1974 Paris Motor Show and originally intended for a production "volume" of just 500 units. By the time the last air-cooled 911 was delivered to its proud owner on 31 March 1998, however, Porsche had built and sold no less then 32,335 Turbos for customers the world over.
 

914/914-6: the mid-engined Porsche
 

Over and above decades of development activities for Volkswagen, Porsche started cooperating even more closely with VW when Ferry Porsche decided to introduce a sports car below the 911 price range. With the engineers in both Wolfsburg and Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen being convinced that the mid-engine concept was the right approach, the Porsche 914 saw the light of day in 1969 as a mid-engined sports car with a removable roof and a four-cylinder injection engine displacing 1.7 litres supplied by VW and then followed by the two-litre six-cylinder taken from the 911 T to create the Porsche 914-6. With the engine of the 911 T at the time developing 125 bhp and marking the entry level into the 911 model series, the power unit featured in the 914-6 developed maximum output of 110 bhp.
 

924: introducing the Transaxle era
 

Another product of Porsche's close cooperation with VW was the Porsche 924 originally developed for Volkswagen but then becoming a fully-fledged Porsche in 1975. The first-ever Porsche with Transaxle configuration, a water-cooled engine fitted up front and the transmission on the rear axle, the 924, together with its successors, the Porsche 944 and 968, saw a total production run throughout a period of 20 years of 325,231 units equal to approximately 30 per cent of Porsche's total output.
 

928: the top-of-the-range gran turismo
 

The only sports car ever to win the title of Car of the Year was built in Zuffenhausen from 1977 to 1995: the Porsche 928 gran turismo which, leaving aside the 911 Turbo, consistently remained the most expensive production Porsche to be admired on the road. Sold to approximately 61,000 purchasers the world over, the Porsche 928 already came with an all-aluminium power unit at a time when most car manufacturers still used heavy grey-cast-iron engines. Maximum output back in 1977 was 240 bhp from 4.5 litres, the last version, the 928 GTS, developing 350 bhp from 5.4 litres and accelerating, thanks to its enormous torque of 500 Nm (369 lb-ft), to 100 km/h in just 5.7 seconds. Top speed was a very impressive 275 km/h or 171 mph, clearly proving the enormous power and performance reserves of this thoroughbred gran turismo. Secure roadholding even in tight bends and optimum directional stability under load change were ensured by the rear-wheel suspension developed especially for the 928, a suspension which soon gained world fame as the Weissach axle. So long before other manufacturers started to think about "four-wheel steering", Porsche's engineers anticipated this technology back in the '70s by introducing a mechanical solution without any sensitive electronic gadgetry.
 

Porsche Boxster: the perfect roadster
 

Since September 1996 the Porsche Boxster, combining the driving dynamics of a thoroughbred sports car with unlimited everyday driving qualities, has offered a new performance and safety standard in the open sports car market. Featuring a novel roof opening/closing mechanism, the electric roof of the Boxster opens and closes within just 12 seconds, that is at a speed and with a degree of efficiency never seen before.
 

The Boxster stands out from its keenest competitors through its mid-engine concept with a flat-six power unit typical of Porsche (2.5 litres, 204 bhp/150 kW) – an engine which even under practical driving conditions makes do with less than 10 litres of premium plus/100 km (which means it returns fuel consumption better than 28.2 mpg Imp). And thanks to a drag coefficient (Cd) of just 0.31, the Boxster is able to achieve a top speed of 240 km/h or 149 mph which, together with acceleration to 100 km/h in 6.9 seconds, makes it the leader in its class.
 

Porsche 911: a never-ending story of success
 

In autumn 1997 a water-cooled six-cylinder horizontally-opposed power unit in the 911 replaced its air-cooled predecessor after no less than 34 years in the market. Smaller in size (3.4 litres), the new engine in the Porsche 911 is more powerful, offers even better performance, but is also more fuel-efficient and compatible with the environment. Maximum output is 300 bhp or 221 kW at 6800 rpm, maximum torque 350 Nm or 258 lb-ft at 4600 rpm. With emissions being reduced to a minimum, the new 911 outperforms even the strictest Euro standard. And the car's noise level also remains below the standards to be applied in future, although it is of course still characterised by that unique "911 sound".
 

In its design for the 21st century, the Porsche 911 nevertheless remains faithful to the Company's traditional line. But it is clearly distinguishable as a new model since, while retaining that typical 911 silhouette, Porsche's designers have streamlined and smoothened the body throughout, significantly improving the car's aerodynamic coefficient in the process, the Cd factor dropping from 0.33 to 0.30.
 

Customers the world over have unanimously applauded the work done by the engineers and designers at Porsche's Development Centre in Weissach, demand for the new car exceeding even the greatest expectations. And demand has increased to an even higher level with the introduction of the new 911 cabriolet, aficionados of Porsche sports cars already waxing lyrical about the "never-ending story" of the 911.
 

Models, Facts and Figures
 

Porsche Know-How for the Entire Industry
 
 

"We Develop New Products for Customers the World Over"
 
"There's a piece of Weissach in nearly every car", say Porsche's engineers with a touch of pride in their voice. Still, long before the current Research and Development Centre in Weissach even came into being, Porsche was already solving development problems for external customers in the automotive industry.
 
When in the Austrian town of Gmünd "Old No 1", the very first Porsche 356 sports car, entered the world 50 years ago, Ferry Porsche was already working together with his father's engineers and technicians on development assignments for industrial clients. It was precisely for this purpose that Ferdinand Porsche senior had established his engineering office in Kronenstrasse in Stuttgart back in 1931. Immediately after the war, however, Porsche's development team made a living on rather unspectacular jobs, designing ski bindings and winches or machines for cutting turf into briquettes. However, Porsche also carried out development assignments for Volkswagen, designing and building an interim transmission, a dense fuel engine and, finally, even a diesel engine for the famous Beetle. And from Italy the Company received the order to develop the famous Cisitalia racing car, creating a design far ahead of its times.
 
Modest beginnings
 
After the Company returned to Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen activities started out on a rather low, modest level. To begin with, round about the year 1950, the almost empty Stuttgart-Heilbronn autobahn as well as the roads around Stuttgart served as a testing area. Benefitting from the rather sparse traffic back then, Porsche's engineers tried out in practice what their colleagues in Zuffenhausen had designed and built for the road. But then traffic started to become denser and denser, extreme driving tests on public roads presenting increasing problems. While as of 1953 a small airport nearby served for certain driving tests, the facility was simply too small and did not offer the right conditions, the runways, for example, being absolutely flat and not with the usual curvature of the surface from left to right, like a normal road. So Porsche realised around 1954/55 that the only way to solve the problem in the long run was to build an in-house, private test area allowing the engineers and drivers to try out all kinds of situations on the road without the public watching. And eventually they found exactly the right area between the villages of Weissach and Flacht in the County of Böblingen. On 29 January 1960 Helmuth Bott, at the time one of Porsche's test engineers, defined the Weissach Project in a memo full of drawings. Indeed, it was Bott who put his own personal stamp on all phases of the development in Weissach, testing cars on the skid pad as a test engineer, supervising operations on the road circuits as the chief tester, and finally overseeing the process of his entire crew moving to Weissach in his position as the Company's Chief Development Engineer. From 1978 to 1988 Professor Helmuth Bott then became the Board Member for Research and Development of Porsche AG.
 
Ferry Porsche breaks the ground
 
The initial concept soon developed into a realistic project fully endorsed by management. So on 16 October 1961 Ferry Porsche broke the ground on the test track with a bulldozer and exactly one year later the access roads and skid pad were opened for use by the Company.
 
 
The Development Division responsible for design, construction and testing was still in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, but was growing faster than the production plant as such. With the premises in Zuffenhausen already fully occupied, the only option for Development was soon to move to Weissach, too. And indeed, some of the test tracks were not even ready when, in February 1969, construction of the Development Centre started. In summer 1971, more than a quarter of a century ago, the Development Division then began moving from Zuffenhausen to their new address which, at the time, was the most advanced and modern test centre in the world. One of the departments that also moved to Weissach was the Emission Testing Unit with dynamometers and rolling roads in a position even then to handle speeds of up to 160 km/h or almost 100 mph. And even back then exhaust emissions went straight from the car to analysis units in the control room. Endurance and long-distance tests were controlled via punch cards and pneumatic cylinders by an "automatic driver" pressing down the accelerator, brake and clutch pedals, and shifting gears, according to specific, predetermined driving cycles.
 
 
 
 
Research to the benefit of the environment
 
 
Three years later, following the test areas, workshops and laboratories, the office buildings within the Research and Development Centre were also opened for use by the Company, allowing Porsche to concentrate all development activities and functions in Weissach within an organisation complying in full with all the requirements at the time. Even so, the Company realised even back then that this was only a provisional stage of development.
 
 
The next significant expansion of the facilities in Weissach was due in 1981, with Porsche's own engineers as well as development customers in the world automotive industry demanding larger capacities for measuring and optimising exhaust emissions. The Environmental Protection Measuring Centre with its own, absolutely self-sufficient test facility and a test area of 5,500 square metres with brand-new test rigs was therefore opened in late autumn 1982. Controlled by microprocessors, modern exhaust emission dynamometers serve here to measure the actual driving resistance of the vehicle consistently and with lasting precision, thus ensuring statistically proven, reproducible results in accordance with the US City and Highway Tests, the European Test, Japanese Test or other test cycles. A steel climate/pressure chamber allows the engineers and researchers to carry out exhaust emission and fuel consumption tests as well as many other development trials under a broad range of climate and altitude conditions. A particular point worth mentioning here is that the Weissach Research and Development Centre was the first facility of its kind authorised by the US authorities to conduct exhaust emission tests with certificates for US imports.
 
 
It was precisely for this reason, in consideration of the high standard of exhaust emission research at Porsche's Research and Development Centre, that Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Porsche decided to establish their joint Exhaust Emission Centre of the Automobile Industry opened in January 1996 in Weissach.
 
 
Customers have lauded Weissach time and again as the "Mecca of technical progress". And indeed, the Weissach Research and Development Centre offers an incomparable range of advanced technology supported by specialists in virtually all areas, allowing manufacturers and customers alike to turn their dreams, visions and innovative ideas into reality.
Especially for customer developments and specific production assignments, Porsche has furthermore established Porsche Engineering Services (PES) allowing a saving of up to one-third in terms of both manpower and test facilities and thus ensuring cost benefits the Company passes on in full to its customers. PES's unique range of services comprises the systematic development of complete components and modules such as engines, transmissions, chassis or safety systems and extends all the way to the production of complete vehicles or even small model series. Indeed, Porsche is the only company worldwide able to develop complete vehicles on behalf of the customer – and Porsche intends to further promote such customer-specific production activities through the development and production of high-tech vehicles for other companies. Customer development and production will therefore remain a significant strategic activity with Porsche also in future.
 
 
Porsche Engineering Services, the subsidiary of the same name in the USA, also renders important services in the market, in particular in the development of lightweight steel projects such as ULSAB (Ultra-Light Steel Auto Body). Demand for development services is also increasing significantly in Asia, particularly in Korea and China. And Porsche is furthermore able to offer customers the benefits provided by Porsche Engineering Services GmbH (PES) in the town of Bietigheim-Bissingen near Stuttgart, a subsidiary established in 1995 in order to expand the Company's capacity and make working hours more flexible. The main areas covered by this subsidiary are design and construction services on the bodyshell and mechanical systems, while Porsche Engineering Services also sees interesting potentials in future for the development of niche products on behalf of other automobile manufacturers.
 
 
Excellent quality all round
 
 
In 1994 Porsche became the world's first carmaker to fulfill the international ISO 9001 quality standard in the area of customer development. Together with the new DIN standard, this ensures much simpler procedures in the market, all products requiring homologation now only having to be checked and verified in their country of production to comply in full with the requirements of all EU member states.
 


 

Highlights of the Company
 
 

 

Half a Century of Porsche Motorsport
 
 

Success at the Supreme Level
 
 
Motorsport and Porsche belong together like water and the sea. Over the years and decades the world-famous marque from Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen has been successful in virtually all areas and categories of motorsport, winning races and bringing home victories on the highest level. No less than 8 World Championships in Endurance Racing, three World Championships in Formula 1, 15 wins at Le Mans, as well as record-breaking victories in the classic Daytona, Sebring and Targa Florio (Italy) races speak for themselves. In all, Porsche sports cars have scored some 23,000 wins in motor racing the world over. But the fact remains that the technical aspects of developing a successful sports/racing car have always been more important for Porsche's commitment to motorsport than the mere quest for the winner's laurels.
 
 
On 11 July 1948, when Porsche 356 No 1 was not even five weeks old, Porsche's nephew Herbert Kaes drove "Old No 1" in the first car race in Austria after the war, the Innsbruck City Race. And despite the fact that the car had only 35 bhp developed by its 1131-cc power unit at 4000 rpm, it brought home victory in its class right away.
 
 
Customer sport – an old Porsche tradition
 
 
Ever since customer sport – the sale of potential race winners to private teams and drivers – has been one of Porsche's great traditions. In the two years to follow, for example, Porsche drivers remained equally successful, Austrian driver Otto Mathé bringing home a class win in the International Alpine Rally in 1950. Naturally, another class win scored by French drivers Veullet and Mouche in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1951 hit the headlines even more, the two drivers at the wheel of a 635-kg coupé built in Gmünd and powered by a 1.1-litre engine developing 46 bhp thanks to its new camshaft covering 2,842.65 km (1,762.44 miles) at an overall average speed of 118.4 km/h (73.41 mph), with remarkable lap speeds of up to 140 km/h or 87 mph. A David among many Goliaths, the small Porsche finished a remarkable 20th in the overall rating.
 
 
Porsche drivers have really been at home in Le Mans ever since – perhaps more than on any other race track the world over. Following many additional class wins with small cars at the time, Porsche's first overall win in Le Mans came in 1970, Hans Herrmann and Dick Attwood bringing home the title in a 4.5-litre 917 K. And in the meantime no other manufacturer has won this endurance race – now the oldest in the world – as often as Porsche: no less than 15 times up to 1997, with 7 wins in a row from 1981 to 1987.
 
 
In the '50s and to a large extent also in the '60s Porsche entered races with cars displacing less than two litres, scoring class wins virtually everywhere. But as early as in 1956 Umberto Maglioli driving a 550 A Spyder scored Porsche's first overall win against seemingly almighty competitors in the famous Targa Florio in Sicily. And in the Liege-Rome-Liege road marathon Claude Storez and Robert Buchet achieved the same success in 1957 at the wheel of a Porsche 356 Carrera Speedster.
 
 
From a class to an overall winner
 
 
Driving a Porsche 718 RSK, Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips won the European Hill-Climb Championship in 1958, Döry/Mieres then bringing home Porsche's first overall win in Daytona in 1959 at the wheel of a Porsche RS 1500. In 1962, in turn, Dan Gurney won the French Grand Prix in Rouen, clinching Porsche's first Formula 1 victory at the wheel of a Porsche 804 developing 180 bhp from its 1.5-litre flat-8 power unit. Two years later in 1964 one of the most beautiful racing/sports cars ever built by Porsche, the 904 Carrera GTS designed by Ferdinand Alexander ("Butzi") Porsche, scored the Company's sixth overall win in the Targa Florio.
 
 
One of Porsche's particular strongholds has always been motor racing with prototypes and sports cars clearly related, also in the their looks, to their production counterparts. Many successful Porsche racing/sports cars such as the 906 and 907 (three times the winner in Daytona), the 908 (the winner of the first World Championship of Makes in 1969), the 910, 917, 935, 936, 956 and 962 thus remain unforgotten, having brought home great victories the world over both with the works team and in the hands of professional private teams, just like the 911 GT1 today. Indeed, the names alone of the great racing drivers winning major events with these cars would fill many lines and even pages.
Another Porche stronghold for many years was rally racing, where the 911 was raced for the first time in the 1965 Monte Carlo Rally with Herbert Linge and Peter Falk at the wheel, finishing fifth overall behind Eugen Böhringer and Rolf Wütherich in a 904 Carrera GTS. In 1968 Vic Elford and David Stone driving a Porsche 911 T scored Porsche's first overall win in the Monte, further overall wins in this classic event following in 1969, 1970 and 1978 – all with various versions of the Porsche 911.
 
 
Porsche – the endurance specialist
 
 
In the course of time Porsche's list of overall wins became longer and longer. In the 1968 24 Hours of Daytona, for example, Porsche celebrated a glorious 1-2-3 victory, Hans Herrmann and Jo Siffert won the 12 Hours of Sebring with Vic Elford and Jochen Neerpasch finishing second, and Gerhard Mitter clinched the European Hill-Climb Championship for the third time in a row – winning 8 out of 8 races. In 1970, in turn, it was once again Hans Herrmann and Dick Attwood who scored Porsche's overall victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans at the wheel of a 4.5-litre 917 K. Just one year later Helmut Marko and Gijs van Lennep followed their example, this time driving a 4.9-litre 917 K.
 
 
In 1972 George Follmer brought home the US CanAm Championship at the wheel of a 917/1C Turbo, Mark Donohue following in his footsteps in 1973 in a Porsche 917/30, at the time the most powerful racing car ever built with maximum output of 1100 bhp – which is perhaps why Mark scored six overall wins in a row and finished once as the runner-up. It was also in 1973 that the classic Targa Florio was held for the last time on the Madonie course in Sicily, Herbert Müller and Gijs van Lennep scoring yet another triumph at the wheel of a 911 Carrera RSR.
 
 
The newly developed 911 RS 2.1 Turbo (1974), the 935 and the 936 dominated the endurance racing scene in 1975, once again bringing home the World Championship of Makes and Sports Cars for Porsche. And to round off this outstanding success, Jacky Ickx and Gijs van Lennep scored an overall victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. A couple of years later, in the 50th 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1981, Porsche itself was back for the 31st time, Jacky Ickx and Derk Bell once again clinching victory in a 936 and marking the beginning of an almost unbelievable series: Porsche was the winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans from 1981 to 1987, the Company thus bringing home 7 outstanding victories in a row.
 
 
A winner also in Formula 1
 
 
While all this was happening, Porsche's racing engineers in Weissach were busily developing the 1.5-litre turbocharged V6 Formula 1 power unit for the TAG Group. Powered by this impressive engine, the McLaren TAG Porsche then won the Formula 1 World Championship in 1984, its first full season, with Niki Lauda at the wheel, Alain Prost subsequently taking over and bringing home the title in 1985 and 1986.
 
 
Driving the famous 959 spearhead in technological development launched by Porsche in 1985 and sold at a price of DM 420,000.- in a production run of only 292 units, René Metge and his co-driver Dominique Lernoyne won the ultra-tough Paris-Dakar Rally in 1986, repeating the victory they had already scored in 1984 in a 911 SC Carrera 4x4. The 962 prototype soon to become the most successful racing/sports car of all times spent all these years bringing home one victory after the other, while Porsche was establishing new options in popular sport with the 944 Turbo Cup initiated in 1986. Indeed, this was the first racing series in which all cars were equipped with a catalytic converter. In 1990 it was followed by the Porsche Carrera Cup supplemented in 1993 by the Porsche Pirelli Supercup held in conjunction with Formula 1 races.
 
 
Customer sport then continued to dominate the Porsche racing scene in the years to come, while at the same time the Company was working hard on the successful introduction of GT racing, developing a new generation of racing/sports cars spearheaded by the 911 GT1. The result was yet another win in Le Mans in 1994 with the works team bringing home the laurels, Porsche triumphs No 14 and 15 following in 1996 and 1997. So the bottom line, quite simply, is that no other marque has won the 24 Hours of Le Mans as often as Porsche.
 
 

Major Wins and Championships
 

  1. World Championship of Makes, World Championship of Teams 14
  2. Endurance World Championship, Drivers' Rating 8
  3. MSA Supercar Series 3
  4. German Motor Racing Championship 6
  5. European Hill-Climb Championship 20
  6. Formula 1 World Championship (Drivers) 3 (McLaren with the Porsche engine designed and built for TAG)
  7. Formula 1 wins 25 (McLaren with the Porsche engine designed and built for TAG)
  8. Formula 1 wins 26 (Together with the race won in Rouen, 1962)
  9. Daytona (24 Hours) 18
  10. MSA Supercar Races (USA) 15
  11. Le Mans (24 Hours) 15
  12. Sebring (12 Hours) 17
  13. Targa Florio 11
  14. Monte Carlo Rally 4
  15. Paris-Dakar Rally 2
     
     
     
 
Managing Directors and Chairmen of the Board of Porsche 1948 - 1998
  
Prof.Dr.-Ing.h.c.Ferdinand "Ferry" Porsche 
1948-1972 Managing Director and Chairman of the Board of Porsche KG 
Prof.Dr.-Ing.Ernst Fuhrmann
From September 1971 Technical Director of Porsche KG
From 1 March 1972 Management Spokesman; Technical Director of Porsche KG
From August 1972 Board Spokesman of Porsche AG
6 November 1976 – 31 December 1980 Chairman of the Board of Porsche AG 
Peter W. Schutz 
1 January 1981 – 31 December 1987 Chairman of the Board of Porsche AG 
Heinz Branitzki 
1 January 1988 – 9 March 1990 Chairman of the Board of Porsche AG 
Arne Bohn 
1 January 1990, joined the Board of Porsche AG
9 March 1990 – 30 September 1992 Chairman of the Board of Porsche AG 
Dr.-Ing. Wendelin Wiedeking 
1 October 1992 – 31 July 1993 Board Spokesman of Porsche AG and until 30 September 1993 Board Member for Production and Materials
From 1 August 1993 Chairman of the Board of Porsche AG
From 1 September 1993 – 31 January 1994 Provisional Board Member for Sales
 
Chairmen of the Supervisory Board of Porsche 
Prof.Dr.Ing.h.c. Ferdinand "Ferry" Porsche 
1 August 1973 – 9 March 1990 Chairman of the Supervisory Board
9 March 1990 – 27 March 1998 Honorary Chairman of the Supervisory Board 
Ferdinand Alexander Porsche 
9 March 1990 – 5 March 1993 Chairman of the Supervisory Board 
Prof. Dr. Helmut Sihler
From 5 March 1993 Chairman of the Supervisory Board 

Porsche Today
 
 

An Overview of the Company
 
 
Model range 
Today Porsche has two model series – the 911 Carrera and the Boxster – both with a great potential for the future and further expansion. This spring the Carrera coupé was joined by a cabriolet, and further versions of the new 911 extending all the way to a new Turbo will follow. Similarly, there are also plans for further versions of the Boxster. While the 911 and the Boxster are naturally typical Porsche sports cars in every respect, they are so different in character that they appeal to and successfully reach entirely different target groups.
 
 
Production
 
 
Production in the 1996/97 business year amounted to 32,390 cars, half of them 911s, the other half Boxsters. This marks a new record for the Zuffenhausen Plant, following the former production peak of 22,955 units in the 1989/90 business year – at the time with 4,658 direct and indirect employees in production. By comparison, Porsche required only 3,563 employees in production to build 32,390 units last year. In relative terms, this means that while in 1989/90 one Porsche employee built 4.9 cars, the ratio in 1996/97 was 1:9.1 cars. Certainly a big improvement in productivity.
 
 
In response to great demand, the Boxster has also been manufactured since September 1997 in Finland in addition to the production line working at full capacity in Zuffenhausen. With at least 5,000 Boxsters to be assembled in Uusikaupunki, total production in the current 1997/98 business year is to be increased to more than 38,000 units.
 
 
Sales and distribution
 
 
Porsche sports cars are now sold by 85 dealers in Germany and 64 importers in another 71 countries. In the major volume markets – Germany, the USA, Japan, Great Britain, Italy, Australia, and Spain – Porsche now controls sales, imports and the wholesale function through its own subsidiaries and is therefore able to respond more quickly and flexibly to any changes in the market.
Workforce
 
 
On account of the significant expansion of business, the number of employees increased once again in the 1996/97 business year after decreasing for a number of years in the past. By the end of July 1997 Porsche employed 7,959 associates versus 7,107 one year before. Two factors were crucial to this increase: First, full consolidation of the sales companies in the USA and Spain; second, the employment of more than 500 production workers with limited-term employment contracts. The reason for such limited-term employment, incidentally, lies in the fact that Porsche sees a further margin also in future for increasing the productivity of the plant in Zuffenhausen.
 
 
Profits
 
 
Having successfully completed a turnaround in business, Porsche's profit situation has improved significantly and with lasting effect. The profit of DM 139.4 million generated in the 1996/97 year of business represents a pre-tax return on revenue of 4 per cent – a figure which puts Porsche right at the top among carmakers in Germany.
 
 
Porsche stock
 
 
The tremendous rise in value of Porsche shares at the stock exchange in the last 1 1/2 years has hit the headlines time and again: The price of Porsche preferred stock has increased from DM 825.- at the beginning of the 1996/97 year of business to DM 2,950.- by the end of July 1997 and, at least temporarily, to more than DM 5,000.- in the current year of business. This puts Porsche stock in the top performance group on the German stock exchange.
 
 
Outlook
 
 
Having established two series of sports cars successfully in the world market, Porsche has created the foundation for stable continuation of its core business also in future. Product innovations and model variants are now to broaden this foundation in the market. With the planned increase in sales to more than 38,000 units in the current year of business and the continuous improvement of all corporate processes, the Company has set the stage for the further improvement of results.
 


Porsche Sports Car Innovations and Remarkable Porsche Developments