Ferdinand Porsche

Born: 1875 | Died: 1951

Entrepreneur

Ferdinand Porsche was born in Maffersdorf in eastern Germany (today Vratislavice nad Nisou, Czech Republic), to German-speaking parents. He attended the Imperial Technical School in Liberec and later on started working at the Jacob Lohner & Co. local carriage factory. His first design the “Systems Lohner-Porsche,“ was a carriage powered by an internal combustion engine. In 1900, the carriage was presented during the world exhibition in Paris and attracted great attention.

After a short stint as Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft's Technical Director in Stuttgart, Porsche founded his own consulting firm. In 1931, Porsche established the “Buero zur Konstruktion und Beratung für Motoren und Fahrzeugbau.” New constructions for well known producers such as Wanderer and Zuendapp were built. In 1934, Porsche received a contract to build three prototypes for what would become the original Volkswagen Beetle.

Due to the war Porsche went on to manufacture cars in Gmünd, Austria. From there sprang the first car to carry the Porsche brand, the „Porsche 356,“ an iconic model until today.

As a company, Porsche is known for weathering changing market conditions with great financial stability, while retaining most production in Germany. The headquarters and main factory are still in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, but the Cayenne (and formerly the Carrera GT) is produced in Leipzig, in former East Germany.

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