| Ferdinand Porsche played an important role in the | | | | with the 911. |
| development of airplanes and racing cars, and the | | | | The 911 became easily recognizable: it had |
| construction of tanks for the Wehrmacht. He is | | | | attractive sloping bonnet and what later became |
| an automobile engineer with more than a | | | | characteristic frog eye headlights, curves running |
| thousand patents to his name. He was appointed | | | | from the top edge of the windscreen to the rear |
| chief engineer at Mercedes-Benz in Stuttgart in | | | | bumper and a straight waistline. From a functional |
| the 1920s. Later on, he set up his own engineering | | | | and technical point of view it was more like BMW |
| workshop and designed among others the | | | | 1500, although it retained the stylistic features of |
| Volkswagen. At the plant where Volkswagen was | | | | the original Porsche. The new 911 will become the |
| made, Wolfsburg, he was chief of operations and | | | | foundation stone of Porsches identity, even |
| at the end of the war he was interned by the | | | | though the design was not always appreciated. |
| Allies.He was released a few years later and | | | | During the 1970`s and 1980`s, the designers |
| started building his first car with his son, Ferry | | | | attempts to distance Porsche from its legendary |
| Porsche. The car was named the Porsche 356 | | | | design brought the company to the edge of |
| and it was a sports car and a reminiscent of the | | | | disaster. The more modern 924 model, a peoples |
| Volkswagen. It had the same four-cylinder boxer | | | | Porsche, developed with Volkswagen, as well as |
| engine that was rear-mounted, just like the VW. | | | | the 928 were far from fulfilling the expectations. |
| It was far from being a powerful sports car, | | | | In the 1990`s, the company realized that what for |
| developing only 40 bhp and a maximum speed of | | | | over twenty years was perceived as a |
| 87 mph (140 km/h). First produced as a | | | | straitjacket, it was in fact a marketadvantage. |
| convertible and later as a hard top it distinguished | | | | During the 1990`s, Porsche became highly |
| by the very elegant and innovative body. It was | | | | profitable since they now knew that the typical |
| developed in theworkshop of Erwin Komenda, a | | | | Porsche features were timeless. Nearly forty |
| master of restrained streamlining who had been in | | | | people now worked in the design department on |
| charge of sheet metal and design techniques at | | | | further developments of the long-running 911. |
| Porsche since the VW Beetle. The new stle of | | | | These developments included the 911 GTI, a |
| closed coupe was designed by Komenda and it | | | | powerful combinationof sports and racing car, put |
| soon became the embodiment of the sports car, | | | | forward by the in-house designer Anthony R. |
| thanks to its fastback. | | | | Hatter. In 1999, chief designer proudly presented |
| This tradition was continued by Komenda and | | | | the new Boxster which enabled Porshe to |
| Ferdinand Butzi Porsche, the founders grandson, | | | | establish a second independent range of models. |