Ferdinand Porsche

Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was an Austrian-German automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle (Lohner-Porsche), the Volkswagen Beetle, the Auto Union racing cars, the Mercedes-Benz SS/SSK, and other important cars.

During World War II, Porsche helped develop advanced military vehicles.

Porsche was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1996 and was named the Car Engineer of the Century in 1999.

Early life

See also: Porsche family

Ferdinand Porsche was born to Anna Porsche and Anton Porsche in Maffersdorf. This place was part of Austria-Hungary at the time and is now in the Czech Republic. He was their third child. His father was a master craftsman who worked with metal.

Ferdinand loved technology, especially electricity, from a young age. He took night classes at a school in nearby Reichenberg, now called Liberec. When he was 18, he moved to Vienna. He worked for an electrical company and also went to university classes after work. During this time, he built one of the first electric wheel-hub motors and raced it in 1897.

Early career

In the late 1890s, Ferdinand Porsche began working at a factory in Vienna that made carriages for important leaders. He helped create one of the first cars that could run on electricity, using batteries to power motors in the wheels. Though it could go fast, the heavy batteries made it struggle on hills and it didn’t go far.

Porsche then created a new design using a small gasoline engine to make electricity for the wheels, keeping a tiny battery as backup. This was the first car known to mix gasoline power with electric power. These early cars could reach speeds of about 56 kilometers per hour (35 mph) and set several speed records. Porsche later served as a driver for a royal prince before marrying and starting a family.

Austro-Daimler

In 1906, Austro-Daimler hired Ferdinand Porsche to design cars. One famous car he made was for a big race in 1910 called the Prince Henry Trial, named after Prince Heinrich of Prussia, a brother of Wilhelm II. This smart car, with 85 horsepower, won the top three places. People still call it the "Prince Henry" instead of its real name, "Modell 27/80". Porsche also made a 30 horsepower car called the Maja, named after the younger sister of Mercedes Jellinek.

By 1916, Porsche became managing director and got a special degree called "Dr. Ing. h.c." from the Vienna University of Technology. He kept making race cars and won many races in the 1920s. In 1923, Porsche left Austro-Daimler because they disagreed on future car designs.

A few months later, he joined Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft in Germany as their Technical Director. In 1924, he got another special degree from the Stuttgart Technical University. There, he made many successful race cars, including the Mercedes-Benz SSK.

In 1926, Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft joined with Benz & Cie to become Daimler-Benz, and their cars were called Mercedes-Benz. Porsche’s idea for a small Mercedes-Benz car wasn’t accepted, so he left in 1929 to work for Steyr Automobile. But because of the Great Depression, he lost his job there.

Founding of Porsche

Main article: Porsche

In April 1931, Porsche returned to Stuttgart and started his own company called Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche GmbH. He got help from his son-in-law and a friend to bring together skilled workers.

Their first job was to design a car for Wanderer. As the company grew, Porsche also worked on his own car ideas. He used money from his life insurance and later got some help from Zündapp and NSU, though they stopped helping later.

In 1932, Auto Union was created, combining Audi, DKW, Horch, and Wanderer. Porsche met with Auto Union leaders to talk about new car designs.

Volkswagen Beetle and government commission

Main article: Volkswagen Beetle

In 1934, Porsche got a job from the government to design a car for ordinary people, called the Volkswagen. He finished the first models in 1935, and more were ready to be made from 1936 to 1939.

The car looked similar to some designs by Hans Ledwinka of Tatra. There was a legal problem, but it stopped when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. Volkswagen later paid a settlement.

Because of his work on the Volkswagen, Porsche became well-known. He joined the Nazi Party and the SS in 1937. During the war, his factory made military vehicles. After the war, the Volkswagen became famous as the Beetle. The city where the factory was built is now called Wolfsburg and is still where Volkswagen has its headquarters.

Auto Union racing car

Main article: Auto Union racing car

Auto Union got money from the government to make racing cars. They bought Porsche’s small company and its racing car project. Porsche focused on the Volkswagen factory and let his son, Ferry, handle the racing projects. The racing cars did very well until World War II started in 1939.

Military vehicles

Adolf Hitler spoke with Porsche in 1934 about making cars for the military. Porsche believed cars should work well for everyday use and in tough battle conditions. In 1938, leaders asked Porsche to design a small, strong car that could travel on and off roads.

Production of the Type 82 Kübelwagen began in 1940. By the end of the war, many of these cars were made. They were very useful and lasted a long time, becoming common in the German army.

The Volkswagen Schwimmwagen was a special car that could drive in water. It used parts from an earlier Volkswagen design. Many of these water cars were built, making it the most-produced water car in history.

By the end of World War II, Volkswagen had made many cars, but most went to the war, not to regular people. In 1961, some people who had paid for cars before the war got credit for new ones.

After the war began, Ferdinand Porsche led a group of experts advising on tank designs. He left in 1943 when his tank ideas were not chosen.

Porsche made a heavy tank design called the VK 45.01 (P). Because it was too complicated, another design was made instead. Many of these tanks were changed into anti-tank guns.

Porsche also worked on the very big Panzer VIII Maus tank. Only two examples of this tank were ever built.

Porsche was asked to design a special vehicle for tough conditions. The vehicle he designed was called the Type 175. It was made at the Škoda automobile plant in Mladá Boleslav. It was used in France, the Netherlands, and the Battle of the Bulge.

Near the end of the war, Porsche worked on a new engine for the V1 flying bomb. He finished the designs for the Porsche 109-005 engine, but it was never built.

After the war

In November 1945, Ferdinand Porsche was asked to keep designing the Volkswagen in France. He was also asked to help design a new car called the Renault 4CV, but this caused problems.

On 15 December 1945, French authorities arrested Porsche and two others, including his son Ferry, on serious charges. Ferry was released after six months, but Ferdinand and another man stayed in prisons in France.

During this time, Ferry worked hard to keep the company running. He helped create a new division that repaired cars, water pumps, and winches. He also finished a contract to design a racing car called the Type 360 Cisitalia, but it never raced.

The company later began work on a new car, the Porsche 356, the first car to use the Porsche name. They moved from Stuttgart to Gmünd in Carinthia to avoid bombings. In Gmünd, they built 49 cars by hand in an old saw mill.

Return to Stuttgart

The Porsche family returned to Stuttgart in 1949, not knowing how to start their business again. Banks would not lend them money because the company's factory was still blocked by American rules. But they still had many valuable things. Ferry Porsche took one of the special 356 cars from Gmünd and went to Volkswagen dealers to get orders. He asked the dealers to pay for the cars ahead of time.

The cars made in Stuttgart had a steel body attached to a central tube frame, instead of the aluminium body used in the first few cars made in Gmünd. When Ferry Porsche started the company again, he thought they could make about 1,500 cars. But in the next 17 years, more than 78,000 Porsche 356s were made.

Later, Porsche worked with Volkswagen and got a payment for every Volkswagen Beetle made. This gave Porsche a good amount of money as over 20 million of these cars were built.

In November 1950, Porsche visited the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg for the first time after World War II. He talked with Volkswagen's president, Heinrich Nordhoff, about the future of the VW Beetles, which were already being made in large numbers.

Porsche was later honored into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1996 and received the title of Car Engineer of the Century in 1999 after he passed away.

Views on labour

Porsche visited Henry Ford’s factory in Detroit many times. He learned how important it was to work well together and treat everyone fairly. Even as a special guest, he shared meals with the workers.

Porsche worked hard to make factories more efficient. He thought about longer work hours and faster ways to save time. The Volkswagen factory was finished in 1938. During this time, workers from many places helped build the cars.

Reputation

Ferdinand Porsche was known for his big achievements in making cars and engines. The companies he helped start became very famous around the world.

During World War II, Porsche worked with the Nazi government. Because of this, some places stopped honoring him the way they used to.

In 2013, a town in Sudetenland, now called Vratislavice nad Nisou, took down signs that celebrated Porsche. They changed a museum display to talk about both his car designs and his work for the Nazi government. This made some Porsche fans unhappy.

In 2019, a TV show told the story of Adolf Rosenberger, a Jewish man who helped start Porsche’s company. During the war, Rosenberger was arrested and sent away. After the war, Porsche and others gave him money, but his big role was not always remembered.

In 2022, a city in Austria changed the name of a street that used to be called “Porsche Road” because of Porsche’s work during the war. Porsche’s company said they did not agree with the change.