Porsche is an iconic car company that most of us have some sort of affection for. When you think of your favorite sports cars Porsche makes the list just about every single time.
As much as you may think you know Porsches history it’s a company with an interesting background that may surprise you.
This is a company that’s been around for more than 80 years so it’s not surprising that it’s had a colorful past. Like many German companies founded in the 30’s and 40’s its name was, for a time, tarnished as a result of its association with the Nazi regime, but Porsche has long since left this dark period of its history behind. Here are four interesting facts that you didn’t know about Porsche.
Porsche started as a consulting company
When Porsche began its history way back in 1931 it actually started out as a developer and a consultant – they didn’t manufacture any of their own cars.
In fact, if it hadn’t been for events that took place as a result of World War II we may never have known the Porsche sports car. Thankfully for sports car enthusiasts everywhere history tells a different story, and the Porsche is considered an icon both on the streets and on the racetracks of the world.
Porsche is a division of Volkswagen
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Porsche is actually a high-performance division of Volkswagen. That is to say it is fully owned by the Volkswagen car company.
When you think about Porsche you think about the Carrera, the Cabriolet, the Boxster, and the Cayenne – you don’t think about the Volkswagen Beetle, but both are the product of the same fine German engineering.
In fact, it was the company’s founder Ferdinand Porsche that designed the Volkswagen Beetle. Don’t worry though, Porsche sports cars will always be some of the finest sports cars on the planet.
Porsche didn’t build its first car until 1948
Porsche actually built its first car in 1948 more than 15 years after the company was founded. It wasn’t built by Porsches founder Ferdinand Porsche, but rather by his son Ferry Porsche while Ferdinand languished in an Allied jail shortly after World War II charged with war crimes but never convicted.
What’s interesting about this fact is that you wouldn’t know it if you simply relied on the Porsche press page – they make no mention of the elder Porsches association with the Nazi regime at all. If you read between the lines it seems clear that Porsche would rather forget about this brief period in its history.
Porsche’s Company Logo is based on the Stuttgart Coat Of Arms
Porsche’s company logo is actually based on the coat of arms of Stuttgart – the area of Germany where the company was founded.
That magnificent galloping stallion was actually on the coat of arms of Stuttgart long before it ever made the Porsche logo. So if you’ve admired that logo as a beautiful Porsche Carrera blows by you on the street you can thank the good folks of Stuttgart.
It will be interesting to see what the next 80 years has in store for Porsche. Hopefully they will continue to produce the great sports cars that we’ve become accustomed to from this fine German company. That seems like a pretty safe bet with Porsche introducing the new 911 Targa 4 GTS and Cayenne Turbo S. We can’t wait to see what they have in store for us next year!
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