The German brand commemorates its seven decades developing high-level sports with exhibitions, sporting events and testing days
Stuttgart. Quick. Purist. Emotional. For 70 years, Porsche has been synonymous with construction of sports vehicles at the highest level. The first car to carry the Porsche name was registered on June 8, 1948: it was the 356 “No.1” Roadster. That day was born the Porsche brand. That 356 transformed into reality the dream that Ferry Porsche had of a sports car. “His vision at that time embodied all the values ​​that still define the brand today,” said Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Porsche AG, at the New Year’s reception held yesterday at the Porsche Museum. Representatives of the State of Baden-Württemberg, as well as the city of Stuttgart and the world of politics, economy and society, joined the Porsche family to celebrate the start of their anniversary with the slogan «70 Years of Sports Porsche »

The German brand will celebrate its anniversary with numerous activities around the world. On February 3, «The Porsche Effect» will open at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. In Germany, the first exhibition «70 years of Porsche sports vehicles» will open from 20 to 31 March in «DRIVE, the Forum of the Volkswagen Group», in Berlin. The Porsche Museum will also have its own anniversary celebrations with a complete special exhibition that will open on June 9. On the same day, Porsche will invite fans of sports vehicles to its “Sport Car Together Day” in all its facilities in the world. For the week of June 16-17, the sports manufacturer will welcome employees, residents of the Zuffenhausen district and potential customers to a public celebration at and around the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart. The “Festival of Speed”, which takes place from July 12 to 15 at the track in Goodwood, in the United Kingdom, will also celebrate the anniversary, as will the “Rennsport Reunion” in California, which takes place between the 27th and September 30th. The celebrations will conclude with the “Sound Night”, an event that will take place for the first time at the Porsche Arena in Stuttgart, on October 13.

«Tradition is a commitment. Without our tradition and without our essential values, we would not be where we are today, “Blume explained. «Our approach is to maintain the standard of technical excellence established by Ferry Porsche in the future. Intelligent dynamic mobility has a great future ahead of it. And we have solid technological experience, creative employees and a unique team spirit to be there. We have what it takes to ensure that the Porsche brand continues to fascinate another 70 years more ».

The history of the Porsche brand starts in 1948. However, the base of the sports car manufacturer is based on the work of a lifetime of Professor Ferdinand Porsche, a job that his son Ferry continued. Ferdinand Porsche had already designed pioneering innovations for the automotive industry at the beginning of the last century. In 1900, he built an electric car with direct propulsion to the wheel, known as Lohner-Porsche, a vehicle on which he would then base the first tour with four-wheel drive. In the same year, he created a platform for hybrid vehicles with a propulsion mix of gasoline and electricity. In 1931, Ferdinand Porsche founded his own engineering office. The “Car Berlin-Rome”, shown in 1939, was the beginning of his idea about a sports car named Porsche, although this dream could only be realized by his son Ferry, in 1948, with the Type 356.

The successor of the 356, the Porsche 911 designed by the son of Ferry Porsche, Ferdinand Alexander, gave the company the impetus to place it as one of the leading manufacturers of sports vehicles in the world, both from a technical perspective and design. From the Porsche 911, first presented to the public in 1963, more than one million units have already been built. “Although the 911 has been developing over these decades and continuously improving with innovative technologies, no other car has managed to maintain its original essence as well as this one,” said Blume. «All the Porsche models that are developed now, and will do so in the future, are based on this sports car. As a cornerstone of the brand, the 911 is a dream sports car, which has won the hearts of car lovers around the world ».

The future of Porsche sports cars is already on the starting line with the Mission E, the first technological champion of Zuffenhausen with 100% electric propulsion. This vehicle concept combines the emotional and distinctive design of a Porsche with exceptional performance and functionality for everyday use that looks to the future. The model of four doors and four individual seats has a power of more than 440 kW (600 hp) and a range of more than 500 kilometers. Accelerates from 0 to 100 100 km / h in less than 3.5 seconds and the recharge time is around 15 minutes for 80% of your battery capacity. Porsche has invested a billion euros in this futuristic project, in addition to creating more than 1,200 additional jobs at the headquarters of Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, where Mission E will be built. “Porsche will always be Porsche, the leading brand in exclusivity, sportsmanship and mobility,” said Blume.

ABC MOTOR – 01/28/2018 (Translation Soft)