Porsche Paradise

Porsche is one of the world’s biggest car manufacturers—hands down. But the debate enters when one says that a Porsche is the best car in the world. Of course fans of other brands would argue, claiming that their cars are the best…but none compares to the milestones that Porsche embedded on the road.

Since its early beginning, the would-be famous father of cars Ferdinand Porsche created remarkable firsts in the car industry, and in the world. It was in the 1900’s when he created the Lohner-Porsche electric car at the World Fair in Paris. The wheel hub engines of the young engineer brought him international attention. Within the same year, he had created the world’s first-ever hybrid petrol/electric vehicle, at the same time developing all-wheel drive race cars. At this rate, Porsche has made a remarkable advancement for its name. Soon after, Porsche began to create ingenious Grand Prix race cars and different variations of different, innovative sports cars.

The more than 100 years that Porsche dedicated to creating cars that take on a really smooth journey has developed to the creation of sublime car parts as well. One of the important processes that takes place in a car is the process of the cooling system. Chemical energy has to be turned into mechanical power, and Porsche understands that. Most of the energy in the gasoline is converted into heat, so therefore, it is the important task of the cooling system to take care of that heat. No worries about a Porsche overheating, when it careens down the freeway all the driver has to think about is the road-and how lucky he is to be in a Porsche. One major factor that contributes to this are the Porsche Radiators.

The Porsche Radiators is a heat exchanging device designed to transfer heat from the hot coolant that runs through it to the air and blown through it by the cooling fan. As the car moves, the radiator’s façade is also cooled by the outside air coming from the grille. Sometimes, a collapsed lower radiator hose or a defective radiator cap causes overheating. So it is very important that when doing a radiator maintenance, also check the two radiator components. A simple preventive maintenance does a lot for the Porsche Radiators to fulfill its task flawlessly. Having the Porsche Radiators flushed periodically as well as having the components of a car’s cooling system changed when one part needs replacing can help a lot in ensuring the car’s peak-level performance. The Porsche radiators are indeed made only by the best and finest material from the world’s finest car maker.

The world’s finest race cars hail from Porsche, with a lot of competitions and endurance race titles under its belt. For every decade that Porsche saw through, it made one cornerstone in the history of automobiles after another. Indeed, the milestones that the name Porsche has made is much of an accomplishment that other cars will never be able to surpass, even if they tried.

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The new Porsche mobile phone has made it to Uk shores, introducing the Porsche P9521 moible phone.

A number of fashion designers have been launching their own mobile phones, and Porsche don’t want to be left out.

Unveiling their first branded mobile phone, the Porsche P9521, Porsche have created a unique and dynamically designed mobile to suit the most fashion conscious.

Designed using aluminium and mineral glass, the Porsche P9521 has hidden a 3.2 mega pixel camera, music player, swivel screen and fingerprint reader for top end security beneath its toughened exterior.

More than just a phone, the Porsche P9521 is a statement.

High class, high quality and highly developed with a smooth electrifying design, the Porsche P9521 is one of five new handsets that make up a limited collection of designer phones exclusively being sold through The Carphone Warehouse.

A bit like marmite, you’ll either instantly fall in love with it or hate it.

The design uses a combination of darkened mineral glass and aluminium to give it its striking almost abstract appearance whilst beneath the surface features are in plentiful supply.

Porsche have developed the Porsche P9521 alongside Sagem Communications which has resulted in a truely innovative designed phone.

Boasting all the key essential features the Porsche P9521 is equipped with a 3.2 mega pixel camera with autofocus, built-in flash, digital zoom and video record and an onboard Music Player.

The 2.2 inch display screen swivels allowing it to be rotated 360 degrees and Porsche have even included a fingerprint sensor.

Connectivity options inlcude Bluetooth Wireless Technology, GSM, EDGE Technology and USB Connectivity, ensuring high speed connections and fast data downloads.

It’s not just about the name with this phone!

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For sports car enthusiasts all over the world, and in particular for Porsche fans all over the world the numbers 356 hold a special meaning. The reason for this lies in the chronicles of history, and a date that would forever live on in the memory of all Porsche fans. The year was 1948 and the date was the 8th of June. This was the birth year of the Porsche classic Type 356 sports car.

It weighed in at a modest 650kg, had a 1.1 liter capacity center engine and had an immodest (at the time) 40HP under its hood. Difficult to even find one of these original Porsche classic cars, if you do across them you will not be surprised to learn that they are considered priceless. With all good reason of course.

Besides being the first ever Porsche classic cars to come into existence there were only a total of 50 made and they were all without exception hand built, and that’s saying a lot. These penultimate Porsche classic cars were the harbingers of the 356 that we can still see today.

Unfortunately for all concerned the 356 Porsche classic car line was discontinued after 17 years in April of 1965. To that date just over 81,000 356 Porsche classic cars had left the assembly line. In the beginning no more than 500 were expected to sell.

This was a happy mistake on the part of the “father” of the Porsche classic car, Ferry Porsche, because by March of 1954 ten times the initial estimated amount of 356 Porsche classic cars had been sold.

The discontinuation of the 365 line however was not the end of the Porsche name or the car. A new concept Porsche classic was in the makings and by 1963 – two years before the 356 was discontinued – the Porsche classic 911 had become a reality.

This Porsche classic was the foundation for many a sports car to come and indeed still lives on to this day. On June 15th of 1996, Porsche reached another milestone and the one millionth Porsche was delivered from the assembly line.

And when all is said and done, the Porsche classic still lives on in the classic Porsche design and logo, and if you own a Porsche classic, you can be sure that people will turn their heads to look you. Even in this day and age of sports supercars a classic lives on.

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Although the brand of Porsche Design originates from Porsche family, father of Porsche sports car, it dose not has a close and clear relationship with Porsche cars.

In 1973,F.A Porsche brought a new era to the watch field with a black time stopwatch, and then he made successive  innovations in titanium metal and watches’exterior design.
   
 Even the year of 1973 found Porsche’s production of the first compass wristwatch with  the help of IWC. And during the 20 years of later cooperation, Porsche established a prestigious brand image with the help of that of IWC’s, while IWC exploited its sportswatch market, through which they both set solid foundation for their glorious accomplishment.
    
 In 1995, F.A.Porsche took over Eterna watch factory and began to run it by himself.

Ernst F.Seyr’s aim was to produce a machine time stopwatch for user to easily read the time.He first invited Paul Gerber as the technical consultant, who once invented bell time stopwatch for Fortis, and who at that time was  a member of Horological Academy of Independant Creators(AHCI),then he particularly extended his factory and recruitied more workers.

At the end of 2001, Eterna officially took over the latter blueprint’s design and modification, and began a programme to produce his archetypal watch, which got 12 experienced watchmaking masters, designers and CNC engineers involved. The breathtaking Indicator did not come out before 2004.
   
 In the year of 2003,Porsche Company became a major shareholder of Porsche Design Company, and a new Group—-PLH was set in Bitgenma Sea???Becingen.

By October, the new group has already integrated Porsche’s business in luxury accessories and patents, and the promotion on all brands except for auto manufacture.
   
 Porsche Design belongs in PLH, whose major management is in the 12-staff Porsche Design Office  on the lake bank ,Zell and the Selection area, and it covers Porsche Company accessory ,costume,and sports device(like Porsche bicycle).
   
 65% of the stocks belongs to Porsche Company, the other 35% to Porsche family, which shows us the tendency that Porsche Design will return to Porsche.
     

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How to save money on your next Porsche service

Porsche servicing is now much cheaper, for those in the know.

Thanks to European legislation, you no longer have to be tied to high Porsche service costs, dictated by your local dealer.

In October 2003 new European legislation affecting the motor industry came into force called “Block Exemption Regulation” 14002002 (BER), and this now means that you can book your next Porsche car service online and save up to 50% on what you might pay at your local Porsche dealer.

Before the law changed it was difficult to have new cars within their warranty period serviced outside a franchised dealer. If you wanted to shop around for the best prices on Porsche servicing, your hands were tied.

The change in the law now gives every car owner the freedom to service their car away from the main dealers, and still have their warranty protected.

Thousands of Porsche car owners have now taken advantage of their new right and reduced their Porsche serving costs, whilst benefiting from the convenience of booking with national car service providers such as Service A Car.

Service A Car is a leading online car servicing network that prides itself on the quality of its Porsche servicing, their customer service and transparent pricing. Because the company is not tied to any particular car manufacturer, they are able to service any make of vehicle and compete freely in the market, on a like-for-like.

Every vehicle is rigorously serviced according to the manufacturer’s servicing schedule, using genuine recommended parts fitted by qualified technicians. This means that every Porsche car service fulfils the warranty criteria and there is no compromise on the servicing standards of a main dealer.

Companies like Service A Car, who fulfil the warranty criteria when servicing your Porsche, are able to maintain your service book, just as main dealer can – thereby protecting your warranty and helping you to maximise the resale value of your Porsche car.

Of course, booking direct with a national car servicing network has its own advantages:
·         You no longer have to do all the running around. Service A Car collects your Porsche in the morning and delivers it back that afternoon, free of charge
·         You pay a fixed Porsche service price, which can be up to 50% below the price at the Porsche servicing desk of your local dealer
·         No additional work is carried out without your agreement, which means no nasty surprises when it comes to paying the bill
·         Trained Customer Advisers are on hand throughout the day to keep you informed of progress, and report back on problems you asked to be investigated as part of your Porsche service e.g. knocks and rattles
·         Your Porsche service includes a free wash and vacuum clean
·         You simply pay with your credit or debit card and your car is delivered back to your home or work address.

Our advice for saving money on Porsche car servicing is to contact a national car servicing network, who is not tied to any one particular car manufacturer, like Service A Car.

So, before you book your next Porsche service, why not ask your local dealer to tell you the cost of the service (plus parts, oil and any extras) and then compare it with a fixed price quote from a national servicing network, like Service A Car?

Happy motoring,
Howard.
Chairman Service A Car

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Car manufacturer Porsche SE is a German brand that prides themselves on luxury, quality and performance. Porsche car hire is owned by Germany families, Porsche and Piech families respectively. The Porsche family are a family of industrialists related to Ferdinand Porsche (created the VW beetle and development in German tanks the Tiger) who designed many of the first Porsche cars that were mass produced for the public for the company that he founded in 1940, Porsche.

Porsche car hire currently have a portfolio of high performance and luxury automobiles including the 911, 997, and the Boxster. Also the use specialise in 4 x4, sport and utility vehicles for use in suburban areas.

The 1999 Porsche 911 GT3 was produced and marketed as a high performance road legal car of which was more advanced then the standard 911. Named after the FIA GT, it was the first water cooled version of the Porsche 911. Porsche car hire also have a racing version of the 911 GT3 which has come first in many competitions, included Le Mans and other 24 hour races. Competitions are fierce in the market for super cars and the Porsche 911 GT3 is up against Italian giants Ferrari with their F430 and German luxury car manufacturer BMW with a GTR M3.

Many members of public feel that Porsche are out their price range so this was addressed with the Boxster. This mid engine little roadster was introduced in 1996 and has been quite successful. With a 2.5 litre flat 6 cylinder engine in the beginning, the model has evolved to introduce a 3.2 litre monster for increased performance. Porsche car hire then released a new generation to their popular roadster model with the type 987. These cars were even more powerful then their predecessors with increased engine output. Despite having a few cosmetic changes the Boxster has not strayed from the originals shape and style.

One of the greatest Porsche car hire automobiles ever made is the Porsche Carrera GT. This was a real beast, a mid engine sports car powered with a 5.7 litre V10 engine. From standstill to 60 miles per hour this car can do it in less than 3.5 seconds, with a maximum all out speed of 205 mph. You can get this car from Porsche car hire companies in five colours only, which include variants of Red, Yellow, Black, Silver and Grey. Custom colours were available if you placed an order for the car at a factory.

The Carrera GT has a 6 speed manual gearbox, complemented this with a beech wood gear knob from the Porsche 917 Le Mans racer. The main rival to this car is Ferrari’s Enzo, however with the Enzo priced in at approximately $660000 the Carrera GT has as slight advantage being only $444000.

If you’re after an unforgettable driving experience then Porsche car hire could be for you! With a wide choice of performance super cars such as the Carrera GT and the 911 GT3 you can be spoilt for choice when it comes to selecting a hire car to show off in, or just to have a weekend away with the open road.

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Porsche is a premier brand which has been manufacturing cars since 1931. It is one of the world leaders in the field of luxury and racing cars. It’s a company based in Germany and is known worldwide for its quality products.

History

The founder of the Porsche car company (or ‘Dr. ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH’, to give its proper name) was Professor Ferdinand Porsche. He was an Austro-Hungarian engineer born at Maffersdorf. He became Technical Director at Austro-Daimler in Wiener Neustadt in 1906. At the age of only 31, he was responsible for the model range of one of Europe’s largest automotive concerns. He was the person responsible for the designing of the rear engine concept used in the Volkswagen Beetle, a revolution in the field of automotives. In 1931 Porsche set up a facility to manufacture racing cars that would one day bear his name. The designs used for the Beetle became the prototype for the first Porsche cars and the first Porsche (the Porsche 64) was developed in 1939.

World War II put a spanner in the works of the company but business picked up after the war. The Porsche and the Beetle have an intertwined history as they have developed and moved forward together. In fact, after the war, when components were in short supply, Porsche used components from the Volkswagen Beetle including its engine, gearbox, and suspension. Moving together but diverging later, Beetle became the people’s car while Porsche moved into the realm of luxury cars.

Racing

The Porsche logo has been one of the premier and most recognisable symbols on race tracks around the world. Cars from the Porsche stables have won an astounding number of races (more than 28,000) in various competitions. In 2006 and 2007 Porsche built more than 450 different race cars for various international motor sports events.

If you are looking to buy a Porsche in Melbourne or are looking for more information on this car brand, just visit www.porschemelbourne.com.au, the website of the premier dealer of Porsche in the city of Melbourne, Porsche Melbourne.

www.porschemelbourne.com.au

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Porsche are renowned for producing a high calibre of sports car. The German car makers have succeeded making sports car that are renowned for its quality, reliability and performance. Above all, Porsche is a prestigious sports car that can be used for everyday driving.

The collection of opulent Porsches’ includes the Boxter, Cayman, 911 and the Cayenne series, which are produced in Germany. Porsche have managed to retain the car plant despite other German manufacturers have relocated to other countries chiefly Eastern Europe.

PORSCHE HISTORY

Ferdinand Porsche founded Porsche in 1931. Interestingly, he was the engineer for the first Volkswagen created, hence the first Porsche made used machinery from the Volkswagen Beetle. The first model was launched in 1938 and 10 years later the second Porsche was released, the 356. The end of the war saw Porsche participating in motor racing which proved to be highly successful. 1963 saw the launch of the Porsche 911, the most well known model, which is still in production today due to its success by the public and on the race track.

PORSCHE FACTS

Type: Public

Founded: 1931

Headquarters: Stuttgart, Germany

Key people: Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking, CEO and President

Industry: Automotive

Products: Cars

MODELS

PORSCHE 911 - a sports car made by Porsche since 1963, the famous rear-engine 911 has undergone continuous development.

PORSCHE BOXSTER - mid-engine roadster built by Porsche since 1996.

PORSCHE CAYENNE - The Porsche Cayenne is a five-seat mid-size sports utility vehicle produced by Porsche since 2002.

DID YOU KNOW?

At the Paris Auto Show in 1974, during the height of the oil crisis, Porsche presented the 911Turbo – the world’s first production sports car with exhaust turbocharger and pressure regulator.

In 1996, the one millionth Porsche rolled off the company’s Zuffenhausen assembly line just outside Stuttgart on July 15.

Porsche founder Ferdinand Porsche’s grandson, Ferdinand Piëch, was chairman and CEO of the Volkswagen Group from 1993 to 2002. With half of all shares, he also remains the largest individual shareholder of the Porsche company.

Porsche’s 2002 introduction of the Cayenne also marked the unveiling of a new production facility in Leipzig, Saxony, which today accounts for nearly half of Porsche’s annual output.

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Dr. Porsche’s 1,001 Horsepower “Beetle”

In the early days of the automobile, Ferdinand Porsche, himself an Austrian, served as a designer at the Daimler motorcar manufacturing branch there. He was a top-notch engineer, as well. In those days, car makers’ reputations relied significantly upon the success of their products on the race tracks; and Porsche’s own creations for Daimler were remarkably adept at winning. His record had a direct and positive bearing on the sales of Daimler’s compact cars for everyday use. He had a love affair with little cars that stayed with him for life.

In 1923, Porsche moved himself and his family to Daimler’s headquarters in Stuttgart, where he was appointed technical director of the entire company. His son (also Ferdinand, nicknamed “Ferry”), then only 16 years old, was recognized as having a special talent for design and was given special permission to work at the factory with his father. Ferdinand Sr. continued to pursue his main interest in designing small cars, but ran afoul of management’s changing imperatives after the merger of Daimler with Benz, and the ensuing focus on large, luxurious automobiles. The relationship could no longer be sustained, so Porsche departed and opened his own design office in Stuttgart in 1931. Meanwhile, his son Ferry had been working for Bosch while studying physics and engineering; and when Ferdinand Senior left Daimler-Benz to strike out for himself, Ferry joined him there. From that time forward, the two remained a father-and-son team of uncommon talent.

Of course, the twenties and the early thirties were years of great difficulty in Germany. The Weimar Republic had failed. Hyperinflation ruled the day. My grandmother, who was born near Munich, told me of returning to Germany in 1922 and seeing, with her own eyes, people hauling paper money – loaded into wheelbarrows!

Hitler’s National Socialist party did not enjoy a majority in the Reichstag in the early Thirties, but it was the largest minority. President Hindenburg thought, mistakenly, that he might be able to co-opt this charismatic troublemaker by appointing him Chancellor of Germany. It proved to be the opening wedge in a power-grab which overrode democratic impulses by means of fear, intimidation, and sheer physical force. The deed was done; there was no turning back. The designs of the tyrant were enabled in some measure by the felt need of an exhausted populace for stability and the promise of better times to come.

One of Hitler’s early domestic priorities was the design and production of a small car for the masses, a “people’s car.” A design competition ensued. Porsche was there. He was able to draw upon his experience in designing and engineering small cars for the former Daimler company. Even so, he was not alone; his son Ferry was with him, together with a group of talented engineers whom he recruited from past years. One entrant proposed a small car with a radial engine, which proved impractical, possibly from a cooling standpoint. Porsche’s design called for a very small two-door, four-passenger car with an air-cooled “flat four” cylinder engine mounted in the rear. Hitler liked it; enough said. The “people’s car” was born as a State enterprise, featuring a one-liter engine churning out 23.5 horsepower.

Porsche became one of Hitler’s favorites. He was showered with recognition and munificences. Ferry continued to rise in importance and prominence in the company, which designed and produced successful race cars in addition to the “Volkswagen” and vehicles for the German military.

Hitler had taken a fancy to Grand Prix race cars as a propaganda tool. Daimler entered the competition to design and build a new generation of the breed. The existing Audi automobile company and three others combined to form the new “Auto Union” Grand Prix race car manufacturing and racing company. Porsche became Auto Union’s chief designer, on contract, while still managing Volkswagen. The resulting Daimler and Auto Union race cars blew away the competition in the 1930’s, overseas and here in the United States. I even remember the name of one of the premier German drivers of that time: Maury Rose. I remember those cars, too. They were huge. And they were loud. They didn’t sound like the high-pitched buzzing bumblebees of today’s race cars; the engines were much slower-turning. The locus must have been Roosevelt Raceway on Long Island. The Auto Union cars sported the four intertwined circles on the grille, just as Audi cars do today. (I had also been present at the adjacent Roosevelt Field when Lindbergh took off for France some years earlier. I was present, but I hadn’t been born quite yet. My parents told me and my siblings later, many times, that Lindy j-u-u-u-u-s-t cleared the telephone wires at the end of the runway).

An entire new Volkswagen factory was built and opened at Wolfsburg. Although the car enjoyed considerable sales success in Germany, Hitler’s greater ambitions got in the way; which, of course, led to massive destruction, the end of the “thousand-year Reich” fantasy, the suicide of Hitler in a Berlin bunker, and – unfortunately – the imprisonment of Ferdinand Porsche as a war criminal for 20 months in a dank old jail in Dijon, which adversely affected his health. No doubt, Hitler never knew that Porsche had helped a Jewish employee escape from Germany. A fellow prisoner was his son-in-law Anton Piëch, a Viennese lawyer who was married to Louise Porsche, Ferry’s sister.

Ferry Porsche was able to raise the 500,000 francs bail which was required for his own release from custody. (The State-owned Volkswagen enterprise was booty of war. The British Government delivered ownership of the company to the German State in 1948, which offered shares in the company on the public stock market in 1960). Ferry moved back to Austria and set up a machining and repair shop in Gmund with his sister Louise. Eventually, he won a contract to design a race car for the Cisitalia racing team, and then for another, to be called the Porsche 360 Cisitalia. This car was to have a mid-mounted engine and four-wheel drive. It marked the first time that the family name had ever been attached to a vehicle.

Ferry could not forever divorce himself from his father’s love affair with small cars. Accordingly, while working on the Cisitalia race cars he also found time to design the Porsche 356, and arranged with the Volkswagen company to allow him to build it on the “Beetle’s” chassis and mechanical underpinnings. Meantime, the engine had been enhanced so as to produce 35 horsepower. The first 50 cars were built by hand at Gmund, with aluminum bodies. 6 more were sent to Switzerland, where cabriolet bodies were installed on the chassis. Ferry also eventually assembled sufficient bail in order to effectuate release of his father Ferdinand and of Anton Piëch from prison, which was accomplished on August 1, 1947. Upon arrival in Austria, Ferdinand inspected Ferry’s designs for the Porsche 360 Cisitalia and for the Porsche 356, and announced that he would have created the same designs. Although he was back again in the midst of the car manufacturing business, his months in prison had damaged his health. He died in January 1951.

(The Porsche 356 was a success! Almost 78,000 were made and sold by 1965).

Meanwhile, the Beetle design was aging. It needed serious upgrading. The general manager of Volkswagen came to Ferry with a proposal that was too good to turn down:

Ferry would improve the Beetle.

In exchange, Volkswagen would provide to him:

A percentage of the profits derived from the sale of every improved Beetle;

All of the raw materials for building Ferry’s sports cars;

Use of Volkswagen’s worldwide network of dealers for sale of Porsche cars;

Use of Volkswagen’s worldwide network of technical support;

Ferry would be the only Volkswagen dealer in Austria.

Done! That sealed a co-dependency which persists to this day. Ferry brought his company back to Stuttgart. He resumed production of the Porsche 356 and started work on a new engine which was to be called the Carrera. He raced a special version of the 356 at LeMans in 1951. The car won in its category. He won again at Targa Florio in 1959 and at LeMans in 1970 with a model called the 917.

By now, the 356 was aging too; and there was demand for a new model. The result was the acclaimed 911, which has been the longest-running sports car in production, ever. The 911 was basically the 356 fitted with the new liquid-cooled six-cylinder Carrera engine, which featured an astounding 300 horsepower.

Ferry continued to run the company, which he changed from a limited partnership to the German equivalent of a “corporation” in 1972. Even so, the two related families – Porsche and Piëch – continued to retain and maintain effective control of the company. When Ferry died in 1998, his son Ferdinand Alexander took his place at the helm.

Meanwhile, Anton and Louise (Porsche) Piëch’s son Ferdinand Karl Piëch, also an automotive engineer, had served at the Porsche company, where he was instrumental in the development of the Porsche 917. He developed a Diesel engine for Mercedes while in private engineering practice, moved to the Audi subsidiary of Volkswagen, and then, in 1993, to the Volkswagen Group itself, where he became Chairman and CEO. He retired from the Board of Management in 2002, but he still serves in an advisory capacity as Chairman of the Supervisory Board. In other words, he is very much On The Scene at Volkswagen. All of this, it may be noted, proceeds apace while he himself still owns about 13% of the Porsche company. He has thirteen children by four women, so the family tradition may continue for a while. There is a strict unwritten rule in the family that nobody talks to the press.

While Mr. Piëch was in Management at Volkswagen, he was at least partly responsible for several successes: the New Beetle in 1998 (really a Volkswagen Golf in disguise), increased market penetration by Audi, creation of a perception in the public mind of justification for premium pricing, and the acquisition of the Bentley, Bugatti, and Lamborghini brands. His biggest gaffe was the acquisition of Rolls-Royce. The devil was in the details. He thought he was buying both the car manufacturing facility and the name; but as it turned out, the right to the name belonged to BMW. Another probable mistake is the Volkswagen Phaeton, a super-luxury car intended to compete with the Mercedes-Benz Maybach. (Ah, there’s another memory-jogger. I remember the low growl of the Hindenburg’s Maybach Diesel engines as it passed low over my house).

At Volkswagen, Piëch laid the groundwork for repeated doses of quite sensational news. The Bugatti marque claimed a fine record in racing, but had lain dormant for decades. He set in motion a reinvention of the name. Independently (?), the Porsche company, for reasons of its own, possibly at least as defensive in nature as it may have been geared to the hope of profit, acquired 18.5% of Volkswagen in October 2005. Thus, for the first time, the Porsche family had (indirectly) become part owners of the ongoing business which had produced Dr. Porsche’s first Beetle. For the first time, “their name was on the building,” though in small letters. Then, in March 2007, Porsche raised that ownership interest almost to 31%. It announced that it had done so in order to preclude any competitor from buying a large ownership interest in Volkswagen and to preclude any attempt to sell off the Volkswagen Group in pieces, which might have been a threat to Porsche’s dependency on Volkswagen. In March of this year, 2008, Porsche announced that it intends to increase its ownership of Volkswagen to 51%, at the same time that it announced its intention to acquire more than a half-interest in Scania, the Swedish truck manufacturer controlled by the Wallenberg family. Last month (September 2008), Porsche announced that it already owns 35% of the Volkswagen Group, which is probably a controlling interest by anyone’s reckoning; and that it would acquire Audi from Volkswagen outright! (All by itself, that maneuver might have given any raider pause). Probably some of those additional Volkswagen shares were acquired via the open Frankfurt market; but my guess is that substantial blocks were acquired in private transactions. (In Germany, cross-ownership interests are much more common than they are in the United States, quite possibly to an extent which would be illegal here. Deutsche Bank’s fingers are everywhere; Lufthansa’s are not far behind). There are legal issues outstanding; but Porsche has made its moves aggressively and it is up to others, whether governments or companies or common folk, to say them nay. “Fait accompli.” The Porsche family name now sits (figuratively) in bright lights atop Volkswagen’s headquarters building. The sign is invisible, but it’s there, just like the little people who scurry around in the Black Forest not all that far away.

All the while, that Bugatti adventure has been strumming along in the background. Mr. Piëch’s vision was to build an over-the-top superfast luxury car bearing the revered Bugatti nameplate. Volkswagen has done that. The result is the Bugatti Veyron, featuring an 8 liter, 16-cylinder, quad-turbocharged engine delivering 1,001 horsepower while delivering a top speed of 253 miles per hour, all of this bargain-priced at 1.1 million Euros, more in North America. The car, which is named after a driver for the original Bugatti company who won the 24 Hours of LeMans in 1939, is handmade in Alsace. Only 500 will be built. Two have been wrecked. At top speed, the car achieves a fuel economy of 2.05 miles per gallon, which would drain the tank in less than 13 minutes. But take comfort: there’s a safety factor built-in there, since the Michelin tires would last for a full 15 minutes.

(It may be self-satisfying to make fun of the sheer excess of the thing; but honestly now, mate, wouldn’t you love to have that car in your hands even for ten minutes?)

So there you are, Dr. Porsche. Your family still has a controlling interest in the Porsche sports car business, and now it also controls the thriving company which made your original Beetle. On the way by, they raised the horsepower of your car a bit, from 23.5 to 1,001. But that’s really a side issue. The big story is that Porsche plus Volkswagen must be considered, effectively, as a single enterprise. If you and Ferry could just come back for ten minutes and look around……

William Kurtz October 17, 2008 http://www.candlewave.com

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German sports car maker, Porsche, may soon be doing the unthinkable: offering at least one four cylinder powered model in their product mix.

Porsche, along with most other automakers, has suffered tremendously this year as sales have plunged by more than 17% through August 2008. In August, Porsche’s sales were down a whopping 45%; both figures apply to the US market only.

A Four Cylinder Engine For Porsche?

The decision to build a car with a four cylinder engine hasn’t been finalized, but it is something that Porsche believes that they must consider in order to garner more sales. Several years ago Porsche boldly expanded its product line up by adding an SUV, the Porsche Cayenne, a vehicle that alarmed purists but helped stoke the company’s bottom line.

By introducing the Cayenne, Porsche contended that they were losing sales to BMW and Mercedes as families who needed more room were forced to look beyond Porsche’s two-seater product offerings. With the SUV market expanding, adding this type of vehicle was deemed to be critical to helping Porsche.

Cayenne Sales Are Up For The Year

Apparently, Porsche is doing well with the Cayenne as its year to date truck sales are up almost 4% for the year, according to Autodata Corp. who tracks this information. Cayenne is the only vehicle sold by Porsche under the truck category.

If Porsche chooses to add a four cylinder engine to its product mix, it wouldn’t be a strange engine for Porsche. As recently as the 1980s, both the Porsche 924 and 944 models offered four cylinder engines, a technology Porsche traces all the way back to the 1930s.

Targeting the Boxster

The likeliest recipient for a four cylinder engine would be the Porsche Boxster, the smallest and lightest of all Porsche models. Some analysts are theorizing that Porsche could easily make the transition to a four cylinder engine by removing two cylinders from a current six cylinder engine and coming up with a 2.4L flathead four cylinder.

Another option would be for Porsche to harvest an existing four cylinder engine from partner Volkswagen and modifying it according to their needs. The two automakers have a long history of sharing technology and co-developing vehicles with the Volkswagen Touareg and Porsche Cayenne underpinned by the same truck platform.

Lastly, Porsche might also consider developing an all-new model, perhaps a four passenger sport sedan to expand its product line and to provide a fuel efficient model. That move would further infuriate Porsche loyalists, but in face of the current economic climate and concerns about global energy, a hotrod compact sedan might be the direction Porsche will go.

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