1939 Porsche 64 / Volkswagen Aerocoupe / Porsche Type 60K10 / Berlin-Rom-Wagen
Not everyone knows that Porsche wasn’t always an automobile manufacturer. Porsche initially existed as a design consulting house. However, Adolf Hitler was keen on using automotive events for the benefit of his “master race” propaganda, thus creating a very close collaboration between the Nazi leadership and Porsche. This union gave birth to Volkswagen - the famous people’s car, Panzerjäger Tiger - the infamous tank destroyer, and other war machines Hitler imagined and Porsche turned into reality. In fact, the words Enzo Ferrari spoke when he abandoned sports car races are not far from the truth: “Porsche doesn't make racing cars, it makes weapons”. Porsche created fantastic sports cars, but, depending on demands, a tank here or a rocket there weren’t out of the ordinary for them.
However, Ferdinand Porsche was also commissioned by the German state to design a "people’s car" that became the iconic Volkswagen Beetle. This is where the project Type 60K10, although Porsche named it Type 64, story begins.. The Type 64 soldiered on through World War II as Ferdinand Porsche's personal car. This car started life as a wooden scale model. Designed by Erwin Komenda and Karl Froelich, it was tested in the wind tunnel at the Stuttgart University by Josef Mickl. The three Austrians were the same people who helped Porsche design the Auto Union race cars and the Volkswagen Beetle and would later form the team that developed the Porsche 356 and 550 models. Porches first own car project was born in 1938: Porsche 64 or VW Aerocoupe. Ironically (or maybe not), Porsche 64 was built with quite a lot of parts from the... Volkswagen, the cheap and popular car created by Ferdinand Porsche at Hitler’s explicit request, who just wanted an inexpensive and reliable automobile. Porsche 64 was especially designed for a Berlin-Rome race and only three such cars ever existed. The Type 64 debuted almost 10 years before Porsche launched its first official car, the 356. The first true Porsche car was only launched after WWII, in 1948. Porsche 365 was a rather small, light and aerodynamic sports car and left a mark in the history of the new Brand, while also setting forth the principles Porsche stood by over the years.
After the 356, which sold like hot cakes in several body variants, the 1963 Porsche 911 felt just a step away. Porsche went on to become a world renowned brand everyone praised and yearned for.
It was pretty obvious that Porsche’s new business was going to be success, with the backing of Ferdinand Porsche’s genius for every automobile bearing the Porsche badge. A Porsche chief executive summed it all up in a very eloquent sentence: „Successful people want to buy cars from successful companies”.
But Porsche was never a company to stand on its own feet and alternated between hugely profitable periods and great losses, imputed to the management’s extraordinary ego, who seemed more inclined towards tradition than to making a profit.
The Cayenne’s launch and subsequent success have created enough of a revenue boost as to revive Porsche’s dreams of world supremacy.
Although the Cayenne (and the later the Macan) was (again) based on VW/Audi parts, it sold extremely well and left its luxury SUV segment rivals in the dust quite easily. The legendary Porsche quality came again into play and, while heavily criticized by the brand’s die hard fans, the Cayenne was an instant hit.
And that’s was only the beginning.
The last example? The Porsche Taycan is coming soon. More to come.
1939 Porsche 64 / Volkswagen Aerocoupe / Porsche Type 60K10 / Berlin-Rom-Wagen
Not everyone knows that Porsche wasn’t always an automobile manufacturer. Porsche initially existed as a design consulting house. However, Adolf Hitler was keen on using automotive events for the benefit of his “master race” propaganda, thus creating a very close collaboration between the Nazi leadership and Porsche. This union gave birth to Volkswagen - the famous people’s car, Panzerjäger Tiger - the infamous tank destroyer, and other war machines Hitler imagined and Porsche turned into reality. In fact, the words Enzo Ferrari spoke when he abandoned sports car races are not far from the truth: “Porsche doesn't make racing cars, it makes weapons”. Porsche created fantastic sports cars, but, depending on demands, a tank here or a rocket there weren’t out of the ordinary for them.
However, Ferdinand Porsche was also commissioned by the German state to design a "people’s car" that became the iconic Volkswagen Beetle. This is where the project Type 60K10, although Porsche named it Type 64, story begins.. The Type 64 soldiered on through World War II as Ferdinand Porsche's personal car. This car started life as a wooden scale model. Designed by Erwin Komenda and Karl Froelich, it was tested in the wind tunnel at the Stuttgart University by Josef Mickl. The three Austrians were the same people who helped Porsche design the Auto Union race cars and the Volkswagen Beetle and would later form the team that developed the Porsche 356 and 550 models. Porches first own car project was born in 1938: Porsche 64 or VW Aerocoupe. Ironically (or maybe not), Porsche 64 was built with quite a lot of parts from the... Volkswagen, the cheap and popular car created by Ferdinand Porsche at Hitler’s explicit request, who just wanted an inexpensive and reliable automobile. Porsche 64 was especially designed for a Berlin-Rome race and only three such cars ever existed. The Type 64 debuted almost 10 years before Porsche launched its first official car, the 356. The first true Porsche car was only launched after WWII, in 1948. Porsche 365 was a rather small, light and aerodynamic sports car and left a mark in the history of the new Brand, while also setting forth the principles Porsche stood by over the years.
After the 356, which sold like hot cakes in several body variants, the 1963 Porsche 911 felt just a step away. Porsche went on to become a world renowned brand everyone praised and yearned for.
It was pretty obvious that Porsche’s new business was going to be success, with the backing of Ferdinand Porsche’s genius for every automobile bearing the Porsche badge. A Porsche chief executive summed it all up in a very eloquent sentence: „Successful people want to buy cars from successful companies”.
But Porsche was never a company to stand on its own feet and alternated between hugely profitable periods and great losses, imputed to the management’s extraordinary ego, who seemed more inclined towards tradition than to making a profit.
The Cayenne’s launch and subsequent success have created enough of a revenue boost as to revive Porsche’s dreams of world supremacy.
Although the Cayenne (and the later the Macan) was (again) based on VW/Audi parts, it sold extremely well and left its luxury SUV segment rivals in the dust quite easily. The legendary Porsche quality came again into play and, while heavily criticized by the brand’s die hard fans, the Cayenne was an instant hit.
And that’s was only the beginning.
The last example? The Porsche Taycan is coming soon. More to come.