Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles
Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is a German brand of light commercial vehicles, owned by Volkswagen Group. It is headquartered in Lower Saxony, Germany. Part of Volkswagen Passenger Cars, it has operated as a separate marque since 1995. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is a brand, not a legal entity, its activities are included in Volkswagen's Commercial Vehicles Business Area, which includes the activities of the Scania and MAN brands. The Scania and MAN brands are managed by Volkswagen Truck & Bus AG. Accordingly, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles is an associate partner of Volkswagen Bus. 1947 Volkswagen Dutch importer Ben Pon sketches a van based on Beetle components which becomes the legendary Type 2 Transporter range after seeing the Volkswagen Beetle-based Plattenwagen. 1949 Volkswagen General Director Heinrich Nordhoff approves Ben Pon's sketch for production. 1949 The first prototype was unveiled in Wolfsburg christened "Bulli". 1950 Full production began, Bulli was renamed Type 2 Transporter due to "Bulli" being trademarked by another company.
1954 Volkswagen celebrates production of 100,000th Type 2 Transporter at Wolfsburg plant. 1956 The first Type 2 Transporter rolls off the Hanover plant. 1962 1,000,000th Transporter leaves production line in Hanover. 1967 The second-generation Type 2 Transporter is released. 1968 The 2,000,000th Transporter leaves production line in Hanover. 1975 The first generation of the "LastenTransporter" LT is released which opens the door to Volkswagen in the light truck sector. 1977 The 4.5 millionth Transporter is produced. 1978 A six cylinder diesel engine is introduced for the LT range in August expanding the range with the LT 40 and LT 45. 1979 The third-generation Type 2 Transporter is released. 1980 A diesel engine is added to the Type 2 Transporter range. 1981 Hanover celebrates 25 years of producing the Transporter range. In March the 5 millionth unit is produced. Volkswagen Caminhoes Ltd starts. 1982 Watercooled petrol engines are added to the German Transporter range. The Caddy Ute, based on the Golf, is launched to the public.
1983 The luxurious Caravelle MPV is launched into the T3 range. 1985 VWCV launch the four-wheel drive syncro Transporter T3 Volkswagenwerk GmbH changes its name to VOLKSWAGEN AG. 1986 The 6 millionth Transporter is produced. 1987 The Volkswagen California motorhome is introduced into the range. 1989 The first Volkswagen Taro leaves the Hanover assembly lines. 1990 The fourth-generation Transporter/Multivan is released, VWCV celebrates 40 years of the Transporter, 6 million have been produced since its 1950 introduction. 1992 A joint venture with Ching Chung Motor Co. Ltd. is founded in Taiwan. Volkswagen AG has 1/3 capital in the company and from 1993 the T4 Transporter is produced there. 1994 The 500,000th Transporter/Multivan leaves production line in Hanover. The Volkswagen L80 is launched onto the German market. 1995 Dr Bernd Wiedemann, Chairman of the Management of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, announces the formation of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles as an independent Volkswagen Group marque.
1996 The Type 9K Caddy Panel Van and Type 9U Caddy are released on the market. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles and Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle unit launch a joint venture to replace their aging large vans, the jointly developed Volkswagen LT and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter are launched onto the market with success. 2000 VWCV celebrate 50 years of building the legendary Transporter/Multivan range. VWCV takes charge of the Volkswagen Trucks and Buses operation. 2003 The fifth generation T5 Transporter and passenger-oriented Caravelle / Multivan MPV are released. 2004 The T5 Transporter range wins UK's What Van? Van of the Year, the all new Type 2K Caddy is released, Caddy now has Golf Mk5 front suspension. 2005 The 7-seat passenger-oriented Caddy Life is released. 2006 The replacement to the Volkswagen LT the Volkswagen Crafter is revealed. The Volkswagen Crafter and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter wins the What Van? "Van of the Year Award" and What Van? "Large Panel Van of the Year" VWCV wins the What Van? "Technology Award" for its DSG transmission in the Caddy van.
2007 Stephan Schaller replaced Dr. Bernd Wiedemann as Volkswagen Commercial Vehicle Managing Director an LWB Caddy called Caddy Maxi will be released; the Caddy and Volkswagen Crafter win Professional Van and Light Truck Magazine's Small and Large Van of the Year Awards. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles builds its 10 millionth Transporter in the month of November. 2008 Volkswagen AG sells Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus to MAN SE. At the IAA in Hanover Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles revealed various new models including the new fourth global line in the guise of a Concept Pickup, Caddy 4Motion, Caddy PanAmericana Study and Crafter BlueMotion Study. Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles UK revealed the Caddy Sportline range. 2009 Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles operations in Brazil revealed the new fifth-generation Saveiro utility for emerging markets. VWCV reveal at IAA Frankfurt the T5 Transporter facelift which includes new engines and technology to benefit the class. Volkswagen Amarok is launched in December at an event in General Pacheco, Argentina with the President of Argentina Cristina Kirchner attending.
Following the Launch in Argentina. Volkswagen Commercial
12 Hours of Sebring
The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport endurance race for sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in Sebring, Florida. The event is the second round of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and in the past has been a round of the now defunct World Sportscar Championship, IMSA GT Championship and American Le Mans Series. In 2012, the race was the opening event of the FIA World Endurance Championship; the track opened in 1950 on an airfield and is a road racing course styled after those used in European Grand Prix motor racing. The first race was a six-hour race on New Year's Eve 1950, with the next race held 14 months as the first 12 Hours of Sebring; the race is famous for its "once around the clock" action, starting during the day and finishing at night. From 1953 to 1972 the 12 Hour was a round of the FIA’s premier sports car series, contested under various names including the World Sportscar Championship and the International Championship for Makes.
In its early years, the Sebring circuit combined former airport runways with narrow two-lane service roads. The 1966 event was a turning point in Sebring history, as the facilities and the safety of the circuit were criticized. Five people were killed during the race, more people killed than in the race's prior 15-year history combined. Bob McLean crashed. In another incident Mario Andretti in his Ferrari 365 P2 tangled with Don Wester's Porsche 906 on the Warehouse Straight near the Webster Turns, killing four spectators and crashing into a warehouse next to the track. Subsequent to these events, the facilities were upgraded and the circuit layout was changed, including eliminating the Webster Turns and creating the Green Park Chicane further down the track to move the straight further away from the airport warehouses; the circuit was made safer and there were no fatalities until 1980. It is known as preparation for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, as the track's bumpy surface, combined with south-central Florida's perennial hot weather, is a test of a car's reliability.
In recent years, six overall victories have been achieved by the Audi R8, one fewer than the record seven wins of the Porsche 935. Tom Kristensen has won the race more times than anyone else, with six victories—in 1999–2000, 2005–2006, 2009 and in 2012; the 1966 race had Dan Gurney leading at the last lap, when his engine of his Shelby American Ford GT40 Mk II seized near the end. Gurney pushed his car over the finish line, beaten only by Lloyd Ruby. However, his actions were determined to be against the rules and he did not receive credit for his finish. In 2005, the Chevrolet Corvette C6. R and Aston Martin DBR9 made their race debut in the hotly contested GT1 class, with Aston Martin winning its class for the first time in 49 years at Sebring ahead of the two Corvettes. Corvette had dominated the class the past three years with its previous generation C5R; the all-new Audi R10 TDI won the 2006 edition of the race, the car's first run in competition. The much-hyped Porsche RS Spyder campaigned by Penske Racing dropped to take 2nd place in its LMP2 class, behind the Intersport Lola car.
The GT1 Corvette C6R team got their revenge against the Aston Martin, although the second Corvette came within 1/3 of a second of the podium in the closing laps of the race. 2007 saw Audi again winning in the R10 TDI despite requiring more frequent refueling due to changes in American Le Mans series rules intended to the field between gasoline and diesel-powered engines. ^A The car was in fact, a Porsche 935 K3, modified with a single plug cylinder head and a front nose to resemble a Porsche 934 to comply to IMSA GTO specification. ^B These races were stopped for a period of time due to heavy rain and/or accidents. The race clock was not counted towards the 12 Hours. ^C Race record for most distance covered. ^D Technically the race "winner" in 1950 was the Crosley Hot Shot of Fritz Koster / Ralph Deshon, entered by Victor Sharpe Jr. of Tampa. While the Wacker / Burrell Allard did cover more distance, the race was run under the "Index of Performance" handicapping rules and the Crosley, with a much smaller engine than the Cadillac-powered Allard, is listed in the Official Sebring Record Book as the winner.
Official Homepage United SportsCar Championship official site
SEAT
SEAT, S. A. is a Spanish automobile manufacturer with its head office in Spain. It was founded on May 9, 1950, by the Instituto Nacional de Industria, a Spanish state-owned industrial holding company, it became the largest supplier of cars in Spain. In 1986 the Spanish government sold SEAT to the German Volkswagen Group of which it remains a wholly owned subsidiary; the headquarters of SEAT, S. A. are located at SEAT's industrial complex in Martorell near Barcelona. By 2000 annual production peaked at over 500,000 units. SEAT today is the only major Spanish car manufacturer with the ability and the infrastructure to develop its own cars in-house, its headquarters and main manufacturing facilities are located in Martorell, an industrial town located some 30 kilometres northwest of Barcelona, with a production capacity of around 500,000 units per annum. The plant was opened by King Juan Carlos of Spain on February 22, 1993, replaced SEAT's former assembly plant by the coast in Barcelona's freeport zone.
A rail connection between SEAT's Martorell and Zona Franca complexes facilitates vehicle and parts transportation between the two sites. The industrial complex in Martorell hosts the facilities of SEAT Sport, SEAT's Technical Center and Development Center, Design Center, Prototypes Centre of Development, SEAT Service Center, as well as the Genuine Parts Centre for SEAT, Audi and Škoda brands; the development and assembly facilities are some of the newest within the Volkswagen Group, with the ability to produce cars not only for its own brand but for other Volkswagen Group brands, such as Volkswagen and Audi. For example, the development and design of several Audi models and several Audi development projects took place there, from 2011 onwards the Martorell plant manufactures the Audi Q3 small SUV; the Barcelona Zona Franca site includes the SEAT Training Centre, the Zona Franca Press Shop factory, producing stamped body parts, the Barcelona Gearbox del Prat plant, producing gearboxes not only for SEAT but for other Volkswagen Group marques.
Another plant owned directly by SEAT from 1975 was the Landaben plant in Pamplona, but in December 1993 its ownership was transferred to the Volkswagen Group subsidiary "Volkswagen-Audi-Espana, S. A.", the site today is producing Volkswagen cars in Spain. However, SEAT's Martorell site still provides support to Volkswagen's operations in the Pamplona plant when necessary, as it did after a serious fire in the paint shop in the Landaben VW plant in April 2007. Factories of the Volkswagen Group producing SEAT models include the Bratislava site in Slovakia, the Palmela AutoEuropa factory in Portugal, the Sidi Khettab factory in Algeria, while in the past other plants were involved too in producing SEAT models, such as the factories in Germany and Belgium. Future plans include a new Research and development centre in the city of Barcelona in the field of environmental and energy efficiency for the entire Volkswagen Group and the launch of a project on the city's urban mobility, as well as a SEAT museum in the Zona Franca's'Nave A122' site hosting all production and prototype models presented by SEAT together with some special or limited edition vehicles with historical value for the brand and the automotive history of Spain.
Among SEAT's subsidiaries, the SEAT Deutschland GmbH subsidiary company is based in Mörfelden-Walldorf and apart from its commercial activities has the further responsibility of operating SEAT's electronic platform, the SEAT IT Services Network. In Wolfsburg, Germany, in the middle of a lake inside the Autostadt, the Volkswagen Group's corporate theme park, is SEAT's thematic pavilion, one of the largest pavilions in the park. In its 60 years, there was only a short period from 1953 to 1965 when the firm produced its cars for the domestic Spanish market. In 1965 and in a rather symbolic move, the company exported some 150 units of its SEAT 600 model destined for Colombia by air freight for the first time, until two years in 1967 SEAT reached a deal over the renegotiation of its licence contract with Fiat which allowed the Spanish firm to form an international distribution network for its cars and thereafter start its export operations massively to more than twelve different countries, entering the export market in 1969.
Until the early 1980s, most SEAT exports were sold with Fiat badging. As a response to SEAT's bid for independence, Fiat committed themselves to selling 200,000 SEAT-built cars a year from 1981, compared to 120,000 the year before. At the end of 1983, just after SEAT had won its legal battle with Fiat, a quarter of the production went to Egypt and Latin America. In Europe, they were represented in West Germany, France, Italy and Greece; the UK, various Scandinavian markets were planned to be added in 1984. This was with the Fura to follow; the exponential growth in exports in the 70´s happened under the leadership of Juan Sánchez Cortés and the export director José María García-Courel. To date, the company has launched its own mode
Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen AG, known internationally as the Volkswagen Group, is a German multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony and indirectly majority owned by the Austrian Porsche-Piëch family. It designs and distributes passenger and commercial vehicles, motorcycles and turbomachinery and offers related services including financing and fleet management. In 2016, it was the world's largest automaker by sales, overtaking Toyota and keeping this title in 2017 and 2018, selling 10.8 million vehicles. It has maintained the largest market share in Europe for over two decades, it ranked seventh in the 2018 Fortune Global 500 list of the world's largest companies. Volkswagen Group sells passenger cars under the Audi, Bugatti, Porsche, SEAT, Škoda and the flagship Volkswagen marques, it is divided into two primary divisions, the Automotive Division and the Financial Services Division, as of 2008 had 342 subsidiary companies. Volkswagen has two major joint-ventures in China.
The company has operations in 150 countries and operates 100 production facilities across 27 countries. Volkswagen was founded in 1937; the company's production grew in the 1950s and 1960s, in 1965 it acquired Auto Union, which subsequently produced the first post-war Audi models. Volkswagen launched a new generation of front-wheel drive vehicles in the 1970s, including the Passat and Golf. Volkswagen acquired a controlling stake in SEAT in 1986, making it the first non-German marque of the company, acquired control of Škoda in 1994, of Bentley and Bugatti in 1998, Scania in 2008 and of Ducati, MAN and Porsche in 2012; the company's operations in China have grown in the past decade with the country becoming its largest market. In June 2018, Volkswagen Trucks and Buses which comprises the MAN, RIO truck brands are renamed to TRATON AG but the marques will not change, said by Andreas Renschler. Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft is a public company and has a primary listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, where it is a constituent of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index, secondary listings on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, SIX Swiss Exchange.
It has been traded in the United States via American depositary receipts since 1988 on the OTC Marketplace. Volkswagen delisted from the London Stock Exchange in 2013; the state of Lower Saxony holds 12.7 % of the company's shares. Volkswagen was founded on 28 May 1937 in Berlin as the Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH by the National Socialist Deutsche Arbeitsfront; the purpose of the company was to manufacture the Volkswagen car referred to as the Porsche Type 60 the Volkswagen Type 1, called the Volkswagen Beetle. This vehicle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche's consulting firm, the company was backed by the support of Adolf Hitler. On 16 September 1938, Gezuvor was renamed Volkswagenwerk GmbH. Shortly after the factory near Fallersleben was completed, World War II started and the plant manufactured the military Kübelwagen and the related amphibious Schwimmwagen, both of which were derived from the Volkswagen. Only a small number of Type 60 Volkswagens were made during this time.
The Fallersleben plant manufactured the V-1 flying bomb, making the plant a major bombing target for the Allied forces. After the war in Europe, in June 1945, Major Ivan Hirst of the British Army Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers took control of the bomb-shattered factory, restarted production, pending the expected disposal of the plant as war reparations. However, no British car manufacturer was interested. To build the car commercially would be a uneconomic enterprise". In 1948, the Ford Motor Company of USA was offered Volkswagen, but Ernest Breech, a Ford executive vice president said he didn't think either the plant or the car was "worth a damn." Breech said that he would have considered merging Ford of Germany and Volkswagen, but after the war, ownership of the company was in such dispute that nobody could hope to be able to take it over. As part of the Industrial plans for Germany, large parts of German industry, including Volkswagen, were to be dismantled. Total German car production was set at a maximum of 10% of the 1936 car production numbers.
The company survived by producing cars for the British Army, in 1948 the British Government handed the company back over to the German state, it was managed by former Opel chief Heinrich Nordhoff. Production of the Type 60 Volkswagen started after the war due to the need to rebuild the plant and because of the lack of raw materials, but production grew in the 1950s and 1960s; the company began introducing new models based on the Type 1, all with the same basic air-cooled, rear-engine, rear-drive platform. These included the Volkswagen Type 2 in 1950, the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia in 1955, the Volkswagen Type 3 in 1961, the Volkswagen Type 4 in 1968, the Volkswagen Type 181 in 1969. In 1960, upon t
Ferrari P
The Ferrari P was a series of Italian sports prototype racing cars produced by Ferrari during the 1960s and early 1970s. Although Enzo Ferrari resisted the move with Cooper dominating F1, Ferrari began producing mid-engined racing cars in 1960 with the Ferrari Dino-V6-engine Formula Two 156, which would be turned into the Formula One-winner of 1961. Sports car racers followed in 1963. Although these cars shared their numerical designations with road models, they were entirely dissimilar; the first Ferrari mid-engine in a road car did not arrive until the 1967 Dino, it was 1971 before a Ferrari 12-cylinder engine was placed behind a road-going driver in the 365 GT4 BB. Ferrari produced the 250 P in 1963 in response to the FIA introducing a prototype class for the upcoming season of the World Sportscar Championship; this was a new design, with a chassis unrelated to existing 250-series Grand Touring cars. Designed by Mauro Forghieri, the 250 P was an open cockpit mid-engined rear wheel drive design, utilizing a tubular space-frame chassis, double wishbone suspension and pinion steering, four wheel disc brakes and a longitudinally-mounted V12 engine with a 5-speed gearbox and transaxle.
The 250 Testa Rossa-type single-cam 3.0-litre engine was supplied by six Weber 38 DCN carburetors and produced 310 bhp at 7,500 rpm. This was the first time; the 250 P achieved immediate success on the racetrack, winning the 1963 24 Hours of Le Mans, 12 Hours of Sebring, 1000 km Nürburgring, Canadian Grand Prix. The cars were raced by Scuderia Ferrari in NART in the Americas. Notable drivers included John Surtees, Ludovico Scarfioitti, Willy Mairesse, Lorenzo Bandini and Pedro Rodriguez. In total Ferrari produced four 250 P chassis and one development mule based on a Dino 246 SP chassis. All 250 P chassis were converted to 275 330 P specification following the 1963 racing season. For the 1964 season, Ferrari developed the 275 P and 330 P; these were improved versions of the 250 P with larger displacement engines and modified bodywork. The tubular space-frame chassis and most other components remained the same as in the 250 P; the 275 P used a bored-out 3.3L version of the 250 Testa Rossa-type engine utilized by the 250 P.
The 330 P used a different design, a 4.0L Colombo-designed V12 based on engines used in the 400 Superamerica road cars. The 330 P weighed more; some drivers preferred the extra power of the 330 P while others appreciated the more nimble feel of the 275 P and the two models were raced concurrently. Production of these types included three brand new chassis and conversions of all four 250 P chassis, it is not possible to determine the number of chassis produced with each engine type as 275 and 330 engines were swapped as needed between cars. 275 P and 330 P cars were and raced by Scuderia Ferrari, NART and Maranello Concessionaires during 1964 and 1965 seasons. The most notable result was a 1-2-3 sweep at the 1964 24 Hours of Le Mans; the Scuderia Ferrari-run 275 P driven by Guichet and Vaccarella took first, followed by a Maranello Concessionaires 330 P in second and a Scuderia Ferrari 330 P in third. At the November 1963 Paris Auto Show, Ferrari introduced the 250 LM, it was developed as a coupe version of the 250 P and was ostensibly a new production car intended to meet FIA homologation requirements for the Group 3 GT class.
The intention was for the 250 LM to replace the 250 GTO as Ferrari's premier GT-class racer. However, in April 1964 the FIA refused to homologate the model, as Ferrari had built fewer than the required 100 units; the 250 LM thus had to run in the prototype class until it was homologated as a Group 4 Sports Car for the 1966 season.32 total 250 LM chassis were built from 1963 to 1965, with all but the first chassis powered by 3.3-litre 320 bhp engines as used in the 275 P. According to Ferrari naming convention, the 3.3 litre cars should have been designated "275 LM", however Enzo Ferrari insisted that the name remain 250 LM in order to facilitate the homologation process. The 250 LM shared independent double wishbone suspension and pinion steering, four wheel disc brakes and 5-speed transaxle with the 250 P, however the tubular space frame chassis was strengthened with the roof structure, additional cross-bracing and heavier gauge tubing; the interior was trimmed out as a nod to the ostensible production status of the car, but it was little different from a prototype racer.
The 250 LM was raced around the world by both factory-supported and privateer racers. Unlike the 250/275/330 P cars, new 250 LMs were sold to private customers and campaigned by privateer teams. From 1964 through 1967, 250 LMs were raced by Scuderia Ferrari, NART, Maranello Concessionaires, Ecurie Filipinetti, Ecurie Francorchamps and others when this model was no longer competitive with the latest factory prototypes. Notably, a 250 LM entered by the North American Racing Team won the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans driven by Jochen Rindt and Masten Gregory; this remains Ferrari's last overall victory in the endurance classic. This car is now owned by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum and was displayed at the 2004 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and the 2013 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance; the 250 LM is sought-after by serious auto collectors and individual cars are featured at auctions, car shows and historic racing events. 250 LMs sell for more than $10 milli
Porsche 910
The Porsche 910 or Carrera 10 was a race car from Porsche, based on the Porsche 906. 29 were produced and were raced in 1966 and 1967. The factory name for the 910 was the 906/10; the 910 was considered the next sequence in the 906 line. The main difference to the original 906 is the use of 13 inch wheels and tyres as in Formula One, plus a single central nut instead of the five nuts as in a road car; this made the car unsuitable for street use. Overall, the 910 was lighter and shorter than the 906; the Porsche 910 was entered in mid 1966, starting with the 1966 European Hill Climb Championship from Sierre to Crans-Montana in Switzerland. Engines used were 1991cc 6-cylinder with 200 hp, 1991cc 6-cylinder with 220 hp, 2195cc 6-cylinder with 270 hp, or the 1981cc 8-cylinder with up to 275 hp; the 8 cylinder version was referred to as 910/8. The Porsche 910 is 1680 mm wide and only 980 mm high; the 910 was only raced for about one year by the factory. The main class rivals were the Ferrari Dino 206P, overall victories on fast tracks against the much more powerful and faster Ford GT40 for example, or another class competitor Ferrari Prototypes proved unrealistic.
At the 1000 km Nürburgring in 1967, a fleet of six factory cars were entered in an attempt to score the first overall win in Porsche's home event. Two of the three 8-cyl broke, the remaining one finished fourth; the three 6-cyl won 1-2-3, giving Porsche its first outright win in a third major event of the World Sportscar Championship for Porsche, after the 1956 Targa Florio and the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1960. In Le Mans, the new Porsche 907 "long tails" were entered, finishing 5th in front of a 910 and two 906. In hillclimbing, the career of the short and light open-top 910/8 "Bergspyder" version with its 8-cylinder continued, winning the 1967 and 1968 European championships. At the hillclimb of Ollon-Villars, which counted towards the World Sportscar Championship in 1967, the 910 scored a 1-2, with Gerhard Mitter and Rolf Stommelen beating Herbert Müller and his big V12-Ferrari P
Porsche
Dr.-Ing. H.c. F. Porsche AG shortened to Porsche AG, is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans. Porsche AG is headquartered in Stuttgart, is owned by Volkswagen AG, itself majority-owned by Porsche Automobil Holding SE. Porsche's current lineup includes the 718 Boxster/Cayman, 911, Panamera and Cayenne. Ferdinand Porsche founded the company called "Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH" in 1931, with main offices at Kronenstraße 24 in the centre of Stuttgart; the company offered motor vehicle development work and consulting, but did not build any cars under its own name. One of the first assignments the new company received was from the German government to design a car for the people, a "Volkswagen"; this resulted in one of the most successful car designs of all time. The Porsche 64 was developed in 1939 using many components from the Beetle. During World War II, Volkswagen production turned to the military version of the Volkswagen Beetle, the Kübelwagen, 52,000 produced, Schwimmwagen, 15,584 produced.
Porsche produced several designs for heavy tanks during the war, losing out to Henschel & Son in both contracts that led to the Tiger I and the Tiger II. However, not all this work was wasted, as the chassis Porsche designed for the Tiger I was used as the base for the Elefant tank destroyer. Porsche developed the Maus super-heavy tank in the closing stages of the war, producing two prototypes. At the end of World War II in 1945, the Volkswagen factory at KdF-Stadt fell to the British. Ferdinand lost his position as Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen, Ivan Hirst, a British Army Major, was put in charge of the factory. On 15 December of that year, Ferdinand was arrested for war crimes, but not tried. During his 20-month imprisonment, Ferdinand Porsche's son, Ferry Porsche, decided to build his own car, because he could not find an existing one that he wanted to buy, he had to steer the company through some of its most difficult days until his father's release in August 1947. The first models of what was to become the 356 were built in a small sawmill in Austria.
The prototype car was shown to German auto dealers, when pre-orders reached a set threshold, production was begun by Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH founded by Ferry and Louise. Many regard the 356 as the first Porsche because it was the first model sold by the fledgling company. After the production of 356 was taken over by the father's Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche GmbH in Stuttgart in 1950, Porsche commissioned a Zuffenhausen-based company, Reutter Karosserie, which had collaborated with the firm on Volkswagen Beetle prototypes, to produce the 356's steel body. In 1952, Porsche constructed an assembly plant across the street from Reutter Karosserie; the 356 was road certified in 1948. Porsche's company logo was based on the coat of arms of the Free People's State of Württemberg of former Weimar Germany, which had Stuttgart as its capital; the arms of Stuttgart was placed in the middle as an inescutcheon, since the cars were made in Stuttgart. The heraldic symbols were combined with the texts "Porsche" and "Stuttgart", which shows that it is not a coat of arms since heraldic achievements never spell out the name of the armiger nor the armigers home town in the shield.
Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern became part of the present land of Baden-Württemberg in 1952 after the political consolidation of West Germany in 1949, the old design of the arms of Württemberg now only lives on in the Porsche logo. On 30 January 1951, not long before the creation of Baden-Württemberg, Ferdinand Porsche died from complications following a stroke. In post-war Germany, parts were in short supply, so the 356 automobile used components from the Volkswagen Beetle, including the engine case from its internal combustion engine and several parts used in the suspension; the 356, had several evolutionary stages, A, B, C, while in production, most Volkswagen-sourced parts were replaced by Porsche-made parts. Beginning in 1954 the 356s engines started utilizing engine cases designed for the 356; the sleek bodywork was designed by Erwin Komenda, who had designed the body of the Beetle. Porsche's signature designs have, from the beginning, featured air-cooled rear-engine configurations, rare for other car manufacturers, but producing automobiles that are well balanced.
In 1964, after a fair amount of success in motor-racing with various models including the 550 Spyder, with the 356 needing a major re-design, the company launched the Porsche 911: another air-cooled, rear-engined sports car, this time with a six-cylinder "boxer" engine. The team to lay out the body shell design was led by Ferry Porsche's eldest son, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche; the design phase for the 911 caused internal problems with Erwin Komenda, who led the body design department until then. F. A. Porsche complained. Company leader Ferry Porsche took his son's drawings to neighbouring chassis manufacturer Reuter. Reuter's workshop was acquired by Porsche. Afterward Reuter became today known as Keiper-Recaro; the design office gave sequential numbers to every project (See Porsche
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