Image: APA/dpa/Christoph Schmidt
PS friends agree: Hardly any other car brand represents the epitome of a sports car as much as Porsche. 75 years ago yesterday, on June 8, 1948, the German manufacturer’s first sports car was registered for the first time. Today, Porsche is the pearl of return in the Volkswagen Group.
35 hp, a weight of almost 600 kilograms and a top speed of 135 km/h: What today doesn’t sound like a sports car at all was a minor technical revolution in 1948. With its round headlights and sleek shape, the Porsche 356 showed the direction of its many successors, at least visually. On June 8, 1948, the original Porsche manufactured in Gmünd in Carinthia (Spittal district) received its first registration. Because of the Second World War, the company temporarily moved from Stuttgart to Gmünd. The first 52 Porsche vehicles were manufactured in Carinthia.
A lot has happened since then: racing successes, the development of the 911 in 1963 and growth. But also the impending decline in the 1990s as a result of the global economic crisis of 1987/88 and the flight into the SUV segment with the Cayenne, which is now the best-selling model.
“A childhood dream for many”
Be a Porsche “a toy for people who earn good money, travel well and then want to show that they enjoy life”, says the car expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer. That also has something to do with moving dynamically. According to Dudenhöffer, Porsche customers are also people who disregard conventions and want to play entrepreneurial roles.
According to business psychologist Rüdiger Hossiep from the University of Bochum, Porsche drivers wanted to “radiate that they are solvent, sporty and in a good mood. For many it is also a childhood dream”. That deal with this “toy” can also earn good money, as a look at the figures of the sports car manufacturer shows. Most car manufacturers can only dream of a margin – the share of operating profit in sales – of 18.2 percent. Since the IPO last September, Porsche shares have risen by more than 40 percent.
Ambitious plans
Company boss Oliver Blume, who is also at the top of the VW group, wants to trim all group brands for the success of Porsche. Incidentally, Blume sees the future of the sports car as electric: by 2030, more than 80 percent of new Porsche vehicles will be fully electric.
Source: Nachrichten
