Porsche is one of the most revered and instantly recognisable names in the automotive world, but where does its name come from?
Ferdinand Porsche founded his automotive engineering and design consultancy firm, and eponymously named it “Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH.
His company was famously commissioned by the Nazi German government to come up with a people’s car or, literally, the Volkswagen.
Porsche came up with a prototype that would eventually morph into the Volkswagen Type 1, known more affectionally as the Beetle. The car was sold to the German people in the pre-war period as the KdF-Wagen or Kraft durch Freude or Strength through Joy wagon, although none were actually delivered before the beginning of hostilities.
The company also designed tanks to help the German war effort, Porsche gave up his Czechoslovak citizen ship to become a naturalised German, and a member of the SS.
After the war, whilst Ferdinand Porsche was temporarily detained on war crimes charges, his son, Ferry, began designing the company’s first Porsche-branded car, the 356.
