­Porsche The Beginnings

Even before the first ­Porsche car, the name Ferdinand ­Porsche was already established for
his expertise as an automotive engineer, for his ideas and original designs. He had already
created components and even complete models of various sizes for important companies
such as NSU, Volkswagen or Daimler-Benz. In the 1930s he had established his own design
studio for the automotive industry and beyond, a brave experiment at a time when
generally every major company had a design and engineering department.
The first car with the ­Porsche name would launch in 1948 and officially mark the debut of
the brand. Only it is not built in Germany, in Zuffenhausen, the city where the design office
was born, because the beginning of the Second World War causes the business to move
from Stuttgart to Gmund, in the Carinthia area of ​​Austria, as early as 1944.
Working conditions on the site of a former sawmill were unsuitable for a 300-employee car
factory, yet being in a quiet region away from war meant less stress and enough food for
everyone in the surrounding villages where all kinds of farmers lived. Although they didn’t
have enough space and not all the necessary tools and raw materials, the ­Porsche story
goes on and adapts. Additional management and canteen barracks are being built and
engineers are being moved to a nearby address.
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