“In the beginning I looked around and could not find quite the car I dreamed of. So I decided to build it myself.” – Ferry, Porsche
1948. The year the first vehicle to bear the Porsche badge was produced. The year the name of one of the world’s greatest contributions to sports car history debuted. The year the Porsche brand was born.
For the past 70 years, Porsche has represented sports car construction, performance, and design at the highest level becoming not just another luxury manufacturer, but rather an icon in the sports car space. Ferdinand Anton Ernst, or Ferry Porsche, said: “In the beginning I looked around and could not find quite the car I dreamed of. So I decided to build it myself.” He inaugurated the Porsche Type 356 “No.1” Roadster in 1948, which was actually the accumulation of sports car technology created by none of other than Porsche Ferry himself.
His pre-Porsche Type 356 accomplishments include building an electric car with a wheel hub drive (the Lohner-Porsche) and creating a template for hybrid vehicles by developing a mixed petrol-electric powertrain in the year 1900. About thirty years later he founded his own engineering office and showcased the “Berlin-Rome Car” in 1939, which was the foundation of his Porsche sports car vision and the 1948 Type 356 (on the left in the photo below).
In 1963, Ferry’s son, Ferdinand Alexander, designed and debuted the Porsche 911. Since then the flagship sports car has been built over a million times. Oliver Blume, current Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche AG, commented on the original 911 at an earlier event, “As the centrepiece of the brand, the 911 has become the sports car of dreams, winning the collective heart of enthusiasts all over the world.” Park Place Porsche emulated this piece of sports car history as a focal point of their part of Sports Car Together Day, showcasing nearly every model year of the iconic Porsche 911s at the celebration in Dallas.
As we look forward to the future of Porsche Performance, our focus turns to the Mission E. The Mission E combines “distinctive emotional design of a Porsche, exceptional driving performance, and forward thinking everyday functionality.” It comes equipped with 600hp, a range of 500km (about 310 miles), and accelerates 0-60mph in less than 3.5 seconds. This Porsche is electric- literally, and with a charging time of 15 minutes for around 80% capacity, the Mission E provides time-saving value to electric vehicle mobility.
The past, present, and future of Porsche is purely epic, from the 1948 Type 365, the Porsche 911, and the upcoming Mission E. Porsche’s 70th Anniversary Sports Car Together Day is an international event bringing Porsche fans together to celebrate to the legendary brand that’s defined ‘sports car’ for the rest of the industry. It’s was toast to heritage, tradition, Ferry Porsche, and the enduring legacy of Porsche performance.