History of the Fascinating Porsche

Porsche is incorrectly pronounced "PORSH" as a one syllable word. [21] (IPA: /ˈpɔrʃə/). (/pɔrˈʃʌ/). This is common because French and English have many words with silent 'e's. The correct pronunciation is "PORSH-eh", as native German words do not have silent e. Porsche SE or Porsche (German, pronounced [ˈpɔɹʃə]) is a German manufacturer of luxury automobiles, which is majority-owned by the Porsche and Piëch families. Porsche SE holds two chief assets, the first of which is Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, often shortened to Porsche AG, manufacturer of the Porsche automobile line. The second asset is a majority stake in Volkswagen AG. The company is headquartered in Zuffenhausen, a city district of Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. It was founded in 1930 by Ferdinand Porsche, an Austro-Hungarian engineer born in Maffersdorf, Austria-Hungary (today Vratislavice, Czech Republic). Porsche is also known for designing the first Volkswagen, but Béla Barényi is credited with having conceived the basic design five years earlier. The company currently produces 911 (997), Boxster and Cayman sports cars and Cayenne sport utility vehicles.In a May 2006 survey, Porsche was awarded the title of the most prestigious automobile brand by Luxury Institute, New York; it questioned more than 500 households with a gross annual income of at least US $200,000 and a net worth of at least US $720,000.[1] The current Porsche lineup includes sports cars from the Boxster roadster to their most famous product, the 911. The Cayman is a hard top car similar to the Boxster in a slightly higher price range. The Cayenne is Porsche's mid-size luxury SUV. The Carrera GT was phased out in May 2006. Future plans include a high performance luxury saloon/sedan, the Panamera. Porsche was awarded the 2006 J.D. Power and Associates award for the highest-ranked nameplate in its Initial Quality Study (IQS) of automobile brands. As a company, Porsche is known for weathering changing market conditions with great financial stability, while retaining most production in Germany during an age when most other German car manufacturers have moved at least parts of their production to Eastern Europe or overseas.[citation needed] The headquarters and main factory are still in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, but the Cayenne (and formerly the Carrera GT) is manufactured in Leipzig, Germany, parts[3] for the SUV are assembled also in Bratislava, Slovakia. Most Boxster and Cayman production is outsourced to Valmet Automotive in Finland until 2012[4]. The company has been highly successful in recent times, and indeed claims to have the highest profit per unit sold of any car company in the world. Porsche has for many years offered consultancy services to various other car manufacturers. Audi, Studebaker, SEAT, Daewoo, Subaru and Yugo have consulted Porsche on engineering for their cars or engines. The Lada Samara[6] was partly developed by Porsche in 1984. Porsche also helped Harley-Davidson design their new Evolution water cooled engine that is used in their V-Rod motorcycle, as Porsche had previous experince switching from air-cooling to water cooling. In racing, Porsche's main rival has traditionally been Ferrari,[citation needed] though their production vehicles appeal to quite different personalities, if similar demographics. The rivalry is therefore primarily because of both companies' storied racing heritage and the fact that some of their vehicles are of comparable performance. Porsche has a reputation for offering equal or higher performing cars than the more expensive Ferrari models, while overall Ferrari sells far fewer cars at much higher prices (for example, there are no Ferraris under US $100,000, while several Porsches are priced below that figure).
In the daily-driver marketplace, Porsche's traditional rivals are its fellow German automakers Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and BMW (the Boxster competes directly with the BMW Z4 and the Mercedes-Benz SLK, for instance), as well as Lotus, Jaguar, Maserati and the Chevrolet Corvette, while high-end Porsche models compete against firms such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti and Pagani.Porsche has been successful in many branches of auto racing, scoring a total of more than 28,000 victories. Porsche is currently the world's largest race car manufacturer. In 2006, Porsche built 195 race cars for various international motor sports events. In 2007, Porsche is expected to construct no fewer than 275 dedicated race cars (7 RS Spyder LMP2 prototypes, 37 GT2 spec 911 GT3-RSRs, and 231 911 GT3 Cup vehicles)