Editing Porsche (section)

=== Origin ===
[[Ferdinand Porsche]] (1875–1951) founded the company called "Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche [[GmbH]]"<ref name=Auto>{{cite web|author=J. P. Vettraino|title=Porsche at 60: The little sports-car company that could|url=http://www.autoweek.com/article/20081222/FREE/812229989|work=[[Autoweek]]|date=23 December 2008|access-date=30 January 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206230009/http://www.autoweek.com/article/20081222/FREE/812229989|archive-date=6 February 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> with [[Adolf Rosenberger]]<ref>Automobile Quarterly, Volume 18, Issue 4, Automobile Quarterly, 1980</ref> and [[Anton Piëch]] in 1931.<ref>{{cite web |last=Klawitter |first=Nils |title=The Dark Pre-History of the World's Favorite Sports Car |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/porsche-s-past-the-dark-pre-history-of-the-world-s-favorite-sports-car-a-652371.html |publisher=[[Der Spiegel]] |date=1 October 2009}}</ref> The name is short for Ferdinand Porsche's full title in German, ''[[Doktoringenieur|Doktor-Ingenieur]] [[honorary degree|honoris causa]]'' ({{literal translation|Doctor of Engineering, Honorary Degree}}).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Girl |first=Pepper |date=2011 |title=Just what do all the initials in Porsche's Corporate Names Mean Anyway? |url=https://flatsixes.com/porsche-culture/porsche-factoids/porsche-corporate-acronyms/ |access-date=28 November 2023 |website=Flatsixes}}</ref> The main offices was at Kronenstraße 24 in the centre of [[Stuttgart]].<ref name=Historie>{{cite web |title=Historie - Porsche Engineering |url=https://www.porscheengineering.com/peg/de/about/history/ |publisher=Porsche Engineering |access-date=23 February 2016 |archive-date=17 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917105324/https://www.porscheengineering.com/peg/de/about/history/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Initially, the company offered motor vehicle development work and consulting,<ref name=Auto/> but did not build any cars under its own name. One of the first assignments the new company received was from the German government to design a car for the people; that is, a ''[[Volk]]<nowiki/>swagen''.<ref name=Auto/> This resulted in the [[Volkswagen Beetle]], one of the most successful car designs of all time.<ref name=":3">{{cite web|url=http://www.automotivehalloffame.org/honors/index.php?cmd=view&id=4&type=inductees|title=Béla Barényi (1907–1997)|work=[[Automotive Hall of Fame]]|access-date=25 March 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091101143217/http://www.automotivehalloffame.org/honors/index.php?cmd=view&id=4&type=inductees|archive-date=1 November 2009}}</ref> Later, the [[Porsche 64]] would be developed in 1939 using many components from the Beetle.<ref name=Auto/>

[[File:Tiger (P).svg|thumb|right|Porsche's tank prototype, the "Porsche Tiger", that lost to [[Henschel & Son]]'s [[Tiger I]]]]
[[File:Elefant USAOM-01.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Elefant|Panzerjäger Elefant]]'' – after the loss of the contract to the Tiger I, Porsche recycled his design into a [[tank destroyer]].]]

During [[World War II]],<ref name=Beetle>{{cite book |last=Burt |first=William |title=Volkswagen Beetle |publisher=MotorBooks/MBI Publishing Company |year=2002 |page=14 |isbn=978-0-7603-1078-6}}</ref> [[Volkswagen]] production turned to the military version of the Volkswagen Beetle, the [[Volkswagen Kübelwagen|Kübelwagen]],<ref name=Beetle/> 52,000 produced, and [[Schwimmwagen]],<ref name=Beetle/> 15,584 produced.<ref>See [[Volkswagen Schwimmwagen#Development]].</ref> Porsche produced several designs for [[heavy tank]]s during the war, losing out to [[Henschel & Son]] in both contracts that ultimately led to the [[Tiger I]] and the [[Tiger II]]. However, not all this work was wasted, as the chassis Porsche designed for the Tiger I was used as the base for the [[Elefant]] [[tank destroyer]]. Porsche also developed the [[Panzer VIII Maus|Maus]] [[super-heavy tank]] in the closing stages of the war, producing two prototypes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.achtungpanzer.com/panzerkampfwagen-viii-maus-porsche-typ-205-tiger-iip.htm|title=Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus Porsche Typ 205 / Tiger II(P)|access-date=4 May 2011|work=Achtung Panzer|archive-date=16 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316103737/http://www.achtungpanzer.com/panzerkampfwagen-viii-maus-porsche-typ-205-tiger-iip.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Ferdinand Porsche's biographer, Fabian Müller, wrote that Porsche had thousands of people forcibly brought to work at their factories during the war. The workers wore the letter "P" on their clothing at all times. It stood not for "Porsche", but for "Poland".<ref>{{cite web|last=Klawitter|first=Nils|date=1 October 2009|title=Porsche's Past: The Dark Pre-History of the World's Favorite Sports Car|url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/porsche-s-past-the-dark-pre-history-of-the-world-s-favorite-sports-car-a-652371.html|website=www.spiegel.de}}</ref>

At the end of World War II in 1945, the [[list of Volkswagen Group factories|Volkswagen factory]] at [[KdF-Stadt]] fell to the British. Ferdinand lost his position as chairman of the board of management of Volkswagen, and [[Ivan Hirst]], a British Army major, was put in charge of the factory.{{efn|In Wolfsburg, the Volkswagen company magazine dubbed him "The British Major who saved Volkswagen".<ref>{{cite book|last=Mantle|first=Jonathan|title=Car wars: fifty years of greed, treachery, and skulduggery in the global marketplace|publisher=[[Arcade Publishing]]|year=1996|page=216|isbn=978-1-55970-333-8}}</ref>}} On 15 December of that year, Ferdinand was arrested for war crimes, but not tried. During his 20-month imprisonment, Ferdinand Porsche's son, [[Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche|Ferry Porsche]], decided to build his own car, because he could not find an existing one that he wanted to buy. He also had to steer the company through some of its most difficult days until his father's release in August 1947.<ref name="Gmünd">{{cite book|last=Meredith|first=Laurence|author2=Mark Hughes|title=Original Porsche 356|publisher=MotorBooks/MBI Publishing Company|year=1995|page=7|isbn=978-1-870979-58-0}}</ref>

The first models of what was to become the [[Porsche 356|356]] were built in a small sawmill in [[Gmünd, Carinthia|Gmünd]], Austria.<ref name="Gmünd"/> The prototype car was shown to German auto dealers, and when pre-orders reached a set threshold, production (with aluminum body) was begun by [[Porsche Salzburg|Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH]], founded by Ferry and [[Louise Piëch|Louise]]. Many regard the 356 as the first Porsche simply because it was the first model ''sold'' by the fledgling company. After production of the 356 was taken over by the father's Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche GmbH in Stuttgart in 1950, Porsche commissioned a [[Zuffenhausen]]-based company, Reutter Karosserie, which had previously collaborated with the firm on Volkswagen Beetle prototypes, to produce the 356's steel body. In 1952, Porsche constructed an assembly plant (Werk 2) across the street from Reutter Karosserie; the main road in front of Werk 1, the oldest Porsche building, is now known as Porschestraße.<ref>{{cite book|author=John Lamm|title=Porsche Boxster|publisher=MotorBooks International|url=https://archive.org/details/porscheboxster00lamm|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/porscheboxster00lamm/page/100 100]|year=1998|isbn=978-0-7603-0519-5}}</ref> The 356 was road-certified in 1948.