Newspaper Article

Ferdinand Porsche, Creator of the Sports Car That Bore His Name, Is Dead at 88

Kandell, Jonathan

1998

Overview

Mr. Porsche, known as Ferry, and his father, also named Ferdinand, were symbols of the ambitious breed of German industrialists who thrived under the Nazis and then rose phoenix-like from the ashes of wartime defeat. A younger generation fought so much among themselves, however, that the family's sports car company stumbled badly. But Mr. Porsche lived just long enough to see his business regain financial health. Porsche A. G., founded by Ferry's father, who was a close friend of Adolf Hitler, grew rich on military contracts until Allied bombs obliterated the factories that turned out its designs. In the aftermath of World War II, Ferry Porsche decided to defy conventional wisdom and build a luxury sports car in a nation so prostrated that its inhabitants could barely afford motorcycles. Within a few years, his sports car reached the pinnacle of the automotive trade, and has remained there in the eyes of many discerning critics. With recognition came immense wealth: The Porsche family fortune is estimated at more than $3 billion. But sibling rivalry flared among the third generation of Porsches. Their business feuds and extramarital affairs earned them a reputation in the tabloid press as the ''Ewings of Germany.'' Their bickering grew so intolerable that Ferry Porsche, who had become the company's supervisory board chairman, expelled them from management of the family company.

• Publisher: New York Times Company
• Subject: Business and Finance / Deaths / Ferdinand Porsche / Porsche, Ferdinand