From Designer to Entrepreneur

The Porsche design office developed all sorts of technical equipment, such as wind power engines, turbines and engines for new prototypes by Wanderer and Zündapp.
In 1933 Ferdinand Porsche designed the legendary 16-cylinder mid-engined racing car for the recently founded Auto-Union (Audi, Horch, Wanderer and DKW), which was to become one of the most successful racing cars at the time and anticipated construction principles of today’s formula 1.

However, the most famous car designed by Ferdinand Porsche is the Volkswagen. On June 22, 1934 Porsche was commissioned by the RDA (Association of the Automobile Industry of the German Reich) to develop a car for the people. It was to become Porsche’s hallmark for the development of the Porsche enterprise in years to come. The first prototypes were built by a team of technicians in the garage of Porsche’s home in Stuttgart. Ferry Porsche was entrusted with the testing of the Volkswagen. Yet it was not until 1936 that the extensive test drives took place under the supervision of the RDA.

In 1937 Ferdinand Porsche was appointed Director of Engineering and Planning of the Association for the Preparation of the Volkswagen. On May 26, 1938 the foundation stone of the Volkswagen plant was laid, and the Volkswagen came to be called the "KdF (strength through joy) car". However, the outbreak of the Second World War forced the factory to convert to military production. Instead of the Volkswagen, the car for the people, amphibious vehicles and the "Kübelwagen" were being built. Tank engines took the place of racing cars on the drawing boards of the Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH.