The Car Business is getting on Track

Ferry Porsche and his sister Louise Piëch transferred the Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH from Gmünd to Alpen-
strasse, Salzburg. While Louise and her husband Anton Piëch were working on the development of VW imports to Austria, Ferry Porsche went back to Stuttgart, where he founded the sports car factory (today’s Porsche AG) in 1950. The two Porsche companies in Stuttgart and Salzburg, which have always been jointly owned by
Louise and her brother Ferry, share the same roots, but developed into individual companies later on.

In May 1949 the import business started in Salzburg
with the arrival of the first fourteen Beetles. From 1950 onwards, Dr. Anton Piëch, having been formally appointed General Manager of Porsche Konstruktionen GesmbH, was running the Salzburg company. In the same year the central spare parts warehouse was built for guaranteeing optimum support for all VW customers. This was a sub-
stantial move in the company’s strategy on its way from importer to service provider.

In the midst of all these activities the family was hit
hard by two strokes of fate. On January 30, 1951 Prof. Ferdinand Porsche died an aged man. Only one year later, the family was afflicted by Dr. Anton Piëch’s sudden death. In 1952 Louise Piëch took over the management of the young Salzburg enterprise, which at the time had a staff of 71 and three locations - Alpenstrasse in Salzburg, the branch in Gmünd and the establishment at Zell am See. Louise Piëch, a mother of four, who ran the growing company with great prudence and commercial skill, has shaped Porsche Salzburg lastingly with her inimitable motivation and strong leadership.