Sportscar racing

It was in 1952 that Mercedes-Benz returned to racing after the war, again with Alfred Neubauer as team manager. Their small and underpowered^{[citation needed]} gull-winged Mercedes-Benz 300SL, won several races in 1952 including the 24 hours of Le Mans, the Carrera Panamericana, and did well in other important races such as the Mille Miglia.

Mercedes-Benz was also dominant in sports racing cars during the 1950s. The Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR was derived from the W196 Formula One car for use in the 1955 World Sportscar Championship season. At Le Mans that year, a disaster occurred in which a Mercedes-Benz 300SLR collided with another car, killing more than eighty spectators. The team went on to win the two remaining races of the season, and won the Manufacturer's championship, but it had already been planned at the beginning of that year that the company would retire its teams at the end of the 1955 season.^[4] In fact in the aftermath of the Le Mans disaster, it would be several decades until Mercedes-Benz returned to front line motorsport.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Mercedes returned to competition through the tuning company AMG (later to become a Mercedes-Benz subsidiary), which entered the big Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 6.3 V8 sedan in the Spa 24 Hours and the European Touring Car Championship.

In 1985 Mercedes-Benz returned to sports car racing, as an engine supplier for the Group C cars of the Sauber team. The first cars produced by this relationship, the Sauber C8 and C9 were not particularly successful until the C9 recorded a victory at the 1989 Le Mans race. After this watershed, Mercedes increased its involvement further,^{[citation needed]} and the next sportscar produced by the partnership was called the Mercedes-Benz C11, although the chassis was still built by Sauber. Mercedes-Benz enjoyed some success, but eventually withdraw from sportscar racing after a dismal 1991 season.

Mercedes-Benz returned to sportscar racing in 1997, with the CLK GTR which was entered in the new FIA GT Championship world championship series. The successor to this car, the CLR was a spectacular failure. It was entered in the 1999 Le Mans race, but a series of accidents involving the car flipping brought about the cancellation of the CLR project.

Touring cars

It was intended that Mercedes-Benz would enter rallying with the Mercedes-Benz W201 in the early 1980s.^{[citation needed]} Yet, as all wheel drive and turbochargers were introduced by the competition (Audi Quattro) at that time, this was cancelled. Instead the W201 ended up being used in the DTM touring car series from 1988, with the car again being prepared by AMG,^{[citation needed]} who became an official partner and continue to enter the new DTM to the present day. Mercedes currently competes in the new DTM championship.

Early history

The two companies which were merged to form the Mercedes-Benz brand in 1926 had both already enjoyed success in the new sport of motor racing throughout their separate histories. In fact both were entered into the very first automobile race Paris to Rouen 1894. The Mercedes Simplex of 1902, built by DMG, was Mercedes' first purpose built race car — much lower than their usual designs — which were similar to horse carriages; that model dominated racing for years. In 1914, just before the beginning of the First World War, the DMG Mercedes 35 hp won the French Grand Prix, finishing 1-2-3.^[1]

Karl Benz's company, Benz & Cie. built the "bird beaked", Blitzen Benz that set land speed records several times, reaching 228.1 km/h (141.7 mph) in 1911.^[2] That record gained that model the reputation of being faster than any other automobile — as well as any train or plane.^[2] They constructed many aerodynamically designed race cars.

Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. It is currently a division of the parent company, Daimler AG (formerly DaimlerChrysler AG), after previously being owned by Daimler-Benz. Mercedes-Benz has its origins in Karl Benz's creation of the first automobile in January 1886,^[1] and by Gottlieb Daimler and engineer Wilhelm Maybach's conversion of a carriage by the addition of a petrol engine the same year. The Mercedes automobile was first marketed in 1901 by Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft. The first Mercedes-Benz brand name vehicles were produced in 1926, following the merger of Karl Benz's and Gottlieb Daimler's companies into the Daimler-Benz company.^[1] Mercedes-Benz has introduced many technological and safety innovations that have become common in other vehicles several years later.

History

Weimar-era Württemberg coat of arms

Coat of arms of Stuttgart

Professor Ferdinand Porsche founded the company called "Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH" in 1930,^[10] with main offices at Kronenstraße 24 in the center of Stuttgart. Initially, the company offered motor vehicle development work and consulting^[10] 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, a "Volkswagen" in German.^[10] This resulted in the Volkswagen Beetle, one of the most successful car designs of all time. The first Porsche, the Porsche 64, was developed in 1939 using many components from the Beetle.^[10]

During World War II,^[11] Volkswagen production turned to the military version of the Volkswagen Beetle, the Kübelwagen,^[11] 52,000 produced, and Schwimmwagen,^[11] 14,000 produced. Porsche produced several designs for heavy tanks 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 Maus super-heavy tank in the closing stages of the war, producing two prototypes.^{[citation needed]}

At the end of WW2 in 1945, the Volkswagen factory fell to the British. Ferdinand lost his position as Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen, and a British Army Major - Ivan Hirst was put in charge of the factory. (In Wolfsburg, the VW company magazine dubbed him "The British Major who Saved Volkswagen."^[12]) On 15 December of that year, Ferdinand was arrested for war crimes, but not tried. During his 20-month imprisonment, Ferdinand Porsche's son, 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.^[13] The first models of what was to become the 356 were built in a small sawmill in Gmünd, Austria.^[13] The prototype car was shown to German auto dealers, and when pre-orders reached a set threshold, production was begun. Many regard the 356 as the first Porsche simply because it was the first model sold by the fledgling company. Porsche commissioned Zuffenhausen-based company Reutter Carosseri, 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 (Werk2) across the street from Reutter Carosseri; the main road in front of Werk1, the oldest Porsche building is now known as Porschestrasse.^[14] The 356 was road certified in 1948.

Porsche’s company logo was based on the coat of arms of Free People's State of Württemberg of former Weimar Germany, which had Stuttgart as its capital and became part of Baden-Württemberg after the political consolidation of West Germany in 1949.

Not long afterwards, on 30 January 1951, Ferdinand Porsche died from complications following a stroke.

In post-war Germany, parts were generally in short supply, so the 356 automobile used components from the Volkswagen Beetle including its engine, gearbox, and suspension. The 356, however, had several evolutionary stages, A, B, and C, while in production and many Volkswagen parts were replaced by Porsche-made parts. The last 356s were powered by entirely Porsche-designed engines. The sleek bodywork was designed by Erwin Komenda who also had designed the body of the Beetle. Porsche's signature designs have, from the beginning, featured air-cooled rear-engine configurations (like the Beetle), rare for other car manufacturers, but producing automobiles that are very well balanced.

In 1964, after some success in motor-racing, namely with the Porsche 550 Spyder, the company launched the Porsche 911 another air-cooled, rear-engined sports car, this time with a 6-cylinder "boxer" engine. The team to lay out the body shell design was led by Ferry Porsche's eldest son, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche (F. A.). The design phase for the 911 caused internal problems with Erwin Komenda who led the body design department until then. F. A. Porsche complained Komenda made changes to the design not being approved by him. Company leader Ferry Porsche took his son's drawings to neighbouring body shell manufacturer Reuter bringing the design to the 1963 state. Reuter's workshop was later acquired by Porsche (so-called Werk II). Afterward Reuter became a seat manufacturer, today known as Keiper-Recaro.

The design group gave sequential numbers to every project (356, 550, etc.) but the designated 901 nomenclature contravened Peugeot's trademarks on all 'x0x' names, so it was adjusted to 911. Racing models adhered to the "correct" numbering sequence: 904, 906, 908. The 911 has become Porsche's most well-known and iconic model - successful on the race-track, in rallies, and in terms of sales. Far more than any other model, the Porsche brand is defined by the 911. It remains in production; however, after several generations of revision, current-model 911s share only the basic mechanical concept of a rear-engined, six-cylinder coupe, and basic styling cues with the original car. A cost-reduced model with the same body, but 356-derived running gear (including its four-cylinder engine), was sold as the 912.

Reputation of PORCHE

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.^[2] 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. A high performance luxury saloon/sedan, the Panamera, was launched on Monday, 20 April 2009.

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.^[3]

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^[4] for the SUV are assembled also in Bratislava, Slovakia. Most Boxster and Cayman production is outsourced to Valmet Automotive in Finland until 2012.^[5] 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.^[6]

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^[7] 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 experience switching from air-cooling to water cooling

Porsche SE or Porsche (pronounced /ˈpɔrʃə/) is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury high performance automobiles, which is majority-owned by the Piëch and Porsche families. Porsche SE holds two chief assets, the first of which is Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG (which stands for Doktor Ingenieur honoris causa Ferdinand Porsche Aktiengesellschaft), often shortened to Porsche AG, manufacturer of the Porsche automobile line. The second asset is a majority stake in Volkswagen Group (Volkswagen AG), the largest car manufacturer in Europe, and the third largest in the world. The company is headquartered in Zuffenhausen, a city district of Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg.

It was founded in 1931 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.^[1] The company currently produces 911 (997), Boxster and Cayman sports cars and Cayenne sport utility vehicles. The latest model line, the four-door Panamera saloon (sedan), was launched on Monday, 20 April 2009.

Z9 Gran Turismo Coupé

The lines of the Z9's exterior design are clean, simple, yet dramatic, with a long, sleek bonnet and short, muscular tail. At the front is the unmistakable BMW kidney grille and from the side, the huge wheels - 20 inch at the front and 21 at the rear - and high waist give the car real presence. An aluminium space frame gives the monocoque chassis excellent torsional rigidity and crash performance, while carbon fibre bodywork combines great strength and light weight.The Z9 is large car, five metres long and two metres wide with a 3.1 metre wheelbase. Access to the interior is via two full-length gullwing doors, which open automatically at the press of a button.
Cleverly, conventional doors are designed into each "wing" for use when space does not allow the gullwings to be used.Once inside, the lines of the cabin are clean and simple and the ambience extremely light and airy Most noticeable is the lack of switchgear. All the secondary controls are operated by a single rotary/push unit on the centre console and four buttons to select "audio", "communications", "comfort" and "drive".A large screen in the centre of the dashboard displays all the information the driver requires in a simple graphic display, apart from the speedometer and rev counter which are conventional analogue instruments directly in front of the driver.
The only other driver controls in the cabin are a starter button on the dashboard, and gear selection and indicator stalks on the steering column.Power comes from the world's first V8 turbo diesel, which featured for the first time in the 740d when it was launched earlier this year in Germany to wide critical acclaim. It is a common rail, direct injection unit which produces more torque than any engine in BMW's history. Peak torque is a staggering 413 lb ft (560 Nm), which is maintained constantly between 1750 and 2500 rpm to give outstanding performance even at this low end of the rev range. Maximum power is an impressive 245 bhp. Choosing a diesel engine to power a large sports coupé is a reflection of BMW's confidence in the refinement and performance characteristics of this ground-breaking unit.