Dr Wolfgang Porsche speech

Ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, dear friends. The stars of the automotive brand Porsche were quite unusual and exciting. Ferdinand and my father Ferry took us to a little hamlet in Austria, in Carinthia, where we found shelter in a woodworking company. Not far from our residence at the time, it was easily accessible by my father. 'What do you have to do? You just have to scale Austria's biggest mountain,' and I was allowed to experience that powering term-time close up, either on the back bench or as his co-pilot going over the Grossglockner. To be honest, it was quite testing, because in the hairpins I sometimes felt ill and soon wanted to take over the steering myself. Those test drives on sandy roads with steep inclines became an important chapter of automotive history as the birthplace of the Porsche car brand. We take the age of June 1948, when the very first Porsche 356 with license plate number one received its road registration in Carinthia. That history is a modern fairytale. Here today at the Porsche Museum, we are in one of the most beautiful automobile museums, surrounded by the brick buildings of factory number one and two and the Porsche Center, with that impressive artifact outside. We are building a plant within a plant right now for the first fully electric Porsche since the dawn of my grandfather's company over a hundred years ago. After everything I've heard, it's obvious to me this first electric Porsche of the modern age has a lot more to offer than just batteries. It brings together the experience, essence, and knowledge of 70 years of sports car construction. My family has made a major contribution to this. My brother F.A. was major to the 911 success after the 356, and my brothers and I were operative. I myself tested the 356 in the garden of our villa in Stuttgart to see if it was fit for youngsters. So 70 years of Porsche sports cars means for me not just the 356 I never knew, but also the 550 Spyder, the 904, the 930 Turbo, the 959, Carrera GT, and of course the 918 hybrid. This lineage stands for 70 years of exclusiveness, efficiency, performance, and driving in its most beautiful form. Hardly any car brand can look back on such an intensive, thrilling 70 years. The quality of Porsche was not a given; it was not handed over. The brand had to go through crises in the 70s through changing conditions or wrong management decisions. But Porsche always emerged strengthened from these crises, took the right decisions, and managed to kindle the demand and love of our customers. We all consider ourselves an extended family. Today I will not go through all the historic legends of my grandfather or father. After 70 years, I look at the current day. Our Porsche 919 Hybrid is the most successful hybrid race car, three-time Le Mans winner, countless victories. In its open version it's even faster than a Formula One car. Recently our 911 GT3 RS won the 24 hours of the Nürburgring, underlining that Porsche has by far the most 24-hour race wins of any manufacturer. Personally, I am proud that our race cars are designed and built here in Stuttgart in our development center. My father Ferry once said, 'The last car ever to be built will be a sports car.' Today, 70 years after the first registration, it will be a Porsche. Thank you very much.