Visionary with oversight and advice: Dr. Wolfgang Porsche turns 80
Porsche congratulates its long-standing Chairman of the Supervisory Board
Stuttgart. “The Porsche myth lives and will never perish!” – Dr. Wolfgang Porsche made this legendary promise to the Porsche team in Zuffenhausen in July 2009 and gave them confidence in difficult times. Today, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Porsche AG is celebrating his 80th birthday and can see himself confirmed: Porsche is successfully listed on the stock exchange, has quickly entered the DAX stock index, and has repeatedly achieved record sales, revenue and earnings in recent years thanks to an extremely robust business model. The transformation towards electric mobility is also proceeding according to plan. This is all not least thanks to the person now celebrating his 80th birthday, who has chaired the sports car manufacturer’s Supervisory Board since 2007. He is spending his birthday today as a member of the Supervisory Board at the Annual General Meeting of the Volkswagen Group in Berlin. He seeks to be elected there for another five years. In addition, he also has a seat on the Supervisory Boards of Porsche Holding SE and Audi AG.
For Porsche employees, “WoPo” is an institution and has been an anchor point for all the many years. Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche, calls him “a likeable identification figure for whom work is a vocation”. He is the face of the company for the many Porsche enthusiasts and customers all over the world. In the USA and Japan in particular, he enjoys a special reputation among the large Porsche fan base. For his part, he also always wants to be close to the global Porsche community, where he really feels at home.
Porsche’s success story is closely linked to the sports car icon 911. The same is also true for Dr. Wolfgang Porsche. He accompanied the development of the 911 from the very beginning. At the celebration for the production of the one millionth 911 on 11 May 2017, he recalled: “I was allowed go on the first drives on the Grossglockner High Alpine Road together with my father. I still enjoy this feeling in a 911 just like back then. Thanks to the 911, the core values of our brand are as visionary today as they have been since the first Porsche 356 ‘Nr.1’ Roadster from 1948.”
The 911 is also celebrating an anniversary this year – it will be 60 years old. The legendary 911 has long since become part of an attractive and highly athletic product family. In addition to sports cars with combustion engines, this now also includes plug-in hybrids and – with the Taycan – all-electric vehicles. Porsche intends to deliver at least 80 per cent of its sports cars to its customers as fully electric vehicles in 2030. Dr. Wolfgang Porsche has also become an avowed electric enthusiast. At the same time, he supports Porsche’s investments in the development and production of e-fuels because he sees them as a useful addition for the more than 1.3 billion vehicles with combustion engines worldwide.
Dr. Wolfgang Porsche, who describes himself as an “Austrian Swabian”, still likes to drive “up the Grossglockner High Alpine Road at half-past six in the morning” – always looking ahead. This is typical for him, as Oliver Blume knows from their long-standing collaboration: “Wolfgang Porsche has always been more of a visionary than a controller. He is an important pillar on our way to shaping the exclusive and sustainable mobility of tomorrow. We wish him all the best on his birthday and above all, of course, good health. On behalf of the entire Porsche team, we would like to thank him for his great trust. We are looking forward to continuing Porsche’s success story together with him.”
