Ferdinand Porsche

Ferdinand Porsche (1875–1951) was an Austrian-German automotive engineer and designer who founded the firm that became Porsche AG and helped develop the Volkswagen Beetle.

Lohner–Porsche: An early electric and gasoline-electric vehicle developed by Ferdinand Porsche for Jacob Lohner’s company. This vehicle established Porsche’s reputation for electric wheel-hub motors and hybrid propulsion.
Wheel hub motor: An electric motor integrated into a vehicle’s wheel rather than mounted elsewhere in its drivetrain. Porsche used wheel-hub motors in early Lohner–Porsche vehicles.
Maffersdorf: A town in Bohemia, then part of Austria-Hungary, where Ferdinand Porsche was born. Porsche’s birthplace anchors his origins in the multilingual Habsburg Empire.
Volkswagenwerk: The automobile factory built in Nazi Germany to produce the Volkswagen project’s proposed mass-market car. Porsche’s design work served the state-backed factory, whose wartime production shifted to military goods.
Porsche P1: An electric vehicle designed by Ferdinand Porsche and built in 1898. The P1 was among Porsche’s earliest vehicle designs, preceding his better-known automotive work.
Hybrid vehicle: A vehicle propelled by two distinct power sources, commonly an internal-combustion engine and an electric motor. The Lohner–Porsche Mixte combined an engine-driven generator with electric wheel motors.
Jacob Lohner: An Austrian coachbuilder whose company hired Ferdinand Porsche to design electric vehicles. Lohner gave the young engineer an early opportunity to develop powered vehicles.
Nazi Germany: The dictatorship ruled by Adolf Hitler from 1933 until Germany’s defeat in 1945. The regime commissioned the Volkswagen project and made Porsche a prominent industrial figure.
Austro-Daimler: An Austrian automobile and engineering company that produced cars, trucks, and aircraft engines. Porsche led its engineering work and designed influential cars, including the Prince Henry model.
Auto Union Type C: A mid-engined Grand Prix racing car designed by Auto Union and raced in the 1930s. Porsche’s design office developed this car, which used a powerful V16 engine and rear-mounted layout.

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