Ferdinand Alexander Porsche celebrates 75th anniversaary

Today, Professor Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, Honorary Chair of the Supervisory Board of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, is celebrating his 75th birthday. A genius designer, F.A. Porsche created iconic cars such as the 904 Carrera GTS, or the Porsche 911. In 1972 Ferdinand Alexander Porsche left the management of Porsche KG in order to found the “Porsche Design” Studio, achieving worldwide fame and recognition as an independent product designer.

Born in Stuttgart on the 11th of December 1935, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche is the eldest son of Dorothea and Ferry Porsche. When was only a child he was already being influenced by automobiles as he would spend a lot of his time in the design offices and development workshops of his grandfather Ferdinand Porsche. Because of Porsche’s relocation, he went to live in Austria with is family in 1943. When he came back to Stuttgart, in 1950, he passed the final school examination, the “Abitur”, at the Waldorf School, and then signed up at the College of Design in Ulm. In 1958 F.A. Porsche joined the design department of what was at that time Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche KG.

The Type 754 “T7” was the first proof of F.A. Porsche’s talent for design, as he presented to the world the first lines of what was to come after the 356 Series. In 1963, one year after he took charge of the management of the Porsche Design Studio, F.A. Porsche stormed the world with the Porsche 901 (also referred to as the 911).

F.A. Porsche also involved himself deeply in the development of racing cars during the 1960’s. The Formula One Type 804 racer or the Porsche 904 Carrera GTS were among some of his most famous designs. In fact the 904 Carrera GTS has been considered by motoring fans as one of the finest and most beautiful racing vehicles ever made.

After the Porsche KG was converted into a share company in 1971/72, F.A. Porsche and all the other family members stepped aside from the operational business of the company. Still he oversaw the development of Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG as a shareholder and member of the Supervisory Board for many years. Between 1990 and 1993 he became the Chair of the Supervisory Board. After passing the responsibility as Porsche AG Supervisory Board member to his son Oliver in 2005, F.A. Porsche became Honorary Chair of the Board.

Porsche Design Studio was founded by Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, in Stuttgart, in 1972, having been relocated to Zell am See in Austria in 1974. In the following decades, F.A. Porsche would design a wide range of classic men’s accessories, such as watches, spectacles, and writing implements, making “Porsche Design” a famous brand all over the world. In parallel with this, he and his team, using the trademark “Design by F.A. Porsche“, created a large number of industrial products, domestic appliances, and consumer goods for internationally famous clients.

In recent years the trademark “Porsche Design” has become one of the world’s leading brand names in luxury articles, with its own marketing network.