As an automotive designer and founding father of the present-day Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, Professor Ferdinand Porsche (1875-1951) is considered to be one of the leading engineers of his day. He made automotive history with vehicles such as the Austro Daimler “Sascha” (1922), the Mercedes-Benz S-Types (1926) or the Auto Union Grand Prix-racing car (1933) and the Volkswagen “Beetle” (1934).
The name Porsche has been associated with pioneering innovations in automotive engineering since the beginning of the last century. In 1900 Ferdinand Porsche unveiled his “Lohner Porsche”, an electric car with wheel-hub drive and soon after this car featured all-wheel drive and four-wheel brakes, another world first. A highlight of his early years as an automotive designer was the Lohner-Porsche “Semper Vivus” that went down in history 111 years ago as the first functional hybrid car.
Porsche’s reconstruction of the “Semper Vivus” is a tribute to this visionary invention by Ferdinand Porsche. The ful