Sports car designer Porsche also known for hatching Volkswagen Beetle

EDITOR's NOTE: This is the latest in a periodic series featuring pioneers of the automotive industry.

The founder of Porsche motor cars, Ferdinand Porsche, was born in 1875 in Bohemia-Austria. (The German proper name, Porsche, is pronounced PORSH-eh, not PORSH).

Young Ferdinand seemed to be born to mechanical work. At a young age he attended Imperial Technical School at night while helping his father in his mechanical shop during the day.

In Vienna, when he turned 18, he would sneak into the local University after work to audit classes. That was the extent of his higher education because he never received an engineering degree.

Porsche joined the local carriage factory, Jakob Lohner & Co., which began building automobiles in 1896. Their first model, "System Lohner Porsche," was assembled in 1898. It was actually a carriage powered by an internal combustion engine with a series hybrid train composed of four wheel-mounted electric motors.

This was 110 years ago when such terms as "hybrid" and "electric" were first used with motor cars. The first model was shown at the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris. The 35 mph carriage broke several Austrian speed records. Porsche himself drove the winner in the Exelberg Rally in 1901.

More than 300 Lohner-Porsche vehicles were sold to the public. In 1905, Porsche was awarded the Poetting Prize as Austria's outstanding engineer.

In 1902, Ferdinand Porsche was drafted into military service. He served as a chauffeur to Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the crown prince whose assassination sparked World War I a decade later.

In 1906, Austro-Daimler recruited Porsche as its chief engineer, quite a recognition for one without a formal education. His most popular Austro-Daimler car was designed for the Prince Henry Trail in 1910. It was named after Wilhelm II Prince Heinrich. The car won several races with an 85 hp engine. It is still known as the "Prince Henry."

Porsche advanced to managing director in 1916, and he continued to build racing cars, winning 43 out of 53 races. He left the company in 1923 and landed a job with Daimler Motoren in Stuttgart, Germany. Again his racing cars dominated the circuit during the 1920s.

Ferdinand Porsche started his auto company in 1931 in the center of Stuttgart. One of the first assignments from the government was to design a car for the people, a "Volkswagen." This resulted in the Volkswagen Beetle, one of the most successful cars of all time.

During World War II, Volkswagen production turned to the military version of the Beetle. Porsche assisted in designing the Tiger tank series and the Elefant tank.

In the post-war period, Porsche returned to building the popular sports cars we know today. On Jan. 30, 1951, Ferdinand Porsche died from complications following a stroke.

As a company, Porsche is known for weathering changing market conditions with great financial stability, while retaining most production in Germany during an age when most other German carmakers have moved at least parts of their production to Eastern Europe or overseas.

Ferdinand Porsche would have it no other way.

George Spaulding is a retired General Motors executive and distinguished executive-in-residence emeritus at the School of Business and Economics at the College of Charleston. He can be reached at 2 Wharfside St. 2A Charleston SC 29401.