Re: Making Audi A Player

[Mark Nelson <mnelson@brls.com>]

For those unfamiliar with Porsche's involvement with Audi and Auto Union
in the early days, I will give a VERY brief rundown.

Dr. Ferdinand Porsche originally worked for Daimler Benz, before going
to Auto Union (now known as Audi) and designed many electrical powered
cars for Daimler Benz.  Porsche moved to Auto Union after some
disagreements with Benz and began working on high performance cars that
were used in racing.  He designed and built several different roadsters
for Auto Union, one of which my father owned and just sold to the
Imperial Palace in Las Vegas,  which many owners used for hill climbs
and other local races.

Porsche later on during WWI and WWII was forced to start making tanks,
and armored vehicles for the German army, where during that time he was
imprisoned.  During this time is when he also began to develop and built
the VW Beetle "People's car," and was selling those as fast as he could
make them.  After WWII, in 1948 he went about designing one of the most
well-known cars 356-001, and thus the Porsche legacy began.

To jump ahead in time, the Piech family who owns VW bought Porsche in
the mid/late seventies and they were really the ones that helped Porsche
be successful during the seventies and early eighties, until the Porsche
family bought back Porsche in the late '80's.  The Porsche Horizontally
opposed 4-cylinder (used in the 356, 912, 914, 924) is very similar to
the 4-cylinder that was put in the VW beetle.  Many of the components
used between VW and Porsche were common to both cars.

There has been a lot of development that each company shares, and Audi
actually was the one to help Porsche most recently in the development of
the 959 drivetrain, Carrera 4 drivetrain, and the '96 + turbo
drivetrain.  VW was actually the company that built the Porsche 924 and
944 for Porsche.

This is a VERY brief overview of the work Porsche has done with VW.
Hope this helps.

Best Regards,

Mark Nelson

'87 5KTQ
'91 CQ (building into SCCA pro-rally car)

From: jeffw@smoe.org (Jeff Wasilko)
Date: Wed, 15 Jan 1997 22:58:25 -0500
Subject: Re: Making Audi A Player

"George S Achorn III" writes:
> 	Most of my experience is with the Autohause establishments in the
> Harrisburg and Lancaster areas of PA. They both have Audi, VW and Porsche,
> and the mix is very complimentary. All bases are covered between the three,
> except maybe trucks. When you walk into the dealership there is a great
> feel of German heritage in engineering. As you walk through the showroom
> you can check out an A8, 911 Turbo, or a Jetta Trek. They have a huge

I realize that Audi and VW are closely tied at the corporate
level these days, but just exactly what is the relationship?

How does Porsche fit in to the picture (or don't they)?

I second your feelings about dealing with a dedicated dealership.
I've got my A4 on order from Pass & Wiesz, which is a Audi/Porsche 
dealership owned by an older gentleman from the 'old country'.

Jeff

- -97 A4 1.8Tq on order (and I want it now, WAAAHHHH!)