Ferdinand Porsche Ferdinand Porsche Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was an automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche car company. He is best known for creating the first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle (Lohner-Porsche), the Volkswagen Beetle, the Mercedes-Benz SS/SSK, several other important developments and Porsche automobiles. An important contributor to the German war effort during World War II, Porsche was involved in the production of advanced tanks such as the VK 4501 (P), Tiger I, Tiger II, Elefant, and Panzer VIII Maus, as well as other weapon systems, including the V-1 flying bomb. Porsche was a member of the
Panzer Lehr Division this company was originally equipped with ten Tiger I tanks, and was allocated the first five of the new Tiger II tanks that are not used in Normandy since it broke down en route and been replaced by 9 Sturmgeschütz self-propelled guns, which fought at Tilly and St. Lo until destroyed, at which point the 316th Company was disbanded. The division's panzer regiment had a total complement of 208 operating tanks and assault guns (10 Panzer III, 9 StuG III, 97 Panzer IV, 86 Panthers and 6 Tigers) as of 6 June 1944 plus nine tanks and assault guns under