The Story of the Porsche 914

Presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show on 11 September 1969, Porsche 914 was as the first mid-engined sports car built in Germany in series production. This is the story of the Porsche 914, or VW-Porsche 914, as it was called in Europe.

The Story of the Porsche 914

In the mid-1960s, two German car manufacturers, Porsche and Volkswagen, had a similar problem. Both needed a new car model to expand their product range. Volkswagen needed a replacement for the aging Karmann Ghia, while Porsche planned to expand its lineup with a new entry-level model. So, faced with this challenge, Ferry Porsche and VW CEO Heinrich Nordhoff agreed in the spring of 1966 on a joint venture that would benefit both parties. They would create together a new car model for both of their companies.

One for Two

The story of the Porsche 914 started when Volkswagen commissioned Porsche to develop a new low-cost sports car. The car would be developed by Porsche, manufactured by Karmann, and sold as Volkswagen and Porsche. Volkswagen model would feature a four-cylinder engine, while the Porsche version would be powered by six-cylinder.

The car’s development process was progressing at a good pace when tragedy struck. VW’s CEO Heinrich Nordhoff died unexpectedly in 1968, and Kurt Lotz was appointed as the new CEO. Ferry Porsche and Heinrich Nordhoff only had a verbal agreement on the project and Lotz didn’t agree that this was a good deal for the company. He demanded that Volkswagen should get exclusive sales rights, if Porsche did not share in the car’s tooling expenses.

It Became a VW-Porsche 914

After long and hard negotiations, the companies agreed on a compromise. The name of the new car would be VW-Porsche 914, and the companies would promote it together through. A new jointly owned sales company, VW-Porsche-Vertriebsgesellschaft mbh, was established in April 1969.

The VW-Porsche 914 was presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show on September 11, 1969. At a launch, it was available in two version. The entry-level 914/4 was powered by a 1.7-litre, 80hp Volkswagen’s engine, while the 914/6 had a six-cylinder, 110hp engine from the Porsche 911 T 2.0.

A Genuine Porsche

However, the combination of the two brand names was a bit of a problem for the car’s image. In Europe, the press gave the car not-so-admiring nicknames, such as “Poor man’s Porsche” or “Volksporsche” (=People’s Porsche). Sales of the car weren’t as goof as expected. The production of the six-cylinder version ended just after few years, after only 3,341 cars produced. It was followed by 914 2.0, powered by a four-cylinder VW engine.

The four-cylinder model model, however, became a success, espcially in the US. While in Europe the car was known as VW-Porsche, in the United States it was sold through the new Porsche+Audi dealership network and marketed as a genuine Porsche (without the VW prefix). Until the end of production in the spring of 1976, almost 119,000 Porsche 914 models were produced. Most of cars were sold in the United States.

Images by Porsche