AUTO PAST. How the Porsche 911 got its name

For five decades, the Porsche 911 has been viewed as the most iconic sports car. And it has been the centrepiece of the Porsche brand.

More than 820,000 units of the 911 have been produced in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen since its debut in 1963. No other sports car in the world has ever been so well-received by automobile enthusiasts. And no other sports car has ever won so many races. Porsche is taking this iconic sports car into the future with what is now the seventh generation of the 911, internally called the 991.

But, how did this three-digit numeric moniker be chosen for Porsche?

When deciding on the name for the new model, Porsche initially based their choice on the Volkswagen spare part number ranges. In view of possible future cooperation with the VW plant, the new Porsche was to be compatible with the number ranges used by the former. As the 900 numbers had not yet been allocated in Wolfsburg (VW’s HQ) the decision-makers at Porsche chose 901 for the six-cylinder version and 902 for a subsequent four-cylinder car. On 12th September 1963 Porsche presented the prototype of the 901 at the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt. However, there was still work to be done before the vehicle was ready for series production and another year passed until the Porsche engineers had developed the 901 from the prototype phase to production readiness. The car was then officially launched on the market in October 1964.

In September 1964, the Porsche 901 was presented at the Paris Motor Show, a very important platform for the European market. However, the show caused an unexpected problem for Porsche. Later, at the beginning of October 1964, the astonished Porsche management received an objection from the French car manufacturer Peugeot which indicated that the type name 901 was in violation of French copyright and trademark protection laws.

This initially puzzled Porsche management since the model name that they traditionally based on the relevant design number had been rigorously researched by the development department for the Type 901 as well. Just one German lorry producer used the name 901, which was not viewed as a problem for Porsche. But Peugeot staked its claim, saying that they had been using three-digit numbers with a zero in the middle since 1929 and therefore owned the legal rights to all similar number sequences in France.

Porsche had no other option but to rename the 901 right in the middle of the model launch phase. On 22nd November 1964, after considering many different options including using an affix such as “GT”, Ferdinand (Ferry) Porsche decided to rename the vehicle “Type 911”. The decision was based on practical considerations. Brochures, price lists and manuals as well as the type number on the rear and on the glove compartment lid were already being finalised, meaning that using the typeface already created for the number “1” twice was the simplest solution. There was just not enough time to create a new number, let alone completely new lettering. In 1964, no one could have guessed that this 911 emergency solution would one day become world-famous.

The 911 name is now synonymous with the car and its exceptional versatility, like Ferry Porsche said “The 911 is the only car that you can drive from an African safari to Le Mans, then to the theatre and onto the streets of New York.”

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