Category: Porsche

Butzi celebrated his 70th birthday yesterday. Why should this be noteworthy when he’s neither the first nor the last to celebrate his 70th birthday? As he retired from all professional involvement in the past few months, it’s an opportunity to look back over a career dominated by the Porsche 911.

Whereas his grandfather, Ferdinand and his father, Ferry were both engineers, Butzi was the first member of the Porsche family to attend courses at Ulm School of Design. This apprenticeship had a deep influence on the young Butzi. At that time in order to emphasize continuity with its pre-war pre-eminence in progressive modern design with the Bauhaus, Germany developed a simple, functionalist style which embraced both cars and household goods. Ferdinand uses the “ form following function “ concept in all his designs as he says himself: “ Design must be functional and functionality must be translated into visual aesthetics, without any reliance on gimmicks that have to be explained. “

After his graduation, he worked under the influence of Erwin Komenda, the engineer who had designed all Porsches since the beginning of the 1930s. His talent emerged with the 911 project. Porsche wanted to replace the 356. Heinrich Kie -who created the modeling department in 1951- was in charge of the project with the help of the American stylist Albert Goetz. Butzi who was happy to come to the office with his father when he was a small boy was going to give the best gift to Porsche: a legend. Thanks to his success he was promoted head of the design studio in 1962 but was be obliged to quit ten years later after a family’s dispute.

Enthusiastic, he creates his own studio “Porsche Design”and like Rieter Rams at Braun he applied the Neo-Bauhaus style to a wide range of products from pens to watches sold under the Porsche brand. Coming back to the supervisory board in the 1990s, he founded a new company with the help of Porsche and some Porsche Design shareholders. The aim of this new company was to pursue the Porsche Design mission with the help of Porsche.

Derived from the Boxster, the Cayman is meant by Porsche to reach a wider audience. To do so, the Stuttgart-based carmaker has paid great attention to practicality, fitting its new car with 2 boots, the total capacity of which is claimed to be more important than a BMW 330i’s.

Weighing the same as a Boxster S or so, the Cayman S is propelled by a 3.4-liter flat-six cylinder engine producing 295bhp and 250 lb-ft, allowing it to reach a top speed of 171 mph and accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 5.1 sec, with the standard manual 6-gear box. With the optional Tiptronic transmission, it’ll take 0.7 sec more.

Standard equipment includes a PSM stability control system and 18-inch wheels, whereas 19-inch wheels, PASM damping system and Ceramic brakes remain optional. If fitted with these last 3 items, the Cayman S is said to be faster around a track than a 911.

The Cayman S will go on sale in the UK on November 26 at a basic price of £43,930. Cheaper versions should come later.