Porsche 2007 Annual Report Download - page 74

sum of 10 million Euro. The logo above the en-
trance to the hall shows the red Porsche word-
mark, combined with the dynamical silhouette of
the arenain metallic gray. The “Porsche Arena”
has also been the venue of the stockholders’ annual
general meeting since January 2007.
Few brands enjoy Porsche’s high degree of asso-
ciation with sport and performance. This is why
Porsche’s involvement in sport goes even further.
For example, Porsche supports the “Bietigheim
Steelers” ice hockey team in Bietigheim-Bissingen,
where several of the Company’s subsidiaries are
based. The ambitious team played in the second
German national league in the year under review.
Cultural commitment with a purpose
Porsche maintains its traditional patronage of cul-
ture and literature by supporting the German Lite-
rary Archive in Marbach. In the year under review,
Porsche acquired a valuable hand-written docu-
ment, the “Stefan Manuscript” by the cultural theo-
rist and author Walter Benjamin from the Stuttgart
antiquarian Herbert Blank, and donated it to the
literary archive. In September 2008, Porsche also
arranged a reading by the actor and director Vadim
Glowna. He read excerpts from “Berlin Childhood
around 1900” in Marbach to an audience of 300.
The book, Benjamin’s most famous work, was pub-
lished in 1950 on the basis of the “Stefan Manu-
script”, ten years after the death of the great cul-
tural theorist. Back in 2001, Porsche had already
acquired the reconstructed library of Franz Kafka
from Herbert Blank in order to donate it to the
Franz Kafka Society of Prague.
Porsche was happy to be voted “Language Custodi-
an of the Year” by a reader’s poll held by the “Deut-
sche Sprachwelt” (“German-speaking World”) maga-
zine. The magazine's readers were impressed by
the sports car manufacturer’s commitment to re-
taining German as the official corporate language.
In contrast to other internationally active German
companies, thinking and talking in German has
strong roots in Zuffenhausen and Weissach. Por-
sche is in good company in holding this distinction.
In previous years, the award was given to Pope
Benedict XVI, the poet Reiner Kunze and the distin-
guished singer Edda Moser.
Porsche Museum almost complete
Construction of the new Porsche Museum at the com-
pany’s headquarters in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen is very
nearly finished. Visitors will in future gain their first
impression of the fascination of the Porsche brand
as soon as they enter the foyer. In addition to infor-
mation, a restaurant, a coffee bar and the museum
shop, they will be able to take a look at the museum
work-shop for historical vehicles. This is where cus-
tomer vehicles are taken care of by experts, and the
more than 300 museum vehicles are prepared for
their international driving assignments as a “traveling
museum”.
By putting all exhibits on the road, the 80 vehicles
on show in the new museum will be in a constant
state of flux. Porsche fans will therefore be able
to view different rarities each time they visit the
museum. The common thread of the exhibitions
will be the chronologically organized history of
Porsche’s products. Themed arrangements will
also highlight the most significant vehicles,
racing classes and technological innovations
of Porsche. As a third aspect, small exhibits
will give visitors an impression of the unmistak-
able character of the brand. The new Porsche
museum serves as a venue for both exhibitions
and events. With its generously designed confe-
rence rooms and exclusive catering, it can also
be used for conferences and is available on a
very flexible basis outside regular Museum open-
ing hours, too.
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Jelena Jankovic, the winner
of the Tennis Grand Prix
was congratulated at the
award ceremony by
Dr. Wendelin Wiedeking and
Dr. Wolfgang Porsche.