Porsche 2014 Annual Report Download - page 23

042 043 Annual Report Porsche AG 2014
NEW BUILDINGS, NEW OPPORTUNITIES
In the new studio, Michael Mauer, Vice
President Style Porsche, is showing o
one of the successful innovations for
2014. “The 911 Targa has an unmistak-
able and timeless design that skillfully
blends the historical attributes of the origi-
nal 1963 Targa with modern functional
style elements,” he explains. “It contains
the brand’s design DNA, which evolves
with each new vehicle we make.” The new
design studio represents an ideal working
environment. Vehicle design in all stages
has been brought under one roof, mean-
ing the various departments of the design
team, previously spread out in dierent
buildings, are now closer to one another.
The immediate benet is clear: the lines
of communication are shorter. “Designs
can be presented and discussed quickly –
an important step forward in our creative
work,” Mauer notes.
The new wind tunnel is located directly next
to the Design Centre. Michael Pfadenhauer,
Director Aerodynamics/Thermal-Manage-
ment: “The demands put on this technical
area have grown immensely in recent
years.” The 918Spyder is the current
zenith of that development. “Its active
aerodynamics allow for extreme fuel
eciency and maximum performance at
the press of a button – characteristics
that, before this car, had seemed mutually
exclusive,” Pfadenhauer elaborates. “The
supercar is also equipped with a thermal
management system comprised of ve
separate cooling circuits and seven air
heat exchangers to maintain optimal
conditions whatever the driving situation –
a massive challenge.”
The links between exterior design and
aerodynamics are of course especially
tight, so those two buildings feature
direct linking passageways – promoting
greater exibility among employees and
conferencing options, but also allowing
models and prototypes to be transported
away from the eyes of the public: what
is dreamed up on the one side can be
tested condentially on the other.
“That’s another strength of the EZW,”
Michael Mauer says. “We can work behind
closed doors here and without distraction.
This keeps our projects more condential,
Example 3: The sporty all-wheel drive
also originated in the Weissach Develop-
ment Centre. Here the 959 once again
comes into play. It was the rst all-wheel
vehicle with sensors monitoring the driv-
ing conditions to distribute the engine’s
power variably between the front and rear
axle using a stageless electronic dier-
ential lock. This technology proved a big
success: in 1986, the 959 claimed rst
place in the Paris-Dakar rally. Two years
later, the rst production car using the all-
wheel drive came on the market, the 911
Carrera 4 (964). Porsche has continued
to rene the concept ever since. The next
High-tech wind tunnel for
energy-ecient aerodynamics:
Michael Pfadenhauer in front of the
high-performance turbines. The
fans are eight metres in diameter,
with ultra-lightweight carbon blades
capable of producing wind speeds
of up to 300 km/h.
Porsche Active Aerodynamics (PAA) on
the 918 Spyder: cooling air hatches,
front diuser and a rear wing can all be
adjusted to the specic driving mode.
stage of innovation involves all-wheel drive
with electric motor support, as embodied
by the 911 GT3 R Hybrid, 918Spyder
and 919 Hybrid.
Rolling laboratories drive technology for-
ward, pushing it to its limits and rening
it. The Weissach Development Centre
works like a supercomputer. Complicated
issues are fed into it – comprehensive
answers are returned. The result is
always: the best sports cars in the world,
for motorsports and for the “Engineered
in Weissach” lines.
The Development Centre is always
reinventing itself as well, staying abreast
of the latest technology and scientic
insights. Weissach features cutting-edge
technology. The 2014 operating year saw
Porsche open a new design studio in a
high-concept architectural design and an
aeroacoustic wind tunnel. Factoring in
the Electronics Integration Centre (EIZ)
that opened in 2013, the company has
invested more than 150 million euro in
expanding and refurbishing the Develop-
ment Centre. After all, if you want to build
cars and push envelopes, then you have
to be capable of the kind of research that
pushes limits.
Technology
and Innovation