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Aaerwinkomenda

Erwin Komenda (April 6, 1904 - August 22, 1966) was the designer of the bodies for the VW Beetle and various Porsche sports cars.

He was born in Weyer, a little village in Upper Austria near Steyr. From 1926 to 1929 he worked as a car-body designer in the Steyrer factories. There he met Ferdinand Porsche in 1929 when Porsche joined as technical director of the Steyrer factory. In 1929 Komenda's innovative ideas landed him the post of Chief Engineer for Daimler-Benz in Sindelfingen (Germany), a position he held until 1931. During his tenure he managed in most cases to reduce the weight of Mercedes cars through better design. During that period Mercedes also developed a streamlined car with monocoque construction. In October 1931, Komenda resigned his most respectable job with Mercedes and joined Ferdinand Porsche's new company, a step into an unknown future.

From 1931 to his death in 1966 Komenda was chief engineer and leader of the Porsche car-body-construction department.

Komenda developed the car body construction of the VW Beetle, the most built car body of the last century. He designed with his co-worker Josef Mickl the famous Auto Union Grand Prix car and the Cisitalia Grand Prix car.

After World War II Porsche was (for a short time) headquartered in Gmünd in Austria, where Komenda and Ferry Porsche designed the first Porsche sports car, the Porsche type 356. Further 356 variations and developments followed, including the 356 Porsche speedster. Komenda also worked out the design of the Porsche 550 Spyder. Due to his early death his last work for the Porsche company was with the development of the Porsche 911.

See Also[]

Porsche 550 3
PORSCHE

Volkswagen Group


Volkswagen | Audi | SEAT | Škoda | Bentley | Bugatti | Lamborghini | Ducati | Porsche


Recent/Current/Future:

911 · Boxster · Cayenne · Cayman · Panamera · Macan · Taycan

Historic:

Prewar: 64 · 114 · Type 128 · Type 166 · Lohner-Porsche Mixte Hybrid

1940s-1950s: 356/1 · 356 · 360 · 550 Spyder · 718 RS / F2 / F1 · Type 597

1960s-1970s: 356 · 695 · 804 F1 · 904 · 906 · 907 · 908 · 909 · 910 · 911 · 912 · 914 · 918 · 924 · 928 · 930 · 934 · 935 · 936 · FLA

1980s-1990s: 911 · 942 · 944 · 953 · 956 · 959 · 89 P · 961 · 964 · 968 · WSC-95 Spyder · 987 · 989 · 911 GT1

2000s-2010s Carrera GT · GT3 Cup S . 918 Spyder . 911

911 Generations:

901 · 964 · 993 · 996 · 997 · 998 · 991 · 992

911 Variants:

Turbo · Targa · GT2 · GT2 RS · GT3 · GT3 RS · GT3 R · Speedster . R

Special

928GTE · 928 Study H50

Racing

RS Spyder · Cayenne S Transsyberia · 804 · 904 · 906 · 907 · 908 · 909 · 910 · 917 · 935 · 936 · 956 · 962 · 953 · 961 · 911 GT3 RSR · 911 GT3 R Hybrid · 356 B Carrera GTL Abarth · 911 GT3 Cup ·919 Hybrid ·911 RSR (2017) ·911 RSR-19 · 963

Concept Cars:

114 · 356/1 · 695 · 901 · 916 · 918 · FLA · 959 Prototype · 942 · 969 · Panamericana · 989 · Varrera · Boxster Concept · Carrera GT Concept · E2 · 918 Spyder Concept · Tapiro Concept · 918 RSR Concept · Mision E


Ferdinand Porsche · Ferry Porsche · Butzi Porsche · Erwin Komenda · Ferdinand Piech · Porsche Design Group · PASM · Porsche Museum · Porsche Supercup · TechArt · RUF Automobile


Ferdinand Porsche Corporate website A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group



External links[]

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