Divide text into logical parts and give each a suitable title. 5. Fill in the gaps with the words from the box: 


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Divide text into logical parts and give each a suitable title. 5. Fill in the gaps with the words from the box:



 

5. Fill in the gaps with the words from the box:

recovery   barriers    mports    top market    automobiles     world production    supply    exports    penetration

 

The outstanding change in the world supply of 1)______, after the postwar 2)____of European producers, was the enormous surge in Japanese 3)_____in the 1970s and 1980s. Japanese producers accounted for about a quarter of 4)____car production. If Japanese car production from overseas transplants and trade 5)_____against Japanese imports are taken into account, Japan’s share of automobile 6)______would have been even higher.1988 five Japanese manufacturers were amongst the 7)_____fifteen world producers of automobiles.

The performance of Japanese automobile 8) during the 1980s is even more extraordinary. Japanese 9)_____ was greatest in the US domestic market, while the lower share of the European 10)_______was due in large part to the non-tariff barriers and trade agreements limiting 11)______   into Europe.

 

Porsche

   Porsche AG, or just Porsche, is a German sports car manufacturer, founded in 1931 by Austrian Ferdinand Porsche, the engineer who also created the first Volkswagen. The company is located in Zuffenhausen, a city district of Stuttgart, Baden-Wurttemberg.

     History of the company. The first Porsche, the Porsche 64 of 1938, used many components from the Volkswagen Beetle. The second Porsche model and first production automobile, the Porsche 356 sports car of 1948, was built initially in Gmiind, Austria, the location to which the company was evacuated during war times, but after building forty-nine cars the company relocated to Zuffenhausen. Many regard the 356 as the first Porsche simply because it was the first model sold by the fledgling company.

Ferdinand Porsche worked with his son, Ferry Porsche, in designing the 356. Not long afterward, on January 30, 1951, Ferdinand Porsche died from complications following a stroke. The 356 automobile used components from the Beetle including its engine, gearbox, and suspension. The 356, however, had several evolutionary stages, A, B, and C, while in production and many VW parts were replaced by Porsche-made parts. The last 356s were powered by entirely Porsche-designed engines. The sleek bodywork was designed by Erwin Komenda who also had designed the body of the Beetle.

In 1963, after some success in motor-racing, namely with the Porsche 550 Spyder, the company launched the Porsche 911 another air-cooled, rear-engined sports car, this time with a 6-cylinder ‘boxer engine’. The team to lay out the body shell design was led by Ferry Porsche’s eldest son, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche (F. A.). The design phase for the 911 caused internal problems with Erwin Komenda who led the body design department until then. F. A. Porsche complained Komenda made changes to the design not being approved by him. Company leader Ferry Porsche took his son’s drawings to neighbouring body shell manufacturer Reuter bringing the design to the 1963 state. Reuter’s workshop was later acquired by Porsche (so-called Werk II). Afterward Reuter became a seat manufacturer, today known as Keiper-Recaro.

The design group gave sequential numbers to every project (356, 550, etc.) but the designated 901 nomenclature contravened Peugot’s commercial rights on all ‘xOx’ names, so it was adjusted to 911. Racing models adhered to the ‘correct’ numbering sequence: 904, 906, 908. The 911 has become Porsche’s most well-known model, successful on the race-track, in rallies, and in terms of sales. Far more than any other model, the Porsche brand is defined by the 911. It remains in production; however, after several generations of revision, current-model 911s share only the basic mechanical concept of a rear-engined, six-cylinder coupe, and basic styling cues with the original car. A cost-reduced model with the same body, but 356-derived running gear, was sold as the 912.

In 1972, the company’s legal form was changed from limited partnership to private limited company (German AG), because Ferry Porsche and his sister, Louise Piech, felt their generation members did not team up well. This led to the foundation of an executive board whose members came from outside the Porsche family, and a supervisory board consisting mostly of family members. With this change, no family members were in operational charge of the company. F. A. Porsche founded his own design company, Porsche Design, which is renowned for exclusive sunglasses, watches, furniture, and many other luxury articles. Ferdinand Piech, who was responsible for mechanical development of Porsche’s serial and racing cars, formed his own engineering bureau and developed a 5-cylinder-inline diesel engine for Mercedes-Benz. A short time later he moved to Audi and pursued his career through the entire company, up to and including, the Volkswagen Group boards.   

The first CEO of Porsche AG was Dr Ernst Fuhrmann who had been working in Porsche’s engine development. Fuhrmann was responsible for the so-called Fuhrmann-engine used in the 356 Carrera models, as well as the 550 Spyder, having four over-head camshafts instead of a central camshaft as in the Volkswagen-derived serial engines. He planned to cease the 911 during the 70s and replace it with the V8-front engined grand sportswagon 928.

In 1990, Porsche drew up a memorandum of understanding with Toyota to learn and benefit from Japanese production methods. Currently Toyota is assisting Porsche with Hybrid technology, rumored to be making its way into a Hybrid Cayenne SUV. Following the dismissal of Bonn, an interim CEO was appointed, longtime Porsche employee, Heinz Branitzki, who served in that position until Dr Wendelin Wiedeking became CEO in 1993. Wiedeking took over the chairmanship of the board at a time when Porsche appeared vulnerable to a takeover by a larger company. During his long tenure, Wiedeking has transformed Porsche into a very efficient and profitable company.

Ferdinand Porsche’s grandson, Ferdinand Piech, was chairman and CEO of the Volkswagen Group from 1993 to 2002. Today he is chairman of the supervisory board. With 12.8 per cent of the Porsche voting shares, he also remains the second largest individual shareholder of Porsche AG after his cousin, F. A. Porsche, (13.6 per cent). Porsche’s 2002 introduction of the Cayenne also marked the unveiling of a new production facility in Leipzig, Saxony, which once accounted for nearly half of Porsche’s annual output. The Cayenne Turbo S has the second most powerful production engine in Porsche’s history, with the most powerful belonging to the Carrera GT. In 2004, production of the 605 horsepower Carrera GT commenced in Leipzig, and at?450,000 ($440,000 in the United States) it was the most expensive production model Porsche ever built.

As of 2005, the extended Porsche and Pibch families controlled all of Porsche AG’s voting shares. In early October 2005, the company announced acquisition of an 18.53 % stake in Volkswagen AG and disclosed intentions to acquire additional VW shares in the future. In mid-2006, after years of the Boxster (and later the Cayenne) as the dominant Porsche in North America,

 



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