Ferdinand Porsche Descendant is Starting a New Sports Car Company

Ground Up

Starting a car company from scratch is obviously one of the most difficult endeavors a human could ever attempt. But when you're the great-grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, perhaps it's a little easier. And that's exactly what Porsche's heir, Anton “Toni” Piëch, has set out to do with his new Swiss startup, Piëch Automotive.

Photos Courtesy of Piëch Automotive.

Total Disruption

Forbes recently spoke with the young heir to find out just how he plans to pull off this ambitious plan, and needless to say, it's quite fascinating. It all started four years ago when Piëch teamed up with Rea Stark Rajcic, an industrial designer, both determined to disrupt the automotive industry.

Photos Courtesy of Piëch Automotive

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Light and Nimble

“We are living in a disruptive time,” Piëch told Forbes. “This gives potential advantage to newcomers over existing players.” Those advantages include the fact that they don't need to invest in some mega expensive research and development facility, at least not right away.

Photos Courtesy of Piëch Automotive

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Simple yet Revolutionary

After a lot of soul searching, the duo decided to form Piëch Automotive, named after Anton’s father, Ferdinand Piëch, who was also the legendary chairman for Volkswagen at one time. And their first idea for a production vehicle is nearly as simple and revolutionary as the original Beetle.

Photos Courtesy of Piëch Automotive

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Timeless Creation

The duo wanted to build a performance electric car that was both timeless and cutting-edge, something that arguably doesn't exist today. Except, perhaps, until the Porsche Taycan comes along. They also realized that the luxury end of the market was the most logical for this project.

Photos Courtesy of Piëch Automotive

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Open and Flexible

That's because the duo wanted to build an open and modular platform, with swappable motors, batteries, and software, along with a flexible chassis that could be fitted with all sorts of powertrains. And that's obviously expensive to do. 

Photos Courtesy of Piëch Automotive

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Fast and Beautiful

That plan came to fruition at the 2019 Geneva Auto Show, when the company unveiled its first concept - the Mark Zero. The traditional looking GT combines timeless sports car lines with three electric motors that offer up a combined 611 horsepower. That's good enough for a 3.2-second 0-60 and 155 mph top speed.

Photos Courtesy of Piëch Automotive

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Familiar DNA

Perhaps more importantly, the car's innovative battery pack can reportedly be recharged to 80% capacity in 4 minutes and 40 seconds - which would obviously be a game changer. The Mark Zero goes on sale in 2022 for around $150,000-$200,000. And if you squint hard enough, you might even see a little bit of Porsche DNA mixed in there, too.

Photos Courtesy of Piëch Automotive

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