Ferdinand Porsche, automaker's founder

Ferdinand Porsche Jr., who helped his father develop the Volkswagen Beetle before World War II and later founded the sports car firm that bears his name, died Friday at age 88.

Mr. Porsche died surrounded by family at their vacation home in the resort town of Zell am See, the company's Salzburg office said.

Born in Vienna in 1909, Mr. Porsche was involved in cars from childhood, driving his own small auto at age 10.

The family moved to Stuttgart, Germany, where his father, Ferdinand, became a board member and technical director at Daimler Motoren AG.

The elder Porsche founded his own automobile workshop in 1931 and the son, known as "Ferry," was his right-hand man, helping with the development of the Volkswagen, or "people's car." The first prototype left the family's garage in 1936.

The cornerstone for the first VW plant was laid two years later, supervised by a beaming Adolf Hitler. But during the war, automobile production was suspended in favor of tanks and other armaments.

The younger Porsche's heart remained with race cars, however. One year after the war ended, he began in Gmund, Austria, to put together by hand the first car to bear the Porsche name.

The Porsche 356, initially based on Volkswagen parts, was an immediate hit, and another plant for series production was built in Stuttgart, where the firm is based today.

The two carmakers still have a family connection: Mr. Porsche's nephew, Ferdinand Piech, is chairman at VW.

Porsche is the epitome of sports cars and a prestige symbol of German engineering.