The city of Atlanta has turned down Porsche's request to name a street after Ferdinand Porsche, the company's founder, on account of his ties with the Nazi party during World War II.

The street in question leads to the area where Porsche will build its new $100 million U.S. corporate headquarters, a 26-acre facility that is located outside of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The site used to be home of a large Ford factory so the street is currently called Henry Ford II Avenue.

Unsurprisingly, Porsche does not want to build its headquarters on a street named after a member of the Ford family and the company asked the Atlanta city hall to change the name. The city code dictates that streets can only be named after people, not companies, so the "Ferdinand Porsche Avenue" was written on the application.

The city council was scheduled to discuss the matter on October 9th but someone brought up Ferdinand Porsche's Nazi past, which included working closely with Chancellor Adolf Hitler to design what would become the Beetle. The company fully acknowledges its ties to the Third Reich and Porsche's personal involvement has been widely documented by historians since the end of the second world war.

When Porsche's past was brought to light, Atlanta turned down the company's request and instead made an exception in the city code to allow the street to be renamed Porsche Avenue.

“Atlanta is known around the world for its commitment to civil rights, tolerance, and inclusion. We respect all members of our diverse community," said a spokesperson for the mayor in a statement emailed to Creative Loafing. "As such, [we] support legislation renaming 'Henry Ford II Avenue’ to 'Porsche Avenue.’ We are pleased to have Porsche’s support for this naming as we welcome the company’s North American headquarters to the City of Atlanta.”

The city council will discuss whether or not to approve the proposed name change later this month.

One could forgive Volkswagen (VOW:GR) executives for only wanting to drive their fleet of Audis, Bentleys, Porsches, and Lamborghinis. The German giant’s luxury offerings are outperforming its pedestrian passenger cars, both on roads and off.

For every Porsche it sold last year, Volkswagen booked about $23,200 in operating profit, for a margin of 18 percent, according to an annual report it released this morning. Bentley wasn’t far behind Porsche, and the Audi brand, which includes the Lamborghini badge, posted $5,200 in profit per vehicle at a 10 percent margin. That compares with an $850 return, at a 2.9 percent margin, for one of VW’s mass-market machines, such as the Jetta or Passat.



“Porsche is growing in every respect, from profitability to innovative power, right up to its motor portfolio,” Martin Winterkorn, Volkswagen’s chief executive, said on a conference call this morning.

Why might a Porsche be so much more profitable than something more pedestrian? For one thing, its customers are far less price sensitive. Drivers wealthy enough to consider such a plush ride were likely making a mint on U.S. stocks last year, regardless of where they lived. The average Beetle customer, meanwhile, may have been capturing less economic upside.

What’s more, there is less clear competition to a Porsche or a Bentley—fewer models to “cross-shop,” as car folks say—while anyone kicking the tires on a Passat can probably find a dozen similar sedans less than a mile away. Audi isn’t quite so rarefied, but the brand is making headway by simply beating its peers at BMW (BMW:GR) and Mercedes (DAI:GR).

Indeed, Volkswagen’s high-end models carried the company last year, as demand waned for its more affordable cars and it poured research dollars into retooling its big sellers. The company R&D expenses climbed 23 percent last year, sucking up almost 6 percent of revenue. A euro that steadily gained on the dollar and a shaky Continental economy didn’t help results either. The company’s total sales for 2013 ticked up only 2.2 percent, to €197 billion ($275 billion at this morning’s exchange rate), while income slid 58 percent, to €9.1 billion.

Volkswagen, however, is hoping all those research expenses will pay off this year. As it pieces together 100 new and refreshed models, the company said it may sell more than 10 million vehicles this year, vs. 9.73 million in 2013. “It is fair to say that the Volkswagen Group has proven to be in great shape despite the difficult conditions,” Winterkorn told analysts this morning.

The company is determined to top Toyota (TM) as the world’s No. 1 car seller, a feat that will require millions of Golfs and Jettas. Blue-blood offerings such as Porsche and Bentley don’t move enough metal to make much of a dent on that goal, but their financial performance at the moment is far more impressive than any volume bragging rights.

It's been nearly 18 months since Porsche broke ground on its future headquarters and driving experience center in Atlanta, Georgia, and construction is proceeding on schedule, having just reached the "topping out" phase, meaning the top of the seven-level structure has been put in place.

When complete, Porsche's new headquarters will not just house the day-to-day operations of the largest market for the luxury sports car brand, but also a wide range of customer services and activities, including classic car restoration and display, restaurants, and, of course, the Porsche Experience Center. Porsche is also planning a driving experience center for the west coast.

The Porsche Experience Center at the company's Atlanta HQ will include a 1.6-mile track, as well as special areas for testing specific traits of both car and driver.

Porsche says the total investment in the new headquarters totals about $100 million. When complete, there will be approximately 230,000 square feet of interior space, 14,000 square feet of exterior terraces, and parking for 650 cars.

The building itself will require 3,000 trucks' worth of concrete (27,000 cubic yards), as well as 500 tons of steel. The whole structure (three levels below ground, four levels above) sits on 650 deep foundation piles drilled to an average depth of 60 feet.

For the track, the main job so far has been moving dirt to form the layout--the paving and safety barrier construction will happen relatively quickly. To date, Porsche has moved more than 15,000 dump trucks' worth of dirt, a total of 225,000 cubic yards.

Porsche expects the project to be substantially completed by the end of 2014, though we'll see the track reach the paving stage by August and the headquarters building skin completed as early as September.

Remember the 2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed? If you're a Porsche fan you probably do, because the event celebrated the 50th anniversary of the brands iconic 911 in a major way. British artist Gerry Judah created a soaring monument to the beloved machine, which stood high over the heads of those in attendance at Goodwood. Porsche clearly loved the piece, because they've commissioned Judah to create a more permanent version right in Zuffenhausen.

The new piece is called Inspiration 911, and it is pretty similar to the original one placed in Goodwood. Here Judah has affixed three different examples of the 911 atop three massive pillars. The pillars run 78 feet into the sky. Up in the air sits a 1970 911, a 1981 911, and the current 991 911.

This work of Porsche art sits on the grounds of the Porscheplatz, which is also the location of the assembly line that produced the first 911 back in 1963. Today, a Porsche Museum stands on the grounds, and now this towering monument pays homage to the vehicle that moves the brand forward.

Sports car manufacturer Porsche from today will be led by Oliver Blume. The 47-year-old was previously in charge of production and logistics and was promoted to the top job following last week’s announcement that Matthias Müller, Blume’s predecessor, is to lead the Volkswagen Group following CEO Martin Winterkorn’s resignation in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal.

Blume takes over Porsche at a crucial time. Not only will he have to deal with any fallout from the emissions scandal of Porsche’s Volkswagen Group parent, but he will also have to oversee the investment of more than a billion dollars in current production sites over the next five years.

For example, Porsche is upgrading its main plant in Zuffenhausen, Germany to handle production of all its sports cars. It will mean that not only will all 911 and Boxster cars come off the assembly line there, but also Cayman models starting next summer.

Other management reshuffles at Porsche include the promotion of Porsche’s former U.S. chief Detlev von Platen to head of sales and marketing. In addition, Porsche’s former finance chief Lutz Meschke has been reassigned to deputy CEO.

Porsche has announced that its forthcoming 2017 Porsche 911 Carrera and Carrera S will support Apple's CarPlay platform. According to Moto Trend (via AppleInsider), Porsche selected CarPlay over Android Auto because under the agreement of partnering with Google, certain amounts of data would have been sent to the search giant.

Some of this data would have included vehicle speed, throttle position, and engine revs, all points of information that would constantly be flowing back to Google's headquarters each time a driver gets in the car. Comparatively, all Apple's CarPlay requires to know is whether the car is accelerating while the system is being used.

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Originally Posted by Porsche

There's no technological reason the 991/2 doesn't have Android Auto playing through its massively upgraded PCM system. But there is an ethical one. As part of the agreement an automaker would have to enter with Google, certain pieces of data must be collected and mailed back to Mountain View, California. Stuff like vehicle speed, throttle position, coolant and oil temp, engine revs—basically Google wants a complete OBD2 dump whenever someone activates Android Auto. Not kosher, says Porsche.

Porsche's reasoning behind the decision points to not wanting to share the information with Google that could include the ingredients to its "secret sauce that makes its cars special," along with the fact that Google is reportedly building its own car at the moment. A few other vehicle manufacturers have announced support for CarPlay, but the service is just this year beginning to see a wider release despite being announced -- as "iOS in the Car" -- over two years ago.

The Porsche buffet is open to you for a monthly fee. Insurance, taxes, maintenance and delivery included.

Porsche builds a wide array of really excellent cars, and if you're not limited too much by budget, it can be hard to just pick one to own or lease. But for people in Atlanta, a choice may not be necessary. Porsche is launching a program called Porsche Passport, a subscription-based service that allows members to drive different Porsches for different needs or preferences. It's on-demand Porsche ownership.

The service, which is beginning its pilot in Atlanta, is available in two tiers, "Launch" and "Accelerate." Launch is the more affordable choice at $2,000 a month, and it offers eight variants of the 718 Boxster, 718 Cayman, Macan and Cayenne to choose from. Accelerate ups the price to $3,000 per month, but it offers a choice of 22 variants including the four models from Launch, as well as the 911 and the Panamera. Some of the variants are higher-performance versions of Launch cars.

Now, even $2,000 a month can be a big jump from simply leasing a Porsche. A base-model 718 Cayman can be leased for as low as $648 a month for 36 months with a 10 percent down payment and a 15,000 mile-per-year mileage cap. The same terms applied to a base 911 still comes out less at $1,152. But the subscription offers some additional perks to sweeten the deal.

The monthly fee includes access to the cars, insurance and taxes. Maintenance is also covered by the fee, and Porsche will clean and deliver cars directly to you. All a person has to do is select the car, location and time of delivery on the program's app. Members can change their cars as many times as they want, and there are no mileage caps. This flexibility could even allow a member to not own a car at all. That person could use a Cayman or 911 on a daily basis, and switch to a Cayenne for moving or carrying around people. Plus maintenance wouldn't be an issue, and there would never be a fear of driving too far and accruing fees. It may not be for everyone, but it's easy to see why someone would be interested.