Porsche

Germany has been quite the strong force when it comes to globally competitive car brands, with the Volkswagen indispensably topping the list. Next to that is the Porsche, which has also been gaining a lot of ground in the worldwide market ever since its release.

As an automotive company, the car brand of Porsche is actually just the simplified name to what is known as the Porsche AG, which, in turn, is also the simplified version of the name known as Dr. Ing hcF Porsche AG. Porsche has definitely become quite the mainstay, especially when it comes to the arena of sports cars.

Interestingly, Porsche does have something in common with its fellow German automaker Volkswagen. In fact, the founder and original designer of Porsche is actually the same Austrian car engineer who developed the first ever model released by Volkswagen. This is precisely why you get to see the same striking features amongst the models of these two car brands. Of course, it is not really that hard to find the influences of renowned car engineer and designer Ferdinand Porsche.

One of the strongest selling sports car brands in the global market, Porsche does have its fair share of direct competitors and interestingly, most of these are comprised of German sports car brands as well. These car brands include the BMW, the Mercedes-Benz, and the Audi. Outside the German forefront, Porsche cars have also been matched against Ferrari cars, too. The good news is that there are actually a lot of people - critics and consumers alike - who find the features and characteristics of Porsche cars somewhat better than those of Ferrari models. And to sweeten the pot even more, Porsche cars are not priced as high as their Ferrari counterparts - another plus to the already strong force that is Porsche.

Just how popular is the Porsche brand today? Proof of its popularity could be the brand's achievements topping today's surveys and world charts. Just this May 2006, for starters, Porsche was actually awarded the title of "Most Prestigious Vehicle Brand" by the yearly car purchase survey of the Luxury Institute, which is based in New York.
And just in the same year, Porsche was also given the Nameplate Initial Quality by JD Power & Associates, an industry research group that conducted a study on globally viewed top car brands.

There have even been talks of Porsche being strong enough to acquire Volkswagen. However, these talks have been dispelled - for now, that is - because the people behind Porsche believe they need not a cquire the company to gain some leverage in the market. They are doing this quite well on their own.