Who designed the exterior of the original Porsche 911?

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche designed the exterior of the original Porsche 911.

The car began life as the Porsche 901, the planned successor to the 356. Ferdinand Alexander Porsche—often called “Butzi”—was Ferry Porsche’s eldest son and led the design work that established the new car’s distinctive fastback shape, slim pillars and rounded front end. The prototype was shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 1963, and a naming dispute with Peugeot led Porsche to rename it 911 before production.

Ferdinand Alexander’s design was not simply a styling exercise. The 911 had to provide more cabin and luggage space than the 356 while retaining Porsche’s rear-engine layout and sporting character. Its 2+2 arrangement and hatchback-like rear opening helped meet those practical goals without abandoning the low, aerodynamic silhouette.

Erwin Komenda is a frequent source of confusion. As Porsche’s head of bodywork design, he supervised important body engineering and fabrication work, and had shaped earlier Porsche bodies including the 356. Ferry Porsche conceived the product direction, but Ferdinand Alexander Porsche is the canonical answer for the original 911’s exterior design.