"Ferry" Porsche dies at 88

The creator of the Porsche sportscar, Ferdinand Porsche, has died in Austria at the age of eighty-eight.

"Ferry" Porsche, as he was known, was born in Vienna, the son of an engineer.

Later the family moved to the German city of Stuttgart where in 1936 he helped his father produce the first Volkswagen car -- to the delight of Adolf Hitler.

"Ferry" Porsche began building his own famous sports cars immediately after the Second World War at Gmund in Austria, initially using Volkswagen parts.

In 1950 he switched the main assembly plant to Stuttgart, which became the firm's headquarters.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service