For decades, the “style” inside Style Porsche, the modern-day name for the company’s automotive design department, was to attribute credit for various cars to the department and its chiefs. Tony Lapine long received praise for the startling 928. Harm Lagaay was acknowledged for the 993, 986, and 996 siblings. But interviews with both men over a period of 20 years let the truth out, sometimes with a laugh attached. “The 928?” Lapine said, always one to answer one question with another. “No, that was Wolfgang Möbius. My job was to stand at the door and not let anyone in to distract my guys from their work.” Lagaay released concept sketches showing Grant Larson’s name under Boxster concepts and production models, Pinky Lai’s name alongside 996 sketches, Tony Hatter with GT1 and Carrera GT ideas, and Steve Murkett with his vision of the Cayenne. He reiterated Lapine’s characterization as often being the door guard and staff protector. Modern-day design chief Michael Mauer followed a similar path. After an initial “You know, it really is a team effort,” the name of 991 stylist Peter Varga slipped out. It was Varga’s aggressive rear character line that redefined the 911. Harm Lagaay described other responsibilities of the design chief, such as maintaining his designers’ focus with a well-timed comment or a discussion here and there, keeping peace among them, providing them inspiration and motivation, and otherwise ensuring them a proper atmosphere in which to do their work. Each of these men did a great deal more, guiding and directing design through deft gestures and thoughtfully chosen words, through rhetorical questions and sometimes suggestions that minute adjustment of a single line might be worth a look. The ability to draw can be less necessary than possessing the skill to communicate, to articulate, to motivate. Which prompts a glance back into history: was there a Wolfgang Möbius, a Grant Larson, or a Tony Hatter on Ferdinand Alexander Porsche’s design staff? Did F. A. Porsche serve one of those roles himself, working as designer under someone else’s supervision? Did this set a pattern and a precedent for those who followed him into the job of design boss at Porsche? The direct answer to these questions is yes. What you read here may contradict what you know about Porsche 911 history. Some of this information simply was not available before now.

For decades, the “style” inside Style Porsche, the modern-day name for the company’s automotive design department, was to attribute credit for various cars to the department and its chiefs. Tony Lapine long received praise for the startling 928. Harm Lagaay was acknowledged for the 993, 986, and 996 siblings. But interviews with both men over a period of 20 years let the truth out, sometimes with a laugh attached. “The 928?” Lapine said, always one to answer one question with another. “No, that was Wolfgang Möbius. My job was to stand at the door and not let anyone in to distract my guys from their work.” Lagaay released concept sketches showing Grant Larson’s name under Boxster concepts and production models, Pinky Lai’s name alongside 996 sketches, Tony Hatter with GT1 and Carrera GT ideas, and Steve Murkett with his vision of the Cayenne. He reiterated Lapine’s characterization as often being the door guard and staff protector. Modern-day design chief Michael Mauer followed a similar path. After an initial “You know, it really is a team effort,” the name of 991 stylist Peter Varga slipped out. It was Varga’s aggressive rear character line that redefined the 911. Harm Lagaay described other responsibilities of the design chief, such as maintaining his designers’ focus with a well-timed comment or a discussion here and there, keeping peace among them, providing them inspiration and motivation, and otherwise ensuring them a proper atmosphere in which to do their work. Each of these men did a great deal more, guiding and directing design through deft gestures and thoughtfully chosen words, through rhetorical questions and sometimes suggestions that minute adjustment of a single line might be worth a look. The ability to draw can be less necessary than possessing the skill to communicate, to articulate, to motivate. Which prompts a glance back into history: was there a Wolfgang Möbius, a Grant Larson, or a Tony Hatter on Ferdinand Alexander Porsche’s design staff? Did F. A. Porsche serve one of those roles himself, working as designer under someone else’s supervision? Did this set a pattern and a precedent for those who followed him into the job of design boss at Porsche?
The direct answer to these questions is yes. What you read here may contradict what you know about Porsche 911 history. Some of this information simply was not available before now.