The company was founded as Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH in 1931 by Ferdinand Porsche, an Austrian engineer born in Maffersdorf, during the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (today Vratislavice nad Nisou, Czech Republic), and Porsche's son-in-law Anton Piëch, an Austrian advocate.
Porsche SE (Societas Europaea) is headquartered in Zuffenhausen, a city district of Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg and is owned by the Piëch and Porsche families, and Qatar Holdings, through the Qatar Investment Authority (10%). Through its investment in Porsche Zwischenholding GmbH, it owns 50.1% Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, which is the manufacturer of a range of sports cars and SUVs, and 50.7% of Volkswagen AG.