Peter Schutz

Peter Werner Schutz (April 20, 1930 – October 29, 2017) was the president and CEO of Porsche between 1981 and 1987, a time in which the company greatly expanded sales, primarily in the United States.

During this time he worked with freight hauling companies to improve their profitability, instituting driver performance measures.

[1] In 1980 Porsche suffered its first money-losing year in history, much of the problem due to falling sales in the U.S. and lackluster takeup of their new designs, the 924 and 928.

While sitting in the office of Helmuth Bott [de], chief of engineering, he noticed a chart that showed the evolution of the 924, 928 and 911 on the wall.

Schutz picked up a marker, extended the 911's line off the end of the chart onto the wall, and told Bott to make it happen.

[5] Meanwhile, the Porsche racing team was in the process of entering 24 Hours of Le Mans with modified 924s, which they stated had no hope of winning.

Racing success, improved models and, most importantly, a strong U.S. economy and exchange rate all fed into ever-increasing sales through the mid-1980s.