Porsche: Excellence Was Expected

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If you already own the 2003 edition of Porsche: Excellence Was Expected, you can purchase the updated Volume 3 and a replacement slipcase on this page.

Porsche History

New for the 2008 edition (first revision since 2003):

• 257 new or revised pages and 230 new photos and illustrations
• Five new full color chapters covering the RS Spyder, the Cayman, the Type 997 production and GT cars, and the Panamera
• Updated to include model years through 2008
• Updated coverage of the Boxster, the Type 996, the Cayenne and the Carerra GT
• Updated Competition Victories appendix

Since 1977 Karl Ludvigsen's Porsche: Excellence Was Expected has been regarded as the definitive work on Porsche history. In this masterwork Ludvigsen presents the inner workings, masterpieces and failures of an independent automaker that has exerted a disproportionately powerful influence on the automotive industry. Remarkable both for its breadth of coverage and its technical depth, Excellence Was Expected covers every Porsche road and racing car from the company's beginnings through the development of the 2009 Panamera. Adding dimension to the Porsche story is Ludvigsen's assessment of the company's designers, chief engineers and top managers over the years.

At the Watkins Glen Six Hours, 1970, a Carrera 6 (Bartling/ Peterman/Ranier) leads the third-place finisher, a Ferrari 512S (Andretti/Giunti). Victory went to two Porsche 917's. (click to enlarge)

In this first revision since 2003, Ludvigsen has updated the three-volume set through 2008, including five augmented chapters, five completely new chapters, and 230 new images. The five new chapters feature full-color artwork throughout and bring the total number of photographs, diagrams and illustrations in the set to just over 1800.

Porsche brazenly broke free of its sport-car niche with the launch of its Leipzig-built Cayenne in 2002. In this sport-utility developed in cooperation with Volkswagen, the emphasis was on ?sport.? (click to enlarge)

At 66 chapters and 1688 pages, this monumental work covers over a century of Porsche history. Ludvigsen's new material includes the continuing evolution of the iconic 911, detailing the design and engineering of the Type 997. He also looks at the market success of the Cayenne, the enthusiastic press and customer responses to the Cayman and Cayman S, and Porsche's expansion into the four-door luxury sedan arena with the Panamera. Competition coverage is expanded to include the domination of the RS Spyder in the ALMS series as well as the on-track success of the 997-based GT racers. And Ludvigsen looks closely at Wendelin Wiedeking's financially savvy stewardship of the Porsche company through the first decade of the twenty-first century.

At Sebring in January of 2008 the Penske team's RS Spyder strutted its stuff in the ALMS practice session, showing that despite a weight penalty it still had the credentials to lead the field. (click to enlarge)

With this 2008 edition, Excellence Was Expected remains "the definitive archetypal marque history," (Michael Scarlett, Autocar) that it was in its first edition. Karl Ludvigsen continues to set the bar high for automotive historians, just as the company he chronicles continues to shape our very definition of the term "sports car."

1988 Type 911 Carrera. (click to enlarge)

Porsche: Excellence Was Expected

Volume 1	Volume 2	Volume 3
Read more on Volume 1	Read more on Volume 2	Read more on Volume 3

Winner of the IAMA Best of 2004 Award and the 2004 IAMA Best of Books Award

Karl Ludvigsen interviewed in Panorama magazine. Read the interview

Road & Track
"As a reference source and as a historical treatise, Ludvigsen's latest effort is the definitive work dealing with one of the greatest automotive marques in the world. And a "must have" for all who are fascinated by fast cars and the men who build (and race) them."?Joe Rusz, Road & Track
Click here to read entire review

European Car:
"There have been hundreds of articles and books in print that deal with many of the same things found in volumes two and three of the new "Excellence...," but his work opened the gates for others. Ludvigsen was the one who threw the party first, and we were the lucky guests. Still, a proper review of this massive release truly requires three or four devoted pages, and that simply isn't possible. For me to discuss the new "Excellence" in a few hundred words seems criminal. My suggestion: If you can only get one book for your library on Porsche, this is the one. If you already have the original as part of your ongoing collection of titles dealing with all aspects of Porsche, you are in good shape."?European Car
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Automobile:
"When Karl Ludvigsen's first edition of Porsche: Excellence Was Expected was released in 1977, it was hailed as "the definitive authority of Porsche cars." Freshly updated, the new edition is now a three-volume set that completes the story of every Porsche road and racing car through the development of the Carrera GT. A must-have for anyone with a Seinfeldesque level of Porschephilia"?Automobile
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Excellence:
"When the box arrived at our doorstep, however, it was obvious what the money buys: a bulk of information on Porsche that you simply won't find anywhere else. As with the previous version, it's the only book to have on the sports cars from Stuttgart if you'll only have one. The three volumes conveniently divide the history, while a comprehensive index at the end of the final book makes research easy."?Pete Stout, Excellence
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Christophorus:
"The English-language reprint builds consistently on the standard reference work on Porsche first published in 1977. Since the first edition, "Ludvigsen" has become a watchword, a trademark for comprehensive information about the sports car manufacturer from Zuffenhausen. The new version of the "Porsche Bible" contains everything from the first edition and much more: Facts and shop-talk, stories and history, anecdotes and quirks, data and statistics on Porsche, the company and its cars. Now, the thick 900-page first edition has become a three-volume linen-bound, slipcase-boxed set of truly biblical dimensions?with a total of 1574 pages."?Christophorus
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