Wolfgang Porsche is now 81 years old.
He is a member of the Porsche family and currently serves as a shareholder and chairman of the supervisory board of Porsche AG, and is also the current owner of the historic Zweig Villa on the Kapuzinerberg mountain in Salzburg, Austria.
The Zweig Villa is so named because it is the mansion where the Australian author Stefan Zweig lived from 1919 until his exile in England in 1934.
Before that, composer Anton Paschinger lived here, so it's also known as Paschinger Castle.
Currently owned by Wolfgang Porsche, the place is still under renovation and is expected to be completed in mid-2025. It is said that after the renovation, the place may be called "Porsche Villa".
Porsche apparently wants to move there with his family one day, but there's one problem with the three-story 17th century mansion.
The house is located on top of the Kapuzinerberg mountain, which means that in winter the snow makes it very difficult to reach.
So what Porsche started thinking about was, "Let's build a tunnel through the mountain where the mansion is built." The idea is similar to Elon Musk's.
The plan was to build a tunnel between the Linzergasse car park at the foot of the mountain and an underground car park with space for nine cars that would be built under the mansion at the top of the mountain.
The mansion will be accessible on foot from the underground car park at the summit exit via a separate section of the underground tunnel.
The tunnel that is being planned to pass through the mountain is about 500 meters long and has an elevation difference of about 50 meters.
Once this tunnel is completed, it will be possible to access the mountaintop mansion at any time, regardless of the weather.
In order to carry out this tunnel plan, Porsche received approval from the mayor of Salzburg at the time in 2024 and was granted permission to use the Linzergasse parking lot at the bottom of the mountain in exchange for a lump sum payment of 40,000 euros, so there is no problem with the starting point of the tunnel under the mountain.
All that's left now is to dig...but this project is currently in trouble.
The reason is that it was discovered that the former mayor had issued permission to use the site without prior notice to the local assembly, and that plans to excavate the historic site had not been thoroughly examined.
Above all, this kind of behavior, which gives the impression that "if you're rich, you can do whatever you want," seems to be causing a backlash from the public.
It is unclear what will happen to the Villa tunnel plan in the future, but considering the current situation of Porsche (as a company), I can imagine that any flashy personal moves would not be viewed favorably by many Germans, so I think it would be better for them to not make any moves for now.
Personally, I would love to see Mr. Porsche do what only he can do and turn the villa's nine-car parking lot into a space like a Porsche museum, but maybe we're living in a time when that's not possible...
Source:
◆Porsche Boss Is Adding a Tunnel Through the Mountain and a Secret Garage to His Mansion
◆Salzburg argues about Wolfgang Porsche's tunnel plans
Related article:
◆Porsche to cut another 1,900 jobs in Germany after cutting 2,000
◆Porsche shares fall sharply after the company announced that development costs for new internal combustion engine models will reduce profit margins in 2025
I'm Rika, the author of this article. Ever since Porsche 911 became my favorite car, I've become totally addicted to Porsche, and I can't stop loving Porsche, so I started this blog. My favorite cars are 911 Carrera (991.2), 911 Carrera Cabriolet (992.1), and 911 Carrera T (992.1).
English 
Japanese