Ruf Automobile

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Ruf Automobile GmbH
Type Public
Industry Automotive
Founded 1939
Headquarters Pfaffenhausen, Germany
Key people Alois Ruf Sr.
Products Automobiles, Automotive parts
Website Ruf Automobile GmbH
Alois Ruf Jr. (2010)

Ruf Automobile GmbH is a German car manufacturer. Ruf vehicles are built from unmarked Porsche chassis through which Ruf builds their own independent work. Because the labour is so thorough, including the installation of Ruf-made parts instead of badge engineering, the company is recognized as a manufacturer by the German government. Ruf is historically known for the CTR Yellowbird, and is the largest, most renowned company to make Porsche performance enhancements. Naturally, Ruf has also made a name for itself as a car tuner, specialist in vintage restoration and rebuilds of classic Ruf and Porsche cars. Ruf also carries out service and crash repair.

History

The company was founded in 1939 in Pfaffenhausen, Germany as "Auto Ruf" by Alois Ruf Sr. as a service garage and was eventually expanded to include a full-service gas station in 1949. Ruf began experimenting with vehicle designs of his own in the late 1940s, and in 1955 designed and built a tour bus, which he marketed around Germany. The positive response it received led to Ruf expanding his business again by starting his own separately owned bus company.

Alois Sr.'s involvement in the car industry had a distinct effect on his son, Alois Ruf Jr., who became a sports car enthusiast and in 1960 began servicing and restoring Porsche automobiles out of his father's garage. In 1974 when Alois Sr. died, 24 year-old Alois Jr. took control of the business and focused on his passion: Porsche vehicles, and especially the 911. A year later in 1975, the first Ruf-enhanced Porsche came to life.

Ruf debuted their first complete model in 1977, a tuned version of Porsche's 930 with a stroked 3.3 litre motor. This was followed in 1978 by Ruf's first complete non-turbo Porsche, the 911 SCR. It was a naturally aspirated 911 with a stroked 3.2 litre motor producing 217 horsepower. Numerous customer orders were placed for this vehicle.

In the years since, the company has made a major mark on the automotive world by producing exceptionally powerful and exclusive Porsche-based vehicles including the 1987 CTR, which set the record as the world's fastest production car at the time of its release and the later CTR2 which was again recognised as one of the fastest road-legal vehicles available anywhere in the world. [1]

In April 2007, Ruf released the new CTR3 to celebrate the company's new plant in Bahrain and as a 20th anniversary celebration of the original CTR. In 2010 Geneva Motor Show, Ruf also showcased the RGT-8, the first production V8-powered 911 in the history.

In February 2013, Genii Capital, owner of Lotus F1 Team, acquired Ruf. Gerard Lopez has been appointed non-executive chairman of the board.[2]

Ruf Models

A 2008 CTR3

Current models

Past models

Prototype models

eRuf Electric Vehicles

Main article: eRuf Model A

The eRuf Model A is an all-electric sports car made by Ruf Automobile. The car is powered by UQM Technologies[3] propulsion system (a UQM PowerPhase 150). The car has a top speed of 225 kilometers per hour (140 mph)[4] and it's capable of making 150 kW (201 horsepower) and 479 lb-ft of torque (650 Nm).[5] Estimated range per charge is 250 kilometres to 320 kilometres, depending on performance level, using iron-phosphate, lithium-ion batteries built by Axeon of Great Britain.[6] The power and torque produced by the 3-phase motor can be used to recover almost as much power as it can put out.[7] During coasting the engine works as a generator producing electricity to charge the batteries.[7] Ruf has ripped the combustion engine out of a Porsche 911 and slotted in an electric motor.[8]

Alois Ruf is going to provide a 204 kW brushless three-phase motor which will catapult the Porsche 911 to a speed of 100 km/h in less than 7 seconds, offering a torque of 650Nm.

References

  1. ↑ John Lamm. Supercars. pp. 10–11. ISBN 0-7603-0794-6. 
  2. ↑ http://www.worldcarfans.com/113021453816/lotus-f1-team-owners-genii-capital-buy-porsche-tuner-and
  3. ↑ "UQM Technologies". Uqm.com. Retrieved 2009-04-29. 
  4. ↑ Nick Hall (2008-11-13). "eRuf Model A (electric Porsche 911)". MSN Cars. Retrieved 2009-01-17. 
  5. ↑ Jake Holmes (October 2008). "Ruf eRuf Concept Model A - Car News". Car and Driver. Retrieved 2009-01-17. 
  6. ↑ "Electric Drive Transportation Association". Electricdrive.org. Retrieved 2009-04-29. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "eRUF Concept Model A 2008 "Emotion without Emission"" (PDF) (Press release). RUF Automobiles. 2008-10-10. Retrieved 2009-01-17. 
  8. ↑ Hall, Nick (2008-11-13). "eRuf Model A (electric Porsche 911) - First Drives | Reviews | MSN Cars UK". Cars.uk.msn.com. Retrieved 2009-04-29. 

External links

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