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Normally, talking about a Porsche and a distance of a little over a quarter mile would involve celebratory, enthusiastic tones while extolling the breathtaking thrust of, say, the new 2026 Porsche 911 Turbo S and its T-Hybrid system. Well, no, not today. This discussion will instead focus not on a Porsche automobile, but a Porsche person, specifically Dr. Wolfgang Porsche. And the distance of 500 meters (1,640.42 feet, about 320 feet past a quarter mile) doesn’t regard an acceleration run, but rather a tunnel Dr. Porsche wants to dig into a mountain in Salzburg, Austria.

Oh, this tunnel. Boy, is it making Salzburg residents furious. The mountain in question is the Kapuzinerberg, which is home to the Capuchin monastery, a location rich in religious and cultural heritage. This site is renowned for its postcard-worthy views, natural beauty, and quiet, contemplative environments.

So, naturally, the 81-year-old Dr. Wolfgang Porsche is on the receiving end of a city’s worth of flack. He wants to drill a hole through the Kapuzinerberg that will connect his mansion (which isn’t even his main residence) to a secret garage in Salzburg. Protest signs and banners have sprung up around the city. Translated from German, one reads, “And Porsche said let there be a hole,” and another reads, “a few crumbs for the poor... 100,000€ per tunnel trip for the state treasury.” Here’s a banner you probably don’t need translated, “Privater tunnel? Für Wolfgang Porsche? WTF!?”

Tunnel vision

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If there was ever any goodwill to be had, it seems that ship has sailed. In April, Robb Report claimed Porsche was “willing to let the public visit part of his home, which is undergoing renovations. The heir is also amenable to the idea of allowing his neighbors to use the tunnel to access their homes.” Then, in October, Autoevolution wrote, “the council voted on the original permit early last month. Dr. Porsche will build his underground tunnel, and it will be off-limits to the public.” At least Porsche is avoiding controversy and generating public harmony by getting into the defense industry. Again.

This all started when Salzburg’s previous mayor, Harald Preuner, gave the thumbs up to Porsche for his $11.3 million upscale Andy Dufresne “Shawshank Redemption” escape tunnel, minus the Raquel Welch poster. Those thumbs went up because Dr. Porsche paid 40,000€ for the rights to burrow said tunnel in a deal that’s generating seething anger. Some of the outrage comes from the fact that the city council wasn’t informed until the deal was done. Criticism was also levied at the lack of public consultation and zero notice to the local assembly.

Now, there’s been an election since the deal and Harald Preuner isn’t mayor anymore. He’s a member of the Austrian People’s Party, which is considered conservative, but his successor, Bernhard Auinger, is a member of the Social Democratic Party, which leans left. If you were wondering whether this would change anything, Auinger says the project is too far along, and he told the media in Salzburg, “No one will have to see the tunnel or even be aware it’s there.” It feels relevant to mention here that Auinger used to sit on the board at Porsche and worked for the automaker for 27 years.

No part of this story looks flattering for Porsche

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The mansion Porsche wants to connect to Salzburg is Zweig Villa, which he purchased for about $10.5 million in 2019. It’s called Zweig Villa because it was home to Jewish author Stefan Zweig from 1917 to 1934. In case those dates and Zweig’s Jewish ancestry aren’t connecting enough dots, he sold the home for half its value because he fled to England to avoid the everything happening to his people at that time in that place. Before fleeing, Zweig endured an Austrian police raid, his books were burned, and the Richard Strauss opera featuring his libretto was forced to close. As you can well imagine, the fact that Porsche purchased Zweig’s former home is causing no end of consternation as people dig into the Porsche family history, especially once they read about company founder Ferdinand Porsche, who he created the Volkswagen Beetle for, and his, uh, let’s say “party affiliation.” It rhymes with Yahtzee.

Even ignoring the optics, the question remains as to how this project will affect the environment at Kapuzinerberg mountain. Zweig’s passion for the mansion he renovated was tied inextricably to its remoteness, calling it “charming and impractical,” and loved that it was “inaccessible by car.” Dr. Wolfgang Porsche is unfathomably rich, with an estimated worth of $26.1 billion. If the winding road to Zwieg Villa is so treacherous, especially in winter, perhaps there’s another mansion the 81-year-old Porsche could spend his remaining years commuting to? Does this gorgeous, historic, serene mountain require a 1,640-foot-long void scooped out? As far as I can tell, there hasn’t been an environmental impact assessment (EIA) on the project, and Porsche’s 2024 Annual and Sustainability Report doesn’t mention tunnels. Perhaps I’m missing something.