Towards the end of 1960, both Volkswagen and Porsche were feeling the absence of some new models. In order to fulfil their contract with Porsche, Volkswagen had to give the 914 project to Porsche which was under the charge of Ferdinand Piech. The Porsche 914 was originally intended to be sold with a four cylinder engine as a Volkswagen and as a Porsche with six cylinder engine, but considering the risk of two models sharing the same body, both versions of the car were sold as Porsche in North America.

The Volkswagen versions had an 80 hp, 1.7 L flat 4 engine whereas Porsche’s 914/6 variant had a 110 hp 2.0 L flat 6 engine. Porsche 914 had superior handling and better breaks because of the suspension that was used in the car. The 914/6 variant though was discontinued because of the slow sales in 1972 but by then a total of 3,351 of it had already been produced. Porsche 916 which had been planned for early 1970s was cancelled after eleven prototypes. The car was supposed to have the 2.4 engine of 911S. These cars were also intended to have fixed steel roof and wider wheels which were seen in the 914-6 GT cars.

Two more prototypes of the 914 were built during 1969. The first one to be built was the orange 914/8 which had a number of differences from the standard vehicle. It had a 310 hp racing engine and was based on 914 hand-built development prototypes. Overall, the car had the style and looks which very few cars could match up to.