From the Beetle to a Global Player. Volkswagen Chronicle IMPRINT
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HISTORICAL NOTES Series Published by the Corporate History Department of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft From the Beetle to a Global Player. Volkswagen Chronicle IMPRINT EDITORS Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, Corporate History Department: Manfred Grieger, Ulrike Gutzmann TEXT Manfred Grieger, Markus Lupa DESIGN designagenten, Hanover PRINT Druckerei Quensen, Hildesheim ISSN 1615-1593 ISBN 978-3-935112-25-3 ©Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft Wolfsburg 2015 CONTENTS Contents 1904 – 1933 4 From the Automotive Dream to the Volkswagen Idea 1934 – 1937 6 The “German People’s Car” as a “Communal Project” of the German Automotive Industry 1937 – 1945 10 Founding of the Company and Integration into the War Economy 1945 – 1949 36 The Work of the British 1950 – 1960 54 Internationalisation and Mass Production in the Era of Germany’s Economic Miracle 1961 – 1972 82 Boom and Crisis in the One-Product Business 1973 – 1981 116 The Shift to Models with Water-Cooled Engines 1982 – 1991 144 New Brands, New Markets 1992 – 2014 174 Globalisation of the Mobility Group The Brands 258 Audi 300 Porsche 266 Bentley 310 Scania 272 Bugatti 317 Seat 276 Ducati 324 Škoda 282 Lamborghini 330 Volkswagen Financial Services 288 MAN 338 Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles 4 FROM THE AUTOMOTIVE DREAM TO THE VOLKSWAGEN IDEA FROM THE AUTOMOTIVE DREAM TO THE VOLKSWAGEN IDEA, 1904 - 1933 In the early 20th century the motor car was still a rare mode by Opel in 1909 at a price of 3,950 Marks proved popular of transport. There were barely 16,000 throughout all of due to its manoeuvrability and easiness to drive, and sold Germany in 1910. Some were driven as a form of adventure at a respectable rate of just under 800 units a year. In 1912 sport, while others were considered a mark of prestige. Cars the company named it the “Volksautomobil”, or People’s remained the preserve of the rich and the beautiful people: Auto mobile. In 1913, car-maker Wanderer in Chemnitz Hand-crafted models from Benz, Daimler and Glaser were launched its two-seater Type W 3. Though well received, it owned by Kaiser Wilhelm II, as well as by steel magnates and failed to sell in significant numbers. Any further advances bankers. A large number of makes were serving a very small were interrupted by the First World War. luxury market. In 1919, Citroën opened a new factory operating conveyor Yet as early as December 1904, writing in the Viennese belts in France with capacity to produce 100 cars a day. In journal “Der Motorwagen”, Aachen-based engineer Hein- Germany, however, the automobile remained a luxury item. rich Dechamps was asking whether the motorcycle would That situation did not change fundamentally even with maintain its popularity, or whether in fact a different kind of the launch of mass production by Opel in Rüsselsheim and vehicle would be capable of assuming the mantle of person- Hanomag in Hanover from 1924/25 onwards. The country alised transportation for the masses: the “Volksautomobil”, was lagging far behind France and the UK – and certainly or People’s Automobile. The dream of personal auto-mobil- the USA – in terms of car ownership. Nevertheless – thanks ity was extending into new segments of the population. The in part to their low price of 2,950 and 1,995 Reichsmarks mass market for cars emerging in the USA was the principal respectively – the small cars sold by Opel and Hanomag were driver of progress. The Ford Motor Company began making already being labelled “People’s Cars” (“Volkswagen”). its robust new Model T in 1908. It sold initially for $ 825. By 1920, thanks to assembly line technology and mass produc- The idea of making a car for a mass market encouraged de- tion, its price had fallen to $ 450, allowing whole new social signers to come up with technical innovations. In 1925, an groups to become car-owners. Within a decade, the USA had 18-year-old Hungarian technical academy student named become a truly automotive society. In Germany too, where Béla Barényi – who was later to make a name for himself before the First World War auto-mobility had been the pre- through his improvements to vehicle safety – drew up a serve of social elites keen to enjoy the new feeling of power “chassis design for a People’s Car”, featuring a rear-mount- and speed, attention likewise began to turn to the produc- ed boxer engine and with its gearbox located in front of the tion of small cars. The two-seater “Doktorwagen” launched rear axle. Another Hungarian, motoring journalist and 5 designer Josef Ganz, had been promoting the idea of a “Peo- ple’s Car” since the mid-1920s, and brought out a number of prototypes for ultra-compact cars based on a combination design. Engineer Hans Ledwinka, born in Klosterneuburg near Vienna but working in the Czech town of Nesselsdorf, developed the Tatra 11, which for the first time featured a central tubular frame, a pendulum axle and an air-cooled two-cylinder boxer engine. FORD T Ferdinand Porsche likewise took an early interest in small cars. His “Sascha” lightweight car designed at Steyr in 1922, featuring a 1.1 litre capacity four-cylinder engine developing 45 horsepower, did not go into production. In 1931, having set up as a freelance designer in Stuttgart, Porsche developed what he called a “quality small car for everyone” on behalf of motorcycle manufacturer Zündapp. The two-door model, designated internally by Porsche as the Type 12, had four seats. The Type 32, designed in 1933 for the NSU Vereinigte Fahrzeugwerke car company, featured torsion bar suspen- The search for suitable technical solutions for small cars sion and a rear-mounted air-cooled four-cylinder boxer was well underway by the early 1930s. But public interest in engine. In the midst of the global financial crisis, concerns a low-cost “People’s Car” was not yet enough to bring down about high manufacturing and capital investment costs pre- the high cost of ownership, which still impeded mass car vented the two bike-builders from moving into automobile sales. Adolf Hitler’s announcement of government funding production. for motorisation and backing of the automotive industry at the International Automobile and Motorcycle Exhibition in Berlin soon after assuming power in February 1933 not only reflected an industrial policy aimed at job creation, but also made mass motoring an integral element of the regime’s utopian social vision. 6 THE “GERMAN PEOPLE’S CAR” AS A “COMMUNAL PROJECT” OF THE GERMAN AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY THE “GERMAN PEOPLE’S CAR” AS A “COMMUNAL PROJECT” OF THE GERMAN AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY, 1934 - 1937 The introduction of tax breaks and the promotion of motor- This placed the ball firmly in the court of the Reich Auto- sport in 1933 regenerated the automobile market. The end motive Industry Association (RDA), which in May 1934 of the global financial crisis was in sight. Car-makers and decided to develop a “German People’s Car” as a “communal designers such as Ferdinand Porsche hoped that the bur- project” among the private automotive industry. The geoning recovery would entail a fundamental shift towards industry association signed a contract on June 22, 1934 mass motoring. On January 17, 1934, Ferdinand Porsche commissioning Ferdinand Porsche’s office to handle the submitted to the Reich Ministry of Transport a “Memoran- engineering design. There were grave doubts among the car dum on the construction of a German People’s Car”, setting companies as to the economic viability of the project in view forth a “fully practical vehicle” for four adults, “of normal of the 990 Reichsmarks target price. Including an independ- size but relatively light weight”, with a cruising speed suita- ent designer in the process meant that they could outsource ble for the recently built autobahn network of 100 kilometres the unresolved technical issues to an external party, who per hour. Thanks to his technical repute, boosted by the was contracted to develop a prototype within one year. many motorsport victories of his Silberpfeil (Silver Arrow) design, Porsche’s idea was taken up by Adolf Hitler. The Porsche KG company went to work at its factory in Zuffenhausen near Stuttgart, and submitted the first Car companies including Opel, Ford, Adler, Stoewer, and prototype to the RDA’s Technical Commission on July 3, also Ludwigsburg-based Standard Fahrzeugfabrik, with its 1935. Other prototypes, including a convertible, followed. “Superior” model, presented versions of a “German People’s Porsche’s engineers overcame innumerable technical Car” at the International Automobile and Motorcycle Exhi- difficulties. The body began to take shape, and the chassis bition in Berlin in March 1934. Disregarding all of those, in and engine were developed ever closer to specification. On his opening speech on March 7, 1934, Hitler himself spoke October 12, 1936, the three vehicles of the V3 series were out in favour of building a “low-cost car” which would bring each subjected to a 50,000 kilometre test, the results of the German automotive industry “millions of new buyers”. which were submitted to the RDA in a 96-page final report Public pronouncements mentioned a selling price of 990 in January 1937. The adequacy of the vehicle in principle Reichsmarks. had been proven, but lack of hard currency and shortages of raw materials undermined prospects for profitable mass production. The question of financing also remained unre- solved. Despite having resolved the basic technical prob- lems, the “People’s Car” project hung by a thread because of economic factors. 7 FERDINAND PORSCHE VW3 PROTOTYPE 8 9 1937 – 1945 10 FOUNDING OF THE COMPANY AND INTEGRATION INTO THE WAR ECONOMY 1937 – 1945 Founding of the Company and Integration into the War Economy This impasse was broken in January 1937, as responsibility The size, technical equipment and manufacturing depth of for the project was assumed by the Deutsche Arbeitsfront the facility were oriented to that of Ford’s River Rouge plant (DAF), or German Labour Front, a unified organisation en- in Detroit, which was considered the most advanced car fac- compassing both employers and employees, which was look- tory in the world and was visited twice by Ferdinand Porsche ing for a prestige project to polish up its image.