VOLKSWAGEN 32 images Created 17 Jun 2020
Volkswagen, often abbreviated as VW, is Volkswagen AG's most important car brand. Volkswagen has two models in the top five most sold cars in the world ever, namely the Volkswagen Beetle and the Volkswagen Golf (state of affairs 2015).
The Austrian professor and car engineer Ferdinand Porsche and the Jewish engineer Josef Ganz were at the cradle of Volkswagen. In 1922 Porsche had in vain proposed plans for a cheap car. Even his then employer Austro-Daimler was not interested. Nor did Mercedes-Benz see anything in Porsche's dream of a cheap car. Porsche tried it at, among others, NSU and Zündapp, where a number of prototypes were realised. He started for himself, and in 1934 he was commissioned by Adolf Hitler to design a "Kraft durch Freude" car, a car for the people. The schedule of requirements for this car was substantial. The KdF-car had to be able to reach a top speed of 100 km/h; had to be able to carry two adults and a child, or three soldiers and a machine gun; had to have an air-cooled engine so that it could stand outside in winter; could consume a maximum of between 6 and 7 litres of petrol per 100 kilometres; and could not cost more than 900 Reichsmark.
Porsche had already completed the design for such a car. In 1932 he had designed a four-seater car that was strongly inspired by designs by Béla Barényi and a prototype by Tatra designer Hans Ledwinka, with an air-cooled four-cylinder engine in the rear. At that time there were three prototypes built by Zündapp. NSU was also interested in the model, but when this company was taken over by Fiat, this was the end of the NSU-Volksauto. Hitler's offer came just in time. On 12 October 1936 Porsche presented three driving prototypes, which already had the characteristic shape of the later Volkswagen Beetle. Each car covered a distance of 50,000 km in seventy days, without the need for major repairs.
The Austrian professor and car engineer Ferdinand Porsche and the Jewish engineer Josef Ganz were at the cradle of Volkswagen. In 1922 Porsche had in vain proposed plans for a cheap car. Even his then employer Austro-Daimler was not interested. Nor did Mercedes-Benz see anything in Porsche's dream of a cheap car. Porsche tried it at, among others, NSU and Zündapp, where a number of prototypes were realised. He started for himself, and in 1934 he was commissioned by Adolf Hitler to design a "Kraft durch Freude" car, a car for the people. The schedule of requirements for this car was substantial. The KdF-car had to be able to reach a top speed of 100 km/h; had to be able to carry two adults and a child, or three soldiers and a machine gun; had to have an air-cooled engine so that it could stand outside in winter; could consume a maximum of between 6 and 7 litres of petrol per 100 kilometres; and could not cost more than 900 Reichsmark.
Porsche had already completed the design for such a car. In 1932 he had designed a four-seater car that was strongly inspired by designs by Béla Barényi and a prototype by Tatra designer Hans Ledwinka, with an air-cooled four-cylinder engine in the rear. At that time there were three prototypes built by Zündapp. NSU was also interested in the model, but when this company was taken over by Fiat, this was the end of the NSU-Volksauto. Hitler's offer came just in time. On 12 October 1936 Porsche presented three driving prototypes, which already had the characteristic shape of the later Volkswagen Beetle. Each car covered a distance of 50,000 km in seventy days, without the need for major repairs.
