Volkswagen is a popular name in German associated with a cheap, small and lightweight car. It originated in Germany in the 1920s and was adopted by Adolf Hitler in 1934 to be used as the brand name for the largest and most modern pre-WWII automobile factory in Europe. This page describes the origins of this popular car, the Volkswagen Beetle.
History
The quest for the Volkswagen
The first serious attempt to build a Volkswagen (‘People’s car‘) was made in 1923, when the young mechanical engineering student Josef Ganz made the first sketches for a small lightweight car with a simple chassis, a mid-mounted engine, independent wheel suspension with swing-axles at the rear and aerodynamic bodywork, along the lines of the Rumpler Tropfenwagen. When shortly after his graduation he became editor-in-chief of Klein-Motor-Sport in January 1928, Josef Ganz used this magazine as a platform to criticize heavy, unsafe and old-fashioned cars and promote innovative design and his concept of a German Volkswagen. This was presumably the first time the name “Volkswagen” was used. Contributors to the magazine, which in January 1929 was renamed into Motor-Kritik, included Béla Barényi, a young engineering student who designed cars with similar design. In 1929, Josef Ganz started contacting German motorcycle manufacturers Zündapp, Ardie and DKW for collaboration to build a Volkswagen prototype. This resulted in a first prototype, the Ardie-Ganz, built at Ardie in 1930 and a second one completed at Adler in May 1931, which was nicknamed the Maikäfer (‘May-Beetle’). Technically, both these prototypes already resembled the later Volkswagen Beetle: they featured a tubular chassis, a mid-mounted engine, and independent wheel suspension with swing-axles at the rear – the second prototype was even nicknamed “Beetle”. News about these amazing constructions quickly spread through the industry.
Porsche steps in
After news about the successful results achieved with the Ardie-Ganz and Adler Maikäfer prototypes by Josef Ganz reached Zündapp, the company was suddenly very keen to build such a car. Since Josef Ganz by that time was already involved with Adler, Zündapp first turned to another German engineer. Only after he failed to produce a satisfying design, did the company turn to Ferdinand Porsche, in September 1931. Ferdinand Porsche under strict technical supervision by Zündapp then developed an “Auto für Jedermann” (“car for everyman”). Porsche already preferred the flat-4 cylinder engine, as was also tried out by Daimler-Benz under supervision of Josef Ganz almost a year previous, but Zündapp preferred a watercooled 5-cylinder radial engine. In 1932, three prototypes were running. All of those cars were lost during the war, the last in a bombing raid over Stuttgart in 1945.
The first German Volkswagen
In the meantime, the Standard Fahrzeugfabrik purchased a license from Josef Ganz to develop and build a small Volkswagen according to his design. This car, the Standard Superior was completed in late 1932. It featured a tubular chassis, a mid-mounted engine, and independent wheel suspension with swing-axles at the rear. The first production model of the Standard Superior was introduced at the IAMA (Internationale Automobil– und Motorradausstellung) in Berlin in February 1933. Here the new Chancellor Adolf Hitler expressed great interest in its revolutionary design and low selling price of 1,590 Reichsmark. Under the new anti-Semitic government, however, Josef Ganz was an easy target for his enemies from the automotive industry that opposed his critical writings in Motor-Kritik. Ironically, while German car manufacturers one by one took over the progressive ideas that had been published in Motor-Kritik since the 1920s, Josef Ganz himself was arrested by the Gestapo in May 1933 based on falsified charges of blackmail of the automotive industry. He was eventually released, but his career was systematically destroyed and his life endangered. This led to his escape from Germany in June 1934 – the very month Adolf Hitler assigned Ferdinand Porsche to realize the prophecy of Josef Ganz: designing a mass-producible Volkswagen for a consumer price of 1,000 Reichsmark.
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