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Vorsprung Durch Technik – German Cars

Robert Easton

Germany was the birth place of the automobile, In 1876 the four-stroke engine was invented by Nikolaus August Otto, then in 1887 Karl Benz attached a couch to an internal combustion engine, thus creating the first vehicle comparable to the modern car.

Germany now produces about 10 million cars per year. The industry employs about 1.26 million people. German companies such as Audi, Daimler, Mercedes, BMW, Volkswagen and Porsche have factories producing millions of cars all over the world.

Mercedes was originally named after a client's daughter, Volkswagen means 'people's car', and BMW stands for 'Bayerische Motoren Werke' – 'Bavarian Motor Works'.

BMW was originally an aircraft manufacturer, as symbolised by their emblem, a rotating aeroplane propeller. They went into car production after WWI when the treaty of Versailles forbade German companies from producing aeroplanes.

'Vorsprung durch Technik – progress the technology'. Ever since Audi launched this, perhaps the most successful of advertising slogans, it has become synonymous with the German car industry. The company was founded by August Horch, but at that time there was already a car company operating under the name Horch, so he translated his name into Latin, to get the much nicer sounding Audi, meaning to listen.

Now VW is following Audi in introducing a German-language slogan, they are currently introducing 'Aus Liebe zum Automobil', meaning 'for the love of the car', although in the US they will retain their English language 'Drivers wanted'.

Volkswagen's most recognisable car, the Beetle, was supposedly the result of Adolf Hitler's planning when he was in prison in 1924 for an attempted coup. He wanted to produce a car that anyone could buy (the people's car - Volkswagen).

Designers were commissioned, and told to design a car that could transport two adults and three children, reach 62mph and costs no more than £86. 630 cars were produced before WWII when production ceased and the factory was turned over to the army.

The unique, curvy beetle went on to become one of the world's most popular vehicles. In 1972 the 15,007,034th Beetle was produced, meaning it was the most popular car ever, overtaking the Ford Model T.

Ford then 'discovered' that they'd got their figure wrong, and actually 16 million Model Ts had been produced, but the Beetle went on and overtook this figure the following year. In 1992 the Beetle became the most popular automobile ever with the production of the 21 millionth vehicle.

In 1974 Volkswagen announced that they had made a loss for the first time in their history. Shortly afterwards they began to wind down production of the Beetle, and began to focus instead on the new, front-wheel drive Volkswagen Golf. Production in Germany of the world's most popular car ceased in 1980.

Fortunately for car-lovers everywhere, the 'New Beetle' appeared by popular demand, and production began in 2000. Larger than the original, it maintains the original's basic shape – and charm.

Porsche's most successful car is the legendary Porsche 911. It was originally the 901, but they had to change the name as Volkswagen had copyrighted all combinations of three digits with a zero in the middle. The 911 has now been around for 30 years, and there have been 27 different models, but it's still one of the coolest, most fashionable sports cars you can own.

Both of these cars were voted into the top five in the recent award for 'Car of the Century', but the winner was Ford's Model T. Germany had the last laugh however: Speaking of Cologne, Henry Ford once said “Our People have searched far and wide, have searched for a long time, and they have had the choice between many a town and place but nowhere did they find such ideal transport connections, by water or by air as here in Cologne, and in particular in the industrial area of the city”. Germany is now the operational centre for Ford's international activities.

Germany has also been the home of some less charming cars, for example the Trabant. Compared to an electric carving knife by the authors of the book 'Crap Cars', the Trabant wasn't even meant to be a car. It was originally going to be a covered motorbike with a little storage space at the back. Trabant means 'satellite' in German.

About 3.5 million of them were produced in what was then the GDR – Soviet East Germany. Trabants are now collector's items, but in the UK a man was recently fined £750 for failing to remove his collection of 49 Trabants, which were deemed to be an eyesore.

Finally, for any driving enthusiasts fortunate enough to visit Germany, it is probably worth trying out the Autobahn. These motorways are of extremely high quality and there is no speed limit. The standard of driving is very good and German drivers are very well trained.

On the Autobahn, even a broken tail-light would result in the car pulling over to the hard-shoulder. However these roads are now threatened with speed limits by the government, so drive carefully, but make sure you get to Germany before too long.

Other articles by Robert Easton
The Amber Room
The Berlin Wall
Austrian Beer
Austrian Food
German Beer
German Cars
German Food
German Music
German Philosophers
German Politics
German Stereotypes
Hiking in Austria
Johannes Gutenberg
Michael Schumacher
Sex in Germany
Sex in Austria
Sex in Switzerland
Skiing in Switzerland
Swiss Stereotypes
William Tell

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