Browse > Home / Cars / A History of the Volkswagen

A History of the Volkswagen

February 1, 2010

Ferdinand Porsche was the founder of Volkswagen.

It is said that he was indeed a technical genius and was employed by a big number of car companies eg Austro-Daimler, Mercedes, Daimler-Benz to name but a few.

In 1930 he decided to open his own design bureau. In 1931 he asked his team of staff to start designing a car with a water cooled three cylinder engine. This must also have independent suspension and be able to accommodate 4 adults. The main aim was to keep the costs as low as possible to make it affordable to the masses.

In 1932 he found a partner in Zundapp. Originally 3 prototypes were produced using his original design which was equipped with a new engine. Unfortunately however the engine had a severe overheating problem and melted after ten minutes of running. Zundapp decided to leave the project.

NSU a motor cycle manufacturer decided to join forces and a completely new cooled 4 cylinder engine was constructed. The engine was situated in the rear to avoid the traditional transmission with a separate gear box, drive shaft and rear axle. Unfortunately due to the economical climate in Germany at the time NSU decided to withdraw and Porche was once again by himself.

In 1933 at the Berlin Motor Show Adolf Hitler announced his plan to produce a smaller car for the people of Germany. Porche and Hitler were to join forces and a consequently a contract was signed in 1934. The prototypes were intended to be built by RDA, which was the German Auto Manufacturers Association. RDA were soon to realise that this project had a big chance to be successful and this they did not want. They deliberately delayed the project making Porsche miss the deadline and thus made him lose his contract. However Hitler realised this and placed the entire project under supervision. The 3 prototypes were delivered in 1936.

To this day the volkswagen has remained almost identical in design. It has a reputation for being a highly reliable car and indeed Volkswagen van leasing is a very popular choice as they have such a solid history behind them.

van lease

Related Articles:

Comments

Comments are closed.