History of the Volkswagen
It was Ferdinand Porsche who was the founder of Volkswagen.
It is said that he was indeed a technical genius and was employed by a great number of companies eg Austro-Daimler, Mercedes, Daimler-Benz to name but a few.
In 1930 he opened his own design company. In 1931 he asked his team of staff to start designing a motor car with a water cooled 3 cylinder engine. This should have independent suspension and be able to accommodate 4 adults. The main aim was to keep the expenditure as low as possible to make it affordable to the masses.
In 1932 he found a partner in Zundapp. Originally three prototypes were produced using the original design which was equipped with a new engine. Unfortunately the engine turned out to have a severe cooling 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 placed in the rear of the car 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 again on his own.
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 were to be built by RDA, which was the German Auto Manufacturers Association. RDA were soon to realise that this project had a chance to be really successful and this they did not want. They deliberately delayed the project which made Porsche miss his deadline and thus made him lose his contract. Hitler however realised this and placed the entire project under government supervision. The three prototypes were delivered in October 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.
