Who named the Volkswagen?

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
1

Jill, I can’t find the column in question on this site. It’s on pages 78 through 81 in Triumph Of The Straight Dope, and answers three questions. The one I’d like to address is, did Hitler name the Volkswagen? No, though he did order Ferdinand Porsche to make it air-cooled and beetle-shaped, said Cecil.

In his book Car Wars (ISBN 1-55970-400-4, © 1995), Jonathan Mantle provides a few more details. The car was initially called “der KdF(Kraft-durch-Freude)-Wagen”, or “the Strength-through-Joy Car”. After Germany’s defeat, the task of rebuilding the bombed-out factory fell to British Major Ivan Hirst. When production resumed, the vehicle was called Volkswagen Type One, soon shortened to Volkswagen. However, the book doesn’t say who named the car.

Mantle also writes that the Volkswagen was plagiarized from the Czech Tatra V570, a prototype designed by Hans Ledwinka. Though Hitler heavily promoted German makes Daimler-Benz and BMW, he was thoroughly sold on Tatra, having campaigned for chancellor exclusively in a completely reliable Tatra T11, an air-cooled, rear-engine model. At the Berlin auto shows, Hitler sought out Ledwinka and asked him about his current projects. When Ledwinka gave Hitler detailed drawings of the V570, Hitler took them straight to Porsche and said, “Zis is vat ve vant!” (or something similar). The rest is history.

The original VW also closely resembled the Tatra T97, which was in production for about a year before Germany annexed the part of Czechoslovakia that Tatra called home. Manufacture of the T97 was verboten, as the Tatra plant was converted to military production.

For more information, and photos of the Tatra vehicles in question, you might consult http://www.team.net/www/ktud/Tatra.html (click on History, 1919-1997).

2

The way I heard the story, Hitler told Porsche to build a “people’s car”. Germans being notorious and unimaginative literalists, guess what he named it?

JB
Lex Non Favet Delicatorum Votis

3

But did Porsche name the car? He was jailed in France after the war for trying to take over Peugeot, and didn’t return to Germany until 1947. The car was named Volkswagen when production resumed in 1945: until then, it was known as the KdF-Wagen.

Hitler wanted something similar in simplicity and affordability, if not design, to Ford’s Model T. “People’s car” was the concept under which the vehicle was developed, not its name.

4

Pardon my ignorance, but is that the same “Porsche” designer we know today for the Italian cars?

5

No, nessun, nein
Professor Ferdinand Porsche senior discussed above died in 1951

His son, Ferdinand Porsche Jr (Ferry) launched the first ‘true’ Porsche, the 356 in 1948.

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, Ferry Porsche’s son launched the 911 in 1963.

Porsche have been based in Zuffenhausen, near Stuttgart since 1950.

Stuttgart is in Germany.

Russell

6

OK, as far as I can tell from this link, my German being what it is:
http://www.gottfried-schultz.de/

  • the pre-war car design was named the “KdF-wagen”. The factory, on the other hand, was named the “Volkswagenwerk”, meaning of course “Volkswagen factory”.

During the war, the factory made about 630 KdF-wagen (none reached the intended recipients). The rest of its capacity were used for producing military vehicles, primarily the “Kübelvagen”.

After the war, the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg was partially reopened to make vehicles for the British occupation troops.

Of course, “KdF-wagen” was not an acceptable name, but apparently “Volkswagen” was.

Being worried is the thinking man’s form of meditation.

7

The sound you are hearing is my anguished scream, realizing that I just restated the OP - DARN!

Please, please ignore the previous post…

Being worried is the thinking man’s form of meditation.

8

That’s ok Spiny, your post prompted me to run a search on Volkswagen, which I probably should have done much earlier. But first, you’re right, I neglected to mention that the factory was called Volkswagenwerk. However, the town that was built around the factory to house the workers was named KdF-Stadt. After the war, the town’s name was changed to Wolfsburg. Therefore, the car could easily have been named Wolfwagen.

Also, Porsche built two earlier prototypes before Hitler came along: one of them was simply called Type 32, and I can’t find a name for the other. I’ve not seen a photo of either, so I don’t know how closely they resembled the productional vehicle.

After sifting through all the dealers, clubs, and obsolete addresses the web search provided, I found a few sites that included a history of the car’s development, up to the start of WWII. None of them had the info I was looking for though, so I posted them with the question. Only one response so far, and he didn’t know.

This isn’t a life-or-death matter, but it seems rather curious that whoever actually named the biggest-selling model in history isn’t known. Or, if he is known, he’s not known to very many people.

9

This just came over the wire from Denmark:

It was actually Adolf Hitler that named the car, way back in 1934. When he in a speach said that he had hired professor Porsche to construct a Volkswagen (peoples car) for the German people.

The car had this title up untill 1938, when Hitler in another speach (to Porsches and others irretation, brochures were already printed with the name Volkswagen), said that the new car should be named KdF wagen (Kraft durch Freude = Strength through joy).

So the name Volkswagen was simply picked up again by the british, since KdF was a Nazi organization, they went back to the Volkswagen name.

It was never named the Volkswagen type one, type one was simply one of the VW types made at that type, others existed. All based on the beetle body, and looking like the beetle.

Hope that helped.

Klaus

With a name like Klaus, he’s gotta know his Volkswagens. He runs the 1938 to 1953 VW Registry at
http://users.cybercity.dk/%7Edko6691/index.htm

I’d like to see the brochure that Klaus mentions, but until information comes along that contradicts or amends what he says, the story (sans details) reads:

Hitler named the Volkswagen. Porsche designed (perhaps based on the Tatra V570)and produced it under that name. Hitler then changed the name to KdF-wagen. The British, under Major Hirst, changed the name back to Volkswagen.

Ball in your court, Cecil.

10

“Type I” was the Beetle, Super Beetle, and Karmann Ghia (and perhaps the Thing?). “Type II” was the various vans. “Type III” was the larger models usually sold in the USA as the “Fastback” and “Squareback” (plus a more conventional notchback sedan model that was never sold in the USA). “Type IV” was larger still; it also came in fastback and squareback models.

John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams

11

Dude, Jinx, what do you mean? I’m not pokin fun, I am just too stoopid to understand your
question. What Do you mean by

? :confused: ?

Talk to me, baby!
santimcd@hotmail.com
~OR~
mcdsanti@hotmail.com
~SNOOGANS~

12

Italian? Porsche-Audi is (or was, the last I looked) a German company, owned by Volkswagen.

John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams

13

We’ve got an update, courtesy of Small Wonder, by Walter Henry Nelson (reprinted in 1998, ISBN 0837601479), and the World Guide to Automobile Manufacturers (1987, currently out of print):

Ferdinand Porsche had been unsuccessfully lobbying his various employers to back his small car idea since the early 1920s. He finally decided to do it himself in 1931, and started designing a rear-engine vehicle, called Project 12. Since funding was a problem (this being the Depression), he soon accepted the financial aid of Fritz Neumeyer, head of motorcycle maker Zundapp. Neumeyer wanted to call the car Volksauto, a name that had been used previously (and fairly often) in Germany, as early as 1904.

Neumeyer insisted that the car be powered by a 5-cylinder water-cooled engine his company had developed, replacing the 4-cylinder air-cooled engine Porsche preferred. The water-cooled engine proved worthless, and that, along with the vehicle’s suspension problems and the rebounding motorcycle market, caused Neumeyer to withdraw from the project.

Porsche’s next prototype, the Type 32, was much closer in style to the original Volkswagen. Another motorcycle manufacturer funded this project, and three test models were produced, but again, the backer backed out before testing was complete.

By this time, Hitler had gained power. When he found that Porsche had been working on an economical car that working people could afford, they met to discuss the details. Porsche agreed to Hitler’s modifications of his specifications in exchange for government funding. The vehicle was then called Kleinauto.

In a speech at the 1935 Berlin auto show, Hitler referred to the project as “a people’s car” (English translation – I’ve not seen the text in German). The use of an indefinite article indicates that Hitler still thought of “people’s car” as the vehicle’s concept, not its name.

The earliest reference to the vehicle being named Volkswagen was in early 1937: credit went to a branch of the German government. This could mean Hitler, one of his flunkies, or a committee. At any rate, Hitler introduced the vehicle as the Volkswagen at the 1937 Berlin auto show. As was mentioned earlier, Hitler changed the name to KdF-wagen in 1938, without first notifying Porsche.

I now have to wonder about the alleged Tatra connection, mentioned in the OP. The Project 12/Volksauto was an ugly design that could be mistaken for a smaller version of Chrysler’s Airflow (introduced 3 years later), but if the Type 32 was in any influenced by the Tatra V570, it was done before Hitler entered the story. Maybe the author of Car Wars has a vendetta against the VW. Or perhaps this was his way of restoring Hans Ledwinka’s good name, since he designed vehicles that were unique, reliable, and ahead of their time. Whatever the reason, his research is now suspect.

We still don’t know exactly who named the Volkswagen, though. More information as it develops.

14

I wonder if the older generation’s feelings about German cars will die out as their generation does? My parents were both in WWII (my father in the Army; my mother worked for the Navy). Neither of them would ever set foot in a VW, which my mother still calls “that Nazi car.”

I was horrified when Marlene Dietrich’s bitch trog daughter sold her mother’s voice-over to be used in a Mercedes-Benz commercial! Marlene was a virulent anti-Nazi, and she’d be rolling over in her grave to her her voice used in those ads.

15

I suppose we’re fortunate Hitler didn’t make the Volkswagen an armored vehicle, lest the allies see the Sturmtruppen pull up to battle in a Bug and all die laughing…

16

The VW was adopted as a Jeep-like vehicle during the war. A similar design was used ca. 1970 for “The Thing”.

But the connection between the Nazis and VW can easily be overstated. For better or worse, the Nazis were the government of Germany at the time, and like other governments, they did a lot of useful and necessary things (i.e., catch criminals, direct traffic, deliver mail), even while they were executing horrors. It would be wrong to condemn every German for the crime of being born in the wrong country, especially since that would be equally to condemn the Jews who refused to leave because they could not believe that such things could happen in a liberal, civilized place like Germany.

John W. Kennedy
“Compact is becoming contract; man only earns and pays.”
– Charles Williams

17

Eve has a valid point. While Daimler-Benz predates the Nazi era, Volkswagen probably wouldn’t exist without the Nazis. And both companies used slave labor during WWII production of military supplies, according to Cecil’s column.

But John K. also has a vaild point. It’s much toughter to survive under a totalitarian regime: the choices are to go along, or escape without being executed. Initially, the automakers welcomed Hitler, since not only was he a car enthusiast, he also promised prosperity after 15 years of economic turmoil following WWI. Hitler didn’t impose his tyranny all at once, either: “reforms” were made bit by bit. It can be argued that, by the time the automobile manuracturers realized what was happening, it was too late.

After WWII, Major Hirst rid the VW plant of Nazis, Nazi collaboraters, and suspected Nazis. While it’s true that the vehicle wouldn’t exist without the Nazis, I don’t think it’s fair to connect the company that emerged after the war to the Nazi regime. The same can’t be said for Daimler-Benz, however.

18

According to the book Volkswagen Beetle – The Rise From The Ashes Of War by Simon Parkinson (1996, ISBN 1 874105 47 2), during the 1934 meeting between Hitler and Porsche, “Hitler used the term Volkswagen…there was no feeling then that this term would be used as the name of the car itself.” Initial prototypes were named Type 60, though the car was commonly called Volkswagen in the press.