VOLKSWAGEN Automobiles and Vans

VOLKSWAGEN cars – vans

VW

Volkswagen

“VW” redirects here. For other uses, see VW (disambiguation).

This article is about Volkswagen Passenger Cars. For the parent group, see Volkswagen Group. For Volkswagen vans, trucks and buses, see Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. For the concept of a volk wagen, see People’s Car.

Volkswagen

Type	Marque
Industry	Automotive
Founded	28 May 1937; 81 years ago
Founder	German Labor Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront, DAF) Adolf Hitler
Headquarters	Wolfsburg, Germany
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Herbert Diess (Chairman of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand)
Products	Automobiles Vans
Production output	6.073 million units (2016 annual report)
Revenue	€105.651 billion (2016 annual report)
Net income	€1.869 billion (2016 annual report)
Number of employees	626,715 (end of 2016)
Parent	Volkswagen Group
Website	volkswagen.com

Volk­swa­gen (Ger­man pro­nun­ci­a­tion: [ˈfɔlksˌvaːɡn̩] (lis­ten)), short­ened to VW, is a Ger­man au­tomaker founded on 28 May 1937 by the Ger­man Labour Front under Adolf Hitler and head­quar­tered in Wolfs­burg. It is the flag­ship mar­que of the Volk­swa­gen Group, the largest au­tomaker by world­wide sales in 2016.

Volk­swa­gen is Ger­man for “peo­ple’s car”, and the com­pany’s cur­rent in­ter­na­tional ad­ver­tis­ing slo­gan is just “Volkswagen”. Amer­i­can Eng­lish pro­nun­ci­a­tion is ap­prox­i­mately “volks wagon” (lis­ten(help·info)).

History

For vehicle timeline tables, see Volkswagen (timeline).

1932–1938: People’s Car project

Model of Porsche Type 12 (Zündapp), Museum of Industrial Culture, Nuremberg

Volk­swa­gen was orig­i­nally es­tab­lished in 1932 by the Ger­man Labour Front (Deutsche Ar­beits­front) in Berlin. In the early 1930s, the Ger­man auto in­dus­try was still largely com­posed of lux­ury mod­els, and the av­er­age Ger­man could rarely af­ford any­thing more than a mo­tor­cy­cle. As a re­sult, only one Ger­man out of 50 owned a car. Seek­ing a po­ten­tial new mar­ket, some car mak­ers began in­de­pen­dent “peo­ple’s car” pro­jects – the

Mer­cedes 170H,

Adler Au­to­Bahn,

Steyr 55, and

Hanomag 1.3L, among oth­ers.

The trend was not new, as Béla Barényi is cred­ited with hav­ing con­ceived the basic de­sign in the mid-1920s. Josef Ganz de­vel­oped the Stan­dard Su­pe­rior (going as far as ad­ver­tis­ing it as the “Ger­man Volk­swa­gen”). In Ger­many, the com­pany Hanomag mass-pro­duced the

2/10 PS “Kom­miss­brot”, a small, cheap rear en­gined car, from 1925 to 1928. Also, in Czecho­slo­va­kia, the Hans Led­winka‘s penned

Tatra T77, a very pop­u­lar car amongst the Ger­man elite, was be­com­ing smaller and more af­ford­able at each re­vi­sion. Fer­di­nand Porsche, a well-known de­signer for high-end ve­hi­cles and race cars, had been try­ing for years to get a man­u­fac­turer in­ter­ested in a small car suit­able for a fam­ily. He felt the small cars at the time were just stripped down big cars. In­stead he built a car he called the “Volk­sauto” from the ground up in 1933, using many of the ideas float­ing around at the time and sev­eral of his own, putting to­gether a car with an air-cooled rear en­gine, tor­sion bar sus­pen­sion, and a “bee­tle” shape, the front hood rounded for bet­ter aero­dy­nam­ics (nec­es­sary as it had a small engine).

VW logo during the 1930s, initials surrounded by a stylized cogwheel and swastika wings

Josef Ganz with his Standard Superior in 1935

In 1934, with many of the above pro­jects still in de­vel­op­ment or early stages of pro­duc­tion, Adolf Hitler be­came in­volved, or­der­ing the pro­duc­tion of a basic ve­hi­cle ca­pa­ble of trans­port­ing two adults and three chil­dren at 100 km/h (62 mph). He wanted all Ger­man cit­i­zens to have ac­cess to cars. The “Peo­ple’s Car” would be avail­able to cit­i­zens of the Third Reich through a sav­ings plan at 990 Re­ichs­mark ($396 in 1930s U.S. dol­lars)—about the price of a small mo­tor­cy­cle (the av­er­age in­come being around 32 RM a week).

1936 Volkswagen Beetle Type 60 V3 Prototype

De­spite heavy lob­by­ing in favor of one of the ex­ist­ing pro­jects, it soon be­came ap­par­ent that pri­vate in­dus­try could not turn out a car for only 990 RM. Thus, Hitler chose to spon­sor an all-new, state-owned fac­tory using Fer­di­nand Porsche’s de­sign (with some of Hitler’s de­sign con­straints, in­clud­ing an air-cooled en­gine so noth­ing could freeze). The in­ten­tion was that or­di­nary Ger­mans would buy the car by means of a sav­ings scheme (“Fünf Mark die Woche musst du spa­ren, willst du im ei­ge­nen Wagen fahren” – “Five marks a week you must put aside, if you want to drive your own car“), which around 336,000 peo­ple even­tu­ally paid into. How­ever, the en­tire pro­ject was fi­nan­cially un­sound, and only the Nazi party made it pos­si­ble to pro­vide funding.

Pro­to­types of the car called the “KdF-Wa­gen” (Ger­man: Kraft durch Freude – “Strength through Joy”), ap­peared from 1938 on­wards (the first cars had been pro­duced in Stuttgart). The car al­ready had its dis­tinc­tive round shape and air-cooled, flat-four, rear-mounted en­gine. The VW car was just one of many KdF pro­grams, which in­cluded things such as tours and out­ings. The pre­fix Volks— (“Peo­ple’s”) was not just ap­plied to cars, but also to other prod­ucts in Ger­many; the “Volk­sempfänger” radio re­ceiver for in­stance.

1937-5-28 Hitler and Ferdinand Porsche are looking at the prototype of VW Beetle on birthday VW

On 28 May 1937 The birthday of Volkswagen, Gesellschaft zur Vor­bere­itung des Deutschen Volk­swa­gens mbH (“Com­pany for the Prepa­ra­tion of the Ger­man Volk­swa­gen Ltd.”), or Gezu­vor for short, was es­tab­lished by the Deutsche Ar­beits­front in Berlin. More than a year later, on 16 Sep­tem­ber 1938, it was re­named to Volk­swa­gen­werk GmbH.

VW Type 82E

Erwin Komenda, the long­stand­ing Auto Union chief de­signer, part of Fer­di­nand Porsche’s hand-picked team, de­vel­oped the car body of

1939 vw proto 01

the pro­to­type, which was rec­og­niz­ably the Bee­tle known today. It was one of the first cars de­signed with the aid of a wind tun­nel—a method used for Ger­man air­craft de­sign since the early 1920s. The car de­signs were put through rig­or­ous tests, and achieved a record-break­ing mil­lion miles of test­ing be­fore being deemed fin­ished.

http://time.com/3877191/volkswagen-photos-from-the-wolfsburg-factory-1951/

The con­struc­tion of the new fac­tory started in May 1938 in the new town of “Stadt des KdF-Wa­gens” (mod­ern-day Wolfs­burg), which had been pur­pose-built for the fac­tory workers. This fac­tory had only pro­duced a hand­ful of cars by the time war started in 1939. None were ac­tu­ally de­liv­ered to any holder of the com­pleted sav­ing stamp books, though one Type 1 Cabri­o­let was pre­sented to Hitler on 20 April 1944 (his 55th birthday).

War changed pro­duc­tion to mil­i­tary ve­hi­cles—

the Type 82 Kübel­wa­gen (“Bucket car”) util­ity ve­hi­cle (VW’s most com­mon wartime model), and

the am­phibi­ous Schwimmwa­gen—man­u­fac­tured for Ger­man forces. As was com­mon with much of the pro­duc­tion in Nazi Ger­many dur­ing the war, slave labor was uti­lized in the Volk­swa­gen plant, e.g. from Ar­beits­dorf con­cen­tra­tion camp. The com­pany would admit in 1998 that it used 15,000 slaves dur­ing the war ef­fort. Ger­man his­to­ri­ans es­ti­mated that 80% of Volk­swa­gen’s wartime work­force was slave labor. Many of the slaves were re­ported to have been sup­plied from the con­cen­tra­tion camps upon re­quest from plant man­agers. A law­suit was filed in 1998 by sur­vivors for resti­tu­tion for the forced labor. Volk­swa­gen would set up a vol­un­tary resti­tu­tion fund.

Volkswagen factory

1945–1948: British Army intervention, unclear future

The com­pany owes its post-war ex­is­tence largely to one man, War-time British Army of­fi­cer Major Ivan Hirst, REME. In April 1945, KdF-Stadt and its heav­ily bombed fac­tory were cap­tured by the Amer­i­cans, and sub­se­quently handed over to the British, within whose oc­cu­pa­tion zone the town and fac­tory fell. The fac­to­ries were placed under the con­trol of Sad­dle­worth-born Hirst, by then a civil­ian Mil­i­tary Gov­er­nor with the oc­cu­py­ing forces. At first, one plan was to use it for mil­i­tary ve­hi­cle main­te­nance, and pos­si­bly dis­man­tle and ship it to Britain. Since it had been used for mil­i­tary pro­duc­tion, (though not of KdF-Wa­gens) and had been in Hirst’s words, a “po­lit­i­cal an­i­mal” rather than a com­mer­cial enterprise — tech­ni­cally mak­ing it li­able for de­struc­tion under the terms of the Pots­dam Agree­ment — the equip­ment could have been sal­vaged as war repa­ra­tions. Al­lied dis­man­tling pol­icy changed in late 1946 to mid-1947, though heavy in­dus­try con­tin­ued to be dis­man­tled until 1951.

One of the fac­tory’s War-time ‘KdF-Wa­gen’ cars had been taken to the fac­tory for re­pairs and aban­doned there. Hirst had it re­painted green and demon­strated it to British Army head­quar­ters. Short of light trans­port, in Sep­tem­ber 1945 the British Army was per­suaded to place a vital order for 20,000 cars. How­ever, pro­duc­tion fa­cil­i­ties had been mas­sively dis­rupted, there was a refugee cri­sis at and around the fac­tory and some parts (such as car­bu­re­tors) were un­avail­able. With strik­ing hu­man­ity and great en­gi­neer­ing and man­age­ment in­ge­nu­ity, Hirst and his Ger­man as­sis­tant Hein­rich Nord­hoff (who went on to run the Wolfs­burg fa­cil­ity after Mil­i­tary Gov­ern­ment ended in 1949) helped to sta­bi­lize the acute so­cial sit­u­a­tion while si­mul­ta­ne­ously re-es­tab­lish­ing pro­duc­tion. Hirst, for ex­am­ple, used his fine en­gi­neer­ing ex­pe­ri­ence to arrange the man­u­fac­ture of car­bu­re­tors, the orig­i­nal pro­duc­ers being ef­fec­tively ‘lost’ in the Russ­ian zone. The first few hun­dred cars went to per­son­nel from the oc­cu­py­ing forces, and to the Ger­man Post Of­fice. Some British Ser­vice per­son­nel were al­lowed to take their Bee­tles back to the United King­dom when they were de­mo­bilised.

In 1986, Hirst ex­plained how it was com­monly mis­un­der­stood that he had run Wolfs­burg as a British Army Major. The de­feated Ger­man staff, he said, were ini­tially sullen and un­re­spon­sive, hav­ing been con­di­tioned by many years of Nazism and they were some­times un­re­spon­sive to or­ders. At Nord­hoff’s sug­ges­tion, he sent back to Eng­land for his of­fi­cer’s uni­form and from then on, had no dif­fi­culty in hav­ing his in­struc­tions fol­lowed. Hirst can be seen pho­tographed at Wolfs­burg in his uni­form, al­though he was not ac­tu­ally a sol­dier at the time but a civil­ian mem­ber of the Mil­i­tary Gov­ern­ment. The title of ‘Major’ was some­times used by some­one who had left the Army as a cour­tesy title. In fact, Hirst chose not to do so.

The post-war In­dus­trial plans for Ger­many set out rules that gov­erned which in­dus­tries Ger­many was al­lowed to re­tain. These rules set Ger­man car pro­duc­tion at a max­i­mum of 10% of 1936 car production. By 1946, the fac­tory pro­duced 1,000 cars a month—a re­mark­able feat con­sid­er­ing it was still in dis­re­pair. Owing to roof and win­dow dam­age, pro­duc­tion had to stop when it rained, and the com­pany had to barter new ve­hi­cles for steel for production.

The car and its town changed their Sec­ond World War-era names to “Volk­swa­gen” and “Wolfs­burg” re­spec­tively, and pro­duc­tion in­creased. It was still un­clear what was to be­come of the fac­tory. It was of­fered to rep­re­sen­ta­tives from the Amer­i­can, Aus­tralian, British, and French motor in­dus­tries. Fa­mously, all re­jected it. After an in­spec­tion of the plant, Sir William Rootes, head of the British Rootes Group, told Hirst the pro­ject would fail within two years, and that the car “…​is quite un­at­trac­tive to the av­er­age mo­tor­car buyer, is too ugly and too noisy … If you think you’re going to build cars in this place, you’re a bloody fool, young man.” The of­fi­cial re­port said “To build the car com­mer­cially would be a com­pletely un­eco­nomic enterprise.” In an ironic twist of fate, Volk­swa­gen man­u­fac­tured a lo­cally built ver­sion of Rootes’s Hill­man Avenger in Ar­gentina in the 1980s, long after Rootes had gone bank­rupt at the hands of Chrysler in 1978—the Bee­tle out­liv­ing the Avenger by over 30 years.

Ford rep­re­sen­ta­tives were equally crit­i­cal. In March 1948, the British of­fered the Volk­swa­gen com­pany to Ford, free of charge. Henry Ford II, the son of Edsel Ford, trav­eled to West Ger­many for dis­cus­sions. Heinz Nord­hoff was also pre­sent, and Ernest Breech, chair­man of the board for Ford Motor Com­pany. Henry Ford II looked to Ernest Breech for his opin­ion, and Breech said, “Mr. Ford, I don’t think what we’re being of­fered here is worth a dime!” Ford passed on the offer, leav­ing Volk­swa­gen to re­build it­self under Nord­hoff’s leadership.

1948–1961: Icon of post war West Germany

1949 Volkswagen “split rear window” Sedan

Volkswagen Cabriolet (1953)

Volkswagen Type 2 (T1)

An original 1300 Deluxe, circa 1966.

In the later 1960s, as worldwide appetite for the Beetle finally began to diminish, a variety of successor designs were proposed and, in most cases, rejected by management.

From 1948, Volk­swa­gen be­came an im­por­tant el­e­ment, sym­bol­i­cally and eco­nom­i­cally, of West Ger­man regeneration. Hein­rich Nord­hoff (1899–1968), a for­mer se­nior man­ager at Opel who had over­seen civil­ian and mil­i­tary ve­hi­cle pro­duc­tion in the 1930s and 1940s, was re­cruited to run the fac­tory in 1948. In 1949, Major Hirst left the com­pany—now re-formed as a trust con­trolled by the West Ger­man gov­ern­ment and gov­ern­ment of the State of Lower Sax­ony. The “Bee­tle” sedan or “peo­ples’ car” Volk­swa­gen is the Type 1. Apart from the in­tro­duc­tion of

the Volk­swa­gen Type 2com­mer­cial ve­hi­cle (van, pick-up and camper), and

the VW Kar­mann Ghia sports car, Nord­hoff pur­sued the one-model pol­icy until shortly be­fore his death in 1968.

Volk­swa­gens were first ex­hib­ited and sold in the United States in 1949, but sold only two units in Amer­ica that first year. On entry to the U.S. mar­ket, the VW was briefly sold as a Vic­tory Wagon. Volk­swa­gen of Amer­ica was formed in April 1955 to stan­dard­ise sales and ser­vice in the United States. Pro­duc­tion of the Type 1 Volk­swa­gen Bee­tle in­creased dra­mat­i­cally over the years, the total reach­ing one mil­lion in 1955.

The UK’s first of­fi­cial Volk­swa­gen Im­porter, Col­borne Garages of Rip­ley, Sur­rey, started with parts for the mod­els brought home by sol­diers re­turn­ing from Germany.

Cana­dian Mo­tors, Lim­ited brought in Canada’s first ship­ment of Volk­swa­gens on 10 July 1952 (ship­ping order 143075). The order con­sisted of 12 ve­hi­cles, (3) model 11C, a black, green, and sand­color (3) 11GS, a chest­nut brown and two azure blue, (2) 24A-M51 in red, (1)21A in blue, (1) 23A in blue, (1) 22A beige color, and one ambulance. Volk­swa­gens were seen in Canada for the first time at the Cana­dian Na­tional Ex­hi­bi­tion in Au­gust 1952 and were ac­cepted en­thu­si­as­ti­cally. (At least one Type 2 bus from this order still ex­ists, and is cur­rently in France un­der­go­ing restoration). The first ship­ment for Volk­swa­gen Canada reached Toronto in early De­cem­ber 1952. (At least one Type 1 from this first ship­ment still ex­ists, and was dri­ven on a na­tion­wide tour for Volk­swa­gen Canada’s 60th year of busi­ness fes­tiv­i­ties in 2012).

By 1955, sales were on a basis that war­ranted the build­ing of the Volk­swa­gen plant on a 32-acre (130,000 m²) site on Scar­boro’s Golden Mile. To this, a 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m²) build­ing with ad­min­is­tra­tion, show­rooms, ser­vice, re­pairs and parts was built in 1957, with stor­age for $4,000,000 of parts.

In 1959, VW started pro­duc­tion at a plant near São Paulo in Brazil. Volk­swa­gen do Brasil was ac­cused of spy­ing on work­ers dur­ing the time of the mil­i­tary dic­ta­tor­ship in the 1970´s and in­form­ing po­lice on op­po­si­tional ac­tiv­i­ties. In 1976, mass ar­rests oc­curred and some VW em­ploy­ees were tor­tured. In 1979, Brazil­ian VW work­ers trav­eled to Wolfs­burg to in­form the CEO in per­son. In 2015, ac­tivists and for­mer VW em­ploy­ees in Brazil spoke out in pub­lic ac­cused the com­pany´s si­lence about per­se­cu­tion of its work­ers. In fall 2016, VW com­mis­sioned an ex­pert re­view of the sit­u­a­tion due end of 2017.

On 22 Au­gust 1960, Volk­swa­gen­werk GmbH was re­named to Volk­swa­gen­werk AG.

Sales soared, through­out the 1960s, peak­ing at the end of the decade, thanks in part to the fa­mous ad­ver­tis­ing cam­paigns by New York ad­ver­tis­ing agency Doyle, Dane Bern­bach. Led by art di­rec­tor Hel­mut Krone, and copy­writ­ers Ju­lian Koenig and Bob Levin­son, Volk­swa­gen ad­ver­tise­ments became as pop­u­lar as the car, using crisp lay­outs and witty copy to lure the younger, so­phis­ti­cated con­sumers with whom the car be­came associated. Even though it was al­most uni­ver­sally known as the Bee­tle (or the Bug), it was never of­fi­cially la­belled as such by the man­u­fac­turer, in­stead re­ferred to as the Type 1.

Al­though the car was be­com­ing out­dated, dur­ing the 1960s and early 1970s, Amer­i­can ex­ports, in­no­v­a­tive ad­ver­tis­ing, and a grow­ing rep­u­ta­tion for re­li­a­bil­ity helped pro­duc­tion fig­ures sur­pass the lev­els of the pre­vi­ous record holder, the Ford Model T. On 17 Feb­ru­ary 1972 the 15,007,034th Bee­tle was sold. Volk­swa­gen could now claim the world pro­duc­tion record for the most-pro­duced, sin­gle make of car in his­tory. By 1973, total pro­duc­tion was over 16 mil­lion.

To com­mem­o­rate its pass­ing the Ford Model T’s record sales mark and its vic­to­ries in the Baja 1000 Mex­i­can races from 1967 to 1971, Volk­swa­gen pro­duced its first lim­ited-edi­tion Bee­tle. It was mar­keted as the “Baja Cham­pion SE” in the United States and the “Marathon” Su­per­bee­tle in the rest of the world. It fea­tured unique “Marathon Blau” metal­lic blue paint, steel-pressed 10-spoke 15-inch (38 cm) mag­ne­sium-al­loy wheels, a com­mem­o­ra­tive metal plate mounted on the glove­box and a cer­tifi­cate of au­then­tic­ity pre­sented to the orig­i­nal pur­chaser. Dealer-in­stalled op­tions for this lim­ited-edi­tion Su­per­bee­tle in­cluded the fol­low­ing: white stripes run­ning the length of the rocker-panel, a spe­cial shifter knob, bumper over­rid­ers, ta­pered ex­haust tips, fake wal­nut in­serts in the dash­board (be­hind the steer­ing wheel and the glove­box cover) as well as Bosch fog lights mounted on the front bumper.

1961–1973: Beetle to Golf

A 1963 VW Type 3 Notchback

The 1961 Type 1 Bee­tle had a 36 hp 1200cc four cylin­der air-cooled flat-four op­posed OHV en­gine made of alu­minum alloy block and heads. By 1966, the Type 1 came with a 1300 en­gine. By 1967 the Type 1 had a 1500 en­gine, and 1600 in 1970. The air-cooled en­gine lost favor in the USA mar­ket with the ad­vent of non-leaded gaso­line and smog con­trols. These air-cooled en­gines were com­monly tuned to be fuel rich in order to con­trol en­gine over-heat­ing, and this led to ex­ces­sive car­bon monox­ide emis­sions. VW Pro­duc­tion equip­ment was even­tu­ally moved to Mex­ico where ve­hi­cle emis­sions were not reg­u­lated. Bee­tles were pop­u­lar on the USA West Coast where the lim­ited-ca­pac­ity cabin heat­ing was less in­con­ve­nient. Bee­tles were pop­u­lar­ized on the USA West Coast as beach bug­gies and dune bug­gies.

VW ex­panded its prod­uct line in 1961 with the in­tro­duc­tion of four Type 3 mod­els (Kar­mann Ghia, Notch­back, Fast­back, and Vari­ant) based on the new Type 3 me­chan­i­cal un­der­pin­nings. The name ‘Square­back’ was used in the U.S.A for the Vari­ant.

In 1969 the larger Type 4 (411 and 412) mod­els were in­tro­duced. These dif­fered sub­stan­tially from pre­vi­ous ve­hi­cles, with the no­table in­tro­duc­tion of mono­coque/uni­body con­struc­tion, the op­tion of a fully au­to­matic trans­mis­sion, elec­tronic fuel in­jec­tion, and a stur­dier pow­er­plant.

Volk­swa­gen added a “Super Beetle” (the Type 131) to its lineup in 1971. The Type 131 dif­fered from the stan­dard Bee­tle in its use of a MacPher­son strut front sus­pen­sion in­stead of the usual tor­sion bars. The Super Bee­tle fea­tured a new hooded, padded dash and curved wind­shield (from 1973 model year on up). Rack and pin­ion steer­ing re­placed re­cir­cu­lat­ing ball steer­ing gears in model year 1975 and up. The front of the car was stretched 2 inches (51 mm) to allow the spare tire to lie flat, and the com­bi­na­tion of these two fea­tures in­creased the us­able front lug­gage space.

In 1973, Volk­swa­gen in­tro­duced the mil­i­tary-themed Type 181, or “Trekker” in Eu­rope, “Thing” in Amer­ica, re­call­ing the wartime Type 82. The mil­i­tary ver­sion was pro­duced for the NATO-era Ger­man Army dur­ing the Cold War years of 1970 to 1979. The U.S. Thing ver­sion only sold for two years, 1973 and 1974.

VW-Werk, Wolfsburg
Montage 412

Volkswagen Type 4 assembly line in Wolfsburg as of 1973

1969 VW Squareback (Type III)

In 1964, Volk­swa­gen ac­quired Auto Union, and in 1969, NSU Mo­toren­werke AG (NSU). The for­mer com­pany owned the his­toric Audi brand, which had dis­ap­peared after the Sec­ond World War. VW ul­ti­mately merged Auto Union and NSU to cre­ate the mod­ern Audi com­pany, and would go on to de­velop it as its lux­ury ve­hi­cle mar­que. The pur­chase of Auto Union and NSU was a piv­otal point in Volk­swa­gen’s his­tory, as both com­pa­nies yielded the tech­no­log­i­cal ex­per­tise that proved nec­es­sary for VW to sur­vive when de­mand for its air-cooled mod­els went into de­cline.

By late 1972, Volk­swa­gen had de­cided to can­cel the nearly fin­ished typ 266, a pro­ject for a mid-en­gined car to re­place the Bee­tle, and to focus on front-wheel-drive, wa­ter-cooled cars. Rudolf Lei­d­ing, re­cently made head of Volk­swa­gen, cited noise, heat, and ser­vic­ing prob­lems with the mid-en­gine lay­out, as well as the dif­fi­culty of mak­ing it a sta­tion wagon.

Volkswagen Passat (1973–1977 model)

Volk­swa­gen was in se­ri­ous trou­ble by 1973. The Type 3 and Type 4 mod­els had sold in much smaller num­bers than the Bee­tle and the NSU-based K70 also failed to woo buy­ers. Bee­tle sales had started to de­cline rapidly in Eu­ro­pean and North Amer­i­can mar­kets. The com­pany knew that Bee­tle pro­duc­tion had to end, but faced a co­nun­drum of how to re­place it. VW’s own­er­ship of Audi/Auto Union proved ben­e­fi­cial. Its ex­per­tise in front-wheel drive, and wa­ter-cooled en­gines would help Volk­swa­gen pro­duce a cred­i­ble Bee­tle suc­ces­sor. Audi in­flu­ences paved the way for this new gen­er­a­tion of Volk­swa­gens: the Pas­sat, Scirocco, Golf, and Polo.

First in the se­ries was the Volk­swa­gen Pas­sat (Dasher in the US), in­tro­duced in 1973, a fast­back ver­sion of the Audi 80, using many iden­ti­cal body and me­chan­i­cal parts. Es­tate/wagon ver­sions were avail­able in many mar­kets. In Eu­rope, the es­tate/wagon ver­sion dom­i­nated in mar­ket share for many years.

In spring 1974, the Scirocco fol­lowed. The coupe was de­signed by Gior­getto Giu­giaro. Based on the plat­form of the not yet re­leased Golf, it was built at Kar­mann due to ca­pac­ity con­straints at Volk­swa­gen.

The piv­otal model emerged as the Volk­swa­gen Golf in 1974, mar­keted in the United States and Canada as the Rab­bit for the 1st gen­er­a­tion (1975–1985) and 5th gen­er­a­tion (2006–2009). Its an­gu­lar styling was de­signed by the Ital­ian Gior­getto Giu­giaro). Its de­sign fol­lowed trends for small fam­ily cars set by the 1959 Mini – the Golf had a trans­versely mounted, wa­ter-cooled en­gine in the front, dri­ving the front wheels, and had a hatch­back, a for­mat that has dom­i­nated the mar­ket seg­ment ever since. Bee­tle pro­duc­tion at Wolfs­burg ended upon the Golf’s in­tro­duc­tion. It con­tin­ued in smaller num­bers at other Ger­man fac­to­ries (Hanover and Emden) until 1978, but main­stream pro­duc­tion shifted to Brazil and Mex­ico.

In 1975, the Volk­swa­gen Polo fol­lowed. It was a re-badged Audi 50, which was soon dis­con­tin­ued in 1978. The Polo be­came the base of

the Volk­swa­gen Derby, which was in­tro­duced 1977. The Derby was for all in­tents and pur­poses a three-box de­sign of the Polo. After a sec­ond model gen­er­a­tion, the Derby was dis­con­tin­ued in 1985, al­though the bodystyle lived on in the form of the polo clas­sic/polo sa­loon until 1991.

Pas­sat, Scirocco, Golf, and Polo shared many char­ac­ter defin­ing fea­tures, as well as parts and en­gines. They built the basis for Volk­swa­gen’s turn-around.

1974–1990: Product line expansion

Volkswagen Polo (1975–1979 model)

While Volk­swa­gen’s range of cars soon be­came sim­i­lar to that of other large Eu­ro­pean au­tomak­ers, the Golf has been the main­stay of the Volk­swa­gen lineup since its introduction, and the me­chan­i­cal basis for sev­eral other cars of the com­pany. There have been seven gen­er­a­tions of the Volk­swa­gen Golf, the first of which was pro­duced from the sum­mer of 1974 until the au­tumn of 1983 (sold as the Rab­bit in the United States and Canada and as the Caribe in Latin Amer­ica). Its chas­sis also spawned the Volk­swa­gen Scirocco sport coupe, Volk­swa­gen Jetta sa­loon/sedan, Volk­swa­gen Golf Cabri­o­let con­vert­ible, and Volk­swa­gen Caddy pick-up. North Amer­i­can pro­duc­tion of the Rab­bit com­menced at the Volk­swa­gen West­more­land As­sem­bly Plant near New Stan­ton, Penn­syl­va­nia in 1978. It would be pro­duced in the United States as the Rab­bit until the spring of 1984.The sec­ond-gen­er­a­tion Golf hatch­back/Jetta sedan ran from Oc­to­ber 1983 until the au­tumn of 1991, and a North Amer­i­can ver­sion pro­duced at West­more­land As­sem­bly went on sale at the start of the 1985 model year. The pro­duc­tion num­bers of the first-gen­er­a­tion Golf has con­tin­ued to grow an­nu­ally in South Africa as

the Citi Golf, with only minor mod­i­fi­ca­tions to the in­te­rior, en­gine and chas­sis, using tool­ing re­lo­cated from the New Stan­ton, Penn­syl­va­nia plant when that site began to build the Sec­ond Gen­er­a­tion car.

In the 1980s, Volk­swa­gen’s sales in the United States and Canada fell dra­mat­i­cally, de­spite the suc­cess of mod­els like the Golf else­where. The Japan­ese and the Amer­i­cans were able to com­pete with sim­i­lar prod­ucts at lower prices. Sales in the United States were 293,595 in 1980, but by 1984 they were down to 177,709. The in­tro­duc­tion of the sec­ond-gen­er­a­tion Golf, GTI and Jetta mod­els helped Volk­swa­gen briefly in North Amer­ica. Motor Trend named the GTI its Car of the Year for 1985, and Volk­swa­gen rose in the J.D. Power buyer sat­is­fac­tion rat­ings to eighth place in 1985, up from 22nd a year earlier. VW’s Amer­i­can sales broke 200,000 in 1985 and 1986 be­fore re­sum­ing the down­ward trend from ear­lier in the decade. Chair­man Carl Hahn de­cided to ex­pand the com­pany else­where (mostly in de­vel­op­ing coun­tries), and the New Stan­ton, Penn­syl­va­nia fac­tory closed on 14 July 1988. Mean­while, four years after sign­ing a co­op­er­a­tion agree­ment with the Span­ish car maker SEAT in 1982, Hahn ex­panded the com­pany by pur­chas­ing a ma­jor­ity share of SEAT up to 75% by the end of 1986, which VW bought out­right in 1990. On 4 July 1985, Volk­swa­gen­werk AG was re­named to Volk­swa­gen AG.

Volk­swa­gen en­tered the su­per­mini mar­ket in 1975 with the Volk­swa­gen Polo, a styl­ish and spa­cious three-door hatch­back de­signed by Bertone. It was a strong seller in West Ger­many and most of the rest of West­ern Eu­rope, being one of the first for­eign small cars to prove pop­u­lar in Britain. It had started out in 1974 as the Audi 50, which was only avail­able in cer­tain mar­kets and was less pop­u­lar. The Polo en­tered a mar­ket sec­tor al­ready being dom­i­nated by the Fiat 127 and Re­nault 5, and which be­fore long would also in­clude the Austin Metro and Ford Fi­esta.

In 1981, the sec­ond-gen­er­a­tion Polo launched and sold as a hatch­back and “coupe” (with the hatch­back re­sem­bling a small es­tate car and the coupe being sim­i­lar to a con­ven­tional hatch­back), was an even greater suc­cess for Volkswagen. Its prac­ti­cal­ity, de­spite the lack of a five-door ver­sion, helped en­sure even stronger sales than its pre­de­ces­sor, and it con­tin­ued to sell well after a makeover in 1990, fi­nally being re­placed by an all-new ver­sion in 1994. Also ar­riv­ing in 1981 were the sec­ond gen­er­a­tion of the larger Pas­sat and a sec­ond gen­er­a­tion of the Volk­swa­gen Scirocco coupe. The orig­i­nal Scirocco had been launched in 1974 to com­pete with af­ford­able four-seater coupes like the Ford Capri.

In 1983 the MK2 Golf was launched. At the be­gin­ning of 1988, the third gen­er­a­tion Pas­sat was the next major car launch and Volk­swa­gen did not pro­duce a hatch­back ver­sion of this Pas­sat, de­spite the ris­ing pop­u­lar­ity of the hatch­back bodystyle through­out Eu­rope. Just after launch­ing the B3 Pas­sat, Volk­swa­gen launched the Cor­rado, re­place­ment for the Scirocco, al­though the Scirocco re­mained in pro­duc­tion until 1992.

1991–1999

Volkswagen Golf, in North American form

In 1991, Volk­swa­gen launched the third-gen­er­a­tion Golf, which was Eu­ro­pean Car of the Year for 1992. The Golf Mk3 and Jetta ar­rived in North Amer­ica in 1993. The sedan ver­sion of the Golf was badged Vento in Eu­rope, but re­mained Jetta in the U.S. The Scirocco and the later Cor­rado were both Golf-based coupés.

The Volkswagen New Beetle

In 1994, Volk­swa­gen un­veiled the J Mays-de­signed Con­cept One, a “retro”-themed con­cept car with a re­sem­blance to the orig­i­nal Bee­tle, based on the plat­form of the Polo. Due to a pos­i­tive re­sponse to the con­cept, a pro­duc­tion ver­sion was de­vel­oped as the New Bee­tle, based on the Golf’s larger platform.

In 1995 the Sha­ran was launched in Eu­rope, the re­sult of a joint ven­ture with Ford, which also re­sulted in the Ford Galaxy and SEAT Al­ham­bra.

The com­pany’s evo­lu­tion of its model range was con­tin­ued with the Golf Mk4, in­tro­duced at the end of 1997 (and in North Amer­ica in 1999), its chas­sis spawned a host of other cars within the Volk­swa­gen Group; the Volk­swa­gen Bora (the sedan called Jetta in the U.S.), SEAT Toledo, SEAT León, Audi A3, Audi TT, and Škoda Oc­tavia. Other main mod­els dur­ing the decade in­clude the Polo, a smaller car than the Golf, and the larger Pas­sat for the seg­ment above the Golf.

In 1998 the com­pany launched the new Lupo city car. In 1999 they an­nounced the first “3-litre” car, a light­weight ver­sion of the Lupo that could travel 100 km with only 3-litres of diesel—mak­ing it the world’s most fuel ef­fi­cient car at the time.

2000–present: Further expansion

The fifth generation Volkswagen Jetta

Volk­swa­gen began in­tro­duc­ing an array of new mod­els after Bernd Pis­chet­srieder be­came Volk­swa­gen Group CEO (re­spon­si­ble for all Group brands) in 2002. The sixth-gen­er­a­tion VW Golf was launched in 2008, came run­ner-up to the Opel/Vaux­hall In­signia in the 2009 Eu­ro­pean Car of the Year, and has spawned sev­eral cousins: VW Jetta, VW Scirocco, SEAT León, SEAT Toledo, Škoda Oc­tavia and Audi A3 hatch­back ranges, as well as a new mini-MPV, the SEAT Altea. The GTI, a “hot hatch” per­for­mance ver­sion of the Golf, boasts a 2.0 L Tur­bocharged Fuel Strat­i­fied In­jec­tion (FSI) di­rect in­jec­tion en­gine. VW began mar­ket­ing the Golf under the Rab­bit name once again in the U.S. and Canada in 2006.

The sixth-gen­er­a­tion Pas­sat and the fifth-gen­er­a­tion Jetta both de­buted in 2005, and VW an­nounced plans to ex­pand its lineup fur­ther by bring­ing back the Scirocco by 2008. Other mod­els in Wolf­gang Bern­hard‘s (Volk­swa­gen brand CEO) “prod­uct of­fen­sive” in­clude the Tiguan mid-sized SUV in 2008 and a Pas­sat Coupé. In No­vem­ber 2006 Bernd Pis­chet­srieder an­nounced his res­ig­na­tion as Volk­swa­gen Group CEO, and was re­placed by Audi world­wide CEO Mar­tin Win­terkorn at the be­gin­ning of 2007.

The third generation Volkswagen Scirocco

Volk­swa­gen in 2005 main­tained North Amer­i­can sales of 224,195. Mo­men­tum con­tin­ued for fis­cal 2006, as VW’s North Amer­i­can sales for the year were 235,140 ve­hi­cles, a 4.9 per­cent in­crease over 2005, de­spite a slump in do­mes­tic North Amer­i­can man­u­fac­turer’s sales. In con­junc­tion with the in­tro­duc­tion of new mod­els, pro­duc­tion lo­ca­tion of Volk­swa­gen ve­hi­cles also un­der­went great change. The 2007 Eos, a hard­top con­vert­ible, is pro­duced in a new fa­cil­ity in Por­tu­gal. All Golfs/Rab­bits and GTIs as of 2006 are man­u­fac­tured in Wolfs­burg, Ger­many, rather than VW’s Mex­i­can fac­tory in Puebla, where Golfs and GTIs for the North Amer­i­can mar­ket were pro­duced from 1989 to 1998, and the Brazil­ian fac­tory in Cu­ritiba, where Golfs and GTIs were pro­duced from 1999 to 2006 (the Jetta has pri­mar­ily been made in Mex­ico since 1989). VW is also in the process of re­con­fig­ur­ing an au­to­mo­tive as­sem­bly plant in Bel­gium. The new mod­els and in­vest­ments in man­u­fac­tur­ing im­prove­ments were no­ticed im­me­di­ately by au­to­mo­tive crit­ics. Fa­vor­able re­views for VW’s newest cars in­clude the GTI being named by Con­sumer Re­ports as the top sporty car under $25,000, one of Car and Dri­ver mag­a­zine’s “10 Best” for 2007, Au­to­mo­bile Mag­a­zine’s 2007 Car of the Year, as well as a 2008 Motor Trend com­par­i­son rank­ing the mid-size Pas­sat first in its class.

The seventh generation Volkswagen Golf

Volk­swa­gen part­nered with Daim­ler AG and other com­pa­nies to mar­ket the BlueTec clean dieseltech­nol­ogy on cars and trucks from Mer­cedes-Benz, Volk­swa­gen, and other com­pa­nies and brands. Ac­cord­ing to the United States En­vi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency, four of the ten most fuel-ef­fi­cient ve­hi­cles avail­able for sale in the U.S. are pow­ered by Volk­swa­gen diesel engines. Volk­swa­gen has of­fered a num­ber of its ve­hi­cles with a TDI (Tur­bocharged Di­rect In­jec­tion) en­gine, which lends class-lead­ing fuel econ­omy to sev­eral mod­els. They were a three-way tie for 8th (TDI Bee­tle, TDI Golf, TDI Jetta) and ninth, the TDI Jetta Wagon. In ad­di­tion, all Volk­swa­gen TDI diesel en­gines pro­duced from 1996 to 2006 can be dri­ven on 100% biodiesel fuel. For the 2007 model year, how­ever, strict U.S. gov­ern­ment emis­sions reg­u­la­tions have forced VW to drop most diesels from their U.S. en­gine lineup, but a new lineup of diesel en­gines com­pat­i­ble to U.S. stan­dards re­turned to the Amer­i­can mar­ket start­ing with Model Year 2009. These post-2009 Clean Diesel en­gines are lim­ited to run­ning on 5% (B5) biodiesel only to main­tain Volk­swa­gen’s war­ranty. Volk­swa­gen long re­sisted adding a SUV to its lineup, but re­lented with the in­tro­duc­tion of

the Touareg, made in part­ner­ship with Porsche, while they worked on the Porsche Cayenne and later the Audi Q7. Though ac­claimed as a fine han­dling ve­hi­cle, the Touareg has been a mod­est seller at best, and it has been crit­i­cised by auto re­view­ers for its ab­sence of a third-row seat, the rel­a­tively poor fuel econ­omy, and the high ve­hi­cle mass. VW set plans to add a com­pact SUV with styling in­flu­ences from the “Con­cept A” con­cept ve­hi­cle in­tro­duced at the 2006 Geneva Auto Show, and on 20 July 2006, VW an­nounced that the new ve­hi­cle, called

the Tiguan.

Since the dis­con­tin­u­ance of the T4 in 2003 and de­ci­sion not to bring the T5 to the US mar­ket, Volk­swa­gen, iron­i­cally, lacked a van in its North Amer­i­can lineup. To change this, Volk­swa­gen launched the Volk­swa­gen Routan, a badge-en­gi­neered Dodge Grand Car­a­van made for the Amer­i­can and Cana­dian mar­kets, in 2008.

In Sep­tem­ber 2006, Volk­swa­gen began of­fer­ing the City Golf and City Jetta only for the Cana­dian mar­ket. Both mod­els were orig­i­nally the Mk4 Golf and Jetta but were later re­placed with the Brazil­ian ver­sions of the Golf Mk4 and Bora. Volk­swa­gen’s in­tro­duc­tion of such mod­els is seen as a test of the mar­ket for a sub­com­pact and, if suc­cess­ful, may be the be­gin­nings of a thriv­ing sub­com­pact mar­ket for Volk­swa­gen.

The Volkswagen Passat (3C)

In May 2011, Volk­swa­gen com­pleted Chat­tanooga As­sem­bly in the US state of Ten­nessee. The fa­cil­ity has pro­duced Volk­swa­gen cars and SUVs specif­i­cally de­signed for North Amer­i­can mar­kets, be­gin­ning with the Pas­sat B7 in 2011. The com­pany re­cently an­nounced plans to ex­pand fur­ther by in­vest­ing $900 mil­lion to add floor space to the factory.

The VW XL1 began a lim­ited pro­duc­tion run in 2013. The XL1 is a light­weight and fuel ef­fi­cient two-per­son ve­hi­cle (only 795 kg).

The Volk­swa­gen Atlas (a large crossover SUV) be­gins pro­duc­tion in late 2016, and aims to help end sev­eral years of losses for Volk­swa­gen in the US, the world’s sec­ond-largest auto market.

On 14 Sep­tem­ber 2016, Volk­swa­gen an­nounced its part­ner­ship with three Is­raeli cy­ber­se­cu­rity ex­perts to cre­ate a new com­pany, Cy­mo­tive, ded­i­cated to au­to­mo­tive security.

VW calls their shift to­wards elec­tric ve­hi­cles “Trans­form 2025+”. As part of the strat­egy, VW aims to launch more than 30 elec­tric ve­hi­cles until 2025, and is an­tic­i­pat­ing yearly sales of 2 to 3 mil­lion elec­tric VW cars by 2025, which would make up 20 to 25 per­cent of their total yearly sales volume. In Sep­tem­ber 2017, CEO Matthias Mueller an­nounced plans to have elec­tric ver­sion of all of VW’s 300 au­to­mo­tive mod­els by 2030. The com­pany vows to spend 20 bil­lion euros by 2030 to roll out the cars and des­ig­nated an­other 50 bil­lion euros to buy the bat­ter­ies needed to power the vehicles.

In April 2018, Volk­swa­gen has fi­nally whipped the cov­ers of its first all-elec­tric race car, the I.D. R Pikes Peak, which has been built to con­quer the road race of the same name. The I.D. R Pikes Peak was un­veiled in Alès, France, and should be ready to roll in two short months. It will be pow­ered by twin en­gines, though this time around they’ll be strictly elec­tric. With a lithium-ion bat­tery sys­tem on board, the car gen­er­ates 680 hp and 479 lb-ft of torque.

Operations

Volk­swa­gen is the found­ing and name­sake mem­ber of the Volk­swa­gen Group, a large in­ter­na­tional cor­po­ra­tion in charge of mul­ti­ple car and truck brands, in­clud­ing Audi, SEAT, Porsche, Lam­borgh­ini, Bent­ley, Bugatti, Sca­nia, MAN, and Škoda. Volk­swa­gen Group’s global head­quar­ters are lo­cated in Volk­swa­gen’s his­toric home of Wolfs­burg, Germany.

Volk­swa­gen Group, as a unit, is Eu­rope’s largest automaker. For a long time, Volk­swa­gen has had a mar­ket share over 20 percent.

In 2010, Volk­swa­gen posted record sales of 6.29 mil­lion ve­hi­cles, with its global mar­ket share at 11.4%. In 2008, Volk­swa­gen be­came the third largest au­tomaker in the world, and, as of 2012, Volk­swa­gen is the sec­ond largest man­u­fac­turer worldwide. Volk­swa­gen has aimed to dou­ble its US mar­ket share from 2% to 4% in 2014, and is aim­ing to be­come, sus­tain­ably, the world’s largest car maker by 2018. Volk­swa­gen Group’s core mar­kets in­clude Ger­many and China.

Worldwide presence

Volk­swa­gen has fac­to­ries in many parts of the world, man­u­fac­tur­ing or as­sem­bling ve­hi­cles for local mar­kets. In ad­di­tion to plants in Ger­many, Volk­swa­gen has man­u­fac­tur­ing or as­sem­bly fa­cil­i­ties in Mex­ico, the US, Slo­va­kia, China, India, Indonesia, Rus­sia, Malaysia, Brazil, Ar­gentina, Por­tu­gal, Spain, Poland, the Czech Re­pub­lic, Bosnia and Herze­gov­ina, Kenya and South Africa. In 2011, Volk­swa­gen was named in the top 25 largest com­pa­nies in the world by the Forbes Global 2000.

Volk­swa­gen is set­ting up a new fac­tory in West Java, In­done­sia, which started con­struc­tion in mid-2013. The in­vest­ment into the new plant, which will pro­duce large trans­porters and mul­ti­vans, is val­ued at $140 mil­lion.

As of May 2014, Volk­swa­gen is plan­ning to start as­sem­bling cer­tain en­gines in India to in­crease lo­cal­i­sa­tion from 70% to 90%.

In Jan­u­ary 2016, Volk­swa­gen an­nounced launch­ing a new fac­tory in Al­ge­ria dur­ing a sum­mit be­tween An­gela Merkel and Al­ger­ian prime min­is­ter Ab­del­malek Sel­lal.

Work–life balance

Volk­swa­gen agreed in De­cem­ber 2011 to im­ple­ment a rule passed by the com­pany’s works coun­cil aimed at im­prov­ing work–life bal­anceby re­strict­ing com­pany email func­tion­al­ity on the firm’s Black­Berry smart­phones from 6:30 pm to 7:30 am. The change was a re­sponse to em­ploy­ees’ com­plaints about high stress lev­els at work and the ex­pec­ta­tion that em­ploy­ees would im­me­di­ately an­swer af­ter-hours email from home. About 1,150 of Volk­swa­gen’s more than 190,000 em­ploy­ees are af­fected by the email restriction.

Relationship with Porsche and the Volkswagen Law

Volk­swa­gen has al­ways had a close re­la­tion­ship with Porsche, the Zuf­fen­hausen-based sports car man­u­fac­turer founded in 1931 by Fer­di­nand Porsche, the orig­i­nal Volk­swa­gen de­signer and Volk­swa­gen com­pany co-founder, hired by Adolf Hitler for the pro­ject. The first Porsche car, the Porsche 64 of 1938, used many com­po­nents from the Volk­swa­gen Bee­tle. The 1948 Porsche 356 con­tin­ued using many Volk­swa­gen com­po­nents, in­clud­ing a tuned en­gine, gear­box and sus­pen­sion.

The two com­pa­nies con­tin­ued their col­lab­o­ra­tion in 1969 to make the VW-Porsche 914 and Porsche 914-6. (The 914-6 had a 6-cylin­der Porsche en­gine, and the stan­dard 914 had a Volk­swa­gen en­gine.) Volk­swa­gen and Porsche would col­lab­o­rate again in 1976 on the Porsche 912-E (USA only) and the Porsche 924, which used many Audi com­po­nents and was built at Audi’s Neckar­sulm fa­cil­i­ties. The 924 was orig­i­nally des­ig­nated for AUDI. Most Porsche 944 mod­els were built there, al­though they used far fewer VW com­po­nents.

The Porsche Cayenne, in­tro­duced in 2002, shares its en­tire chas­sis with the Volk­swa­gen Touareg and Audi Q7, and is built at the same Volk­swa­gen fac­tory in Bratislava that the other SUV’s are built.

In Sep­tem­ber 2005, Porsche an­nounced it would in­crease its 5% stake in Volk­swa­gen to 20% at a cost of €3 bil­lion, with the in­ten­tion that the com­bined stakes of Porsche and the gov­ern­ment of Lower Sax­ony would en­sure that any hos­tile takeover by for­eign in­vestors would be impossible. Spec­u­lated suit­ors in­cluded Daim­ler­Chrysler, BMW, and Re­nault. In July 2006, Porsche in­creased their own­er­ship again to 25.1%.

On 4 March 2005, the Eu­ro­pean Com­mis­sion brought an ac­tion against the Fed­eral Re­pub­lic of Ger­many be­fore the Eu­ro­pean Court of Jus­tice, claim­ing that the Volk­swa­gen Law, which pre­vents any share­holder in Volk­swa­gen from ex­e­cut­ing more than 20% of the total vot­ing rights in the firm, was il­le­gally re­strict­ing the flow of cap­i­tal in Europe. On 13 Feb­ru­ary 2007, Ad­vo­cate Gen­eral Dámaso Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer sub­mit­ted an opin­ion to the court in sup­port of the action. This again opened the pos­si­bil­ity of a hos­tile takeover of VW and so on 26 March of the same year Porsche took its hold­ing of Volk­swa­gen shares to 30.9%. Porsche for­mally an­nounced in a press state­ment that it did not in­tend to take over Volk­swa­gen, but in­tended the move to avoid a com­peti­tor’s tak­ing a large stake and to stop hedge funds from dis­man­tling VW. As ex­pected, on 22 Oc­to­ber 2007, the Eu­ro­pean Court of Jus­tice ruled in agree­ment with Ruiz-Jarabo and the law was struck down. In Oc­to­ber 2007, the Eu­ro­pean Court of Jus­tice ruled that the VW law was illegal be­cause it was pro­tec­tion­ist. At that time, Porsche held 31% of VW shares — al­though a smaller pro­por­tion of vot­ing rights, due to the Volk­swa­gen Law — and there had been spec­u­la­tion that Porsche would be in­ter­ested in tak­ing over VW if the law did not stand in its way. The court also pre­vented the gov­ern­ment from ap­point­ing Volk­swa­gen board members. The Ger­man gov­ern­ment then rewrote the Volk­swa­gen law, only to be sued again. In Oc­to­ber 2013, the EU Court of Jus­tice in Lux­em­bourg ruled that the rewrit­ten Volk­swa­gen law “com­plied in full” with EU rules.

On 26 Oc­to­ber 2008, Porsche re­vealed its plan to as­sume con­trol of VW. As of that day, it held 42.6% of Volk­swa­gen’s or­di­nary shares and stock op­tions on an­other 31.5%. Com­bined with the state of Lower Sax­ony’s 20.1% stake, this left only 5.8% of shares on the mar­ket—mostly with index funds that could not legally sell. Hedge funds des­per­ate to cover their short po­si­tions forced Volk­swa­gen stock above one thou­sand euros per share, briefly mak­ing it the world’s largest com­pany by mar­ket cap­i­tal­i­sa­tion on 28 Oc­to­ber 2008. By Jan­u­ary 2009, Porsche had a 50.76% hold­ing in Volk­swa­gen AG, al­though the “Volk­swa­gen Law” pre­vented it from tak­ing con­trol of the company.

On 6 May 2009, the two com­pa­nies de­cided to join to­gether, in a merger.

On 13 Au­gust, Volk­swa­gen Ak­tienge­sellschaft’s Su­per­vi­sory Board signed the agree­ment to cre­ate an in­te­grated au­to­mo­tive group with Porsche led by Volk­swa­gen. The ini­tial de­ci­sion was for Volk­swa­gen to take a 42.0% stake in Porsche AG by the end of 2009, and it would also see the fam­ily share­hold­ers sell­ing the au­to­mo­bile trad­ing busi­ness of Porsche Hold­ing Salzburg to Volkswagen. In Oc­to­ber 2009 how­ever, Volk­swa­gen an­nounced that its per­cent­age in Porsche would be 49.9% for a cost of €3.9 bil­lion (the 42.0% deal would have cost €3.3 bil­lion). On 1 March 2011, Volk­swa­gen has fi­nal­ized the pur­chase of Porsche Hold­ing Salzburg (PHS), Aus­tria’s lead­ing spe­cialty au­to­mo­bile dis­trib­u­tor, for €3.3 bil­lion ($4.55 bil­lion).

AutoMuseum

Since 1985, Volk­swa­gen has run the Volk­swa­gen Au­to­Mu­seum in Wolfs­burg, a mu­seum ded­i­cated specif­i­cally to the his­tory of Volkswagen. In ad­di­tion to vis­it­ing ex­hibits in per­son, own­ers of vin­tage Volk­swa­gens any­where in the world may order what the mu­seum refers to as a “Birth Cer­tifi­cate” for a set fee of €50—this for­mal “Zer­ti­fikat” in­di­cates basic in­for­ma­tion known at the time of man­u­fac­ture (col­ors, op­tions, port of des­ti­na­tion, etc.).

Global sales figures, 2006-2016

Year	Global sales (in millions)
2006	5.7
2007	6.2
2008	6.3
2009	6.3
2010	7.3
2011	8.4
2012	9.3
2013	9.7
2014	10.2
2015	10.0
2016	10.3

Current models

2012 Volkswagen up! (AA MY13) 5-door hatchback (2015-11-11) 01

Up!           City Car        Hatchback

2014-present Volkswagen Gol Mk6 Sedan

Gol        City Car       Hatchback  –  Sedan  –  Coupé Utility

2017 VW Ameo rear view

Ameo       City Car      Sedan

2015 Volkswagen Fox in Punta del Este 01

Fox (South America)      Supermini        Hatchback  –  Estate

2005-2010 Volkswagen Polo IV (9N3) GTI 3-door hatchback

Polo       Supermini       Hatchback  –  Coupé  –  Estate

2015 Vento Highline

Vento      Subcompact car     Sedan

2012 Volkswagen Beetle

Beetle       Small family car        Hatchback  –  Convertible

2017 VW Golf Variant 1.4 TSI BlueMotion Technology Highline (VII, Facelift)

Golf     Small family car     Hatchback  –  Estate  –  Convertible

2018 VW Jetta VII P4220677

Jetta     Small family car    Sedan

2017 Volkswagen Arteon SCR 4MOTION R-Line 2.0 Front

Arteon     Large family car      Sedan2014 VW Passat B8 Limousine 2.0 TDI Highline

Passat      Large family car     Sedan

GTI models

2011 VW Polo GTI (V)

Polo GTI     Supermini      Hatchback

2015 Volkswagen Golf GTi (16460156619)

Golf GTI     Small family car     Hatchback

Electric models

GTE models

See also: Volkswagen XL1

GTE are plug-in hy­brid elec­tric ve­hi­cles The GTE’s en­gine, elec­tric motor, and trans­mis­sion are fully shared with the Audi A3 Sport­back e-tron:

2015 Black VW Golf GTE charging

Golf GTE     Small family car    Hatchback     1.4l and an electric motor can travel for a full 50km on electricity only

2014 Volkswagen Passat GTE Variant – Mondial de l’Automobile de Paris

Passat GTE     Large family car     Estate

e-models

VW e-mod­els are all-elec­tric ve­hi­cles.

Volkswagen e-up! at Hannover Messe

e-up!

2013 VW e-Golf LA Auto Show

e-Golf

R models

R mod­els are ex­otic and sport ve­hi­cles.

2014 VW Golf R (VII)

Golf R     Small sports car     Hatchback

2015 Volkswagen Scirocco R (15977639104)

Scirocco R      Small sports car      Coupé

Historic models

Kübelwagen         1940–1945

Schwimmwagen         1942-1944

Sedan, ”Beetle, Bug”           1938 – 2003

Karmann Ghia          1955–1974

1500/1600          1961–1973

181         1969–1983

Country Buggy          1967–1969

411          1968–1972

K70        1970–1974

412           1972–1974

Scirocco         1974–1981

Derby          1977–1981

2010 VW Corrado 16 V (2010-04-12)

Corrado        1988–1995

Vw lupo v sst

Lupo          1998–2004

2006-2007 Volkswagen New Beetle

New Beetle          1998–2010

2010 VW Golf Plus 2.0 TDI Facelift front-1 20100710

Golf +         2004-2009

2009 Volkswagen Routan SE

Routan           2009-2013

2012 Volkswagen Eos — 04-01-2011 1

Eos          2006-2015

2011 VW Phaeton 3.0 V6 TDI 4MOTION (2. Facelift)

Phaeton          2003-2016

2010 Volkswagen Passat CC 2.0 TSi 2010

CC         2008-2017

Electric and alternative fuel vehicles

Neat ethanol vehicles

Industriemesse Hannover 1978
Staatssekretär Erwin Stahl besichtigt den Innovationsmarkt

VW neat ethanol prototype car developed by Volkswagen do Brasil in 1978.

Volk­swa­gen do Brasil pro­duced and sold neat ethanol-pow­ered, (E100 only), ve­hi­cles in Brazil, and pro­duc­tion was dis­con­tin­ued only after they were sup­planted by more mod­ern Flex Fuel tech­nol­ogy. As a re­sponse to the 1973 oil cri­sis, the Brazil­ian gov­ern­ment began pro­mot­ing bioethanol as a fuel, and the Na­tional Al­co­hol Pro­gram –Pró-Álcool– (Por­tuguese: Pro­grama Na­ci­onal do Álcool) was launched in 1975. Com­pelled by the 1979 en­ergy cri­sis, and after de­vel­op­ment and test­ing with gov­ern­ment fleets by the CTA at São José dos Cam­pos, and fur­ther test­ing of sev­eral pro­to­types de­vel­oped by the four local car­mak­ers, in­clud­ing Volk­swa­gen do Brasil, neat ethanol ve­hi­cles were launched in the Brazil­ian market. Gaso­line en­gines were mod­i­fied to sup­port hy­drous ethanol char­ac­ter­is­tics and changes in­cluded com­pres­sion ratio, amount of fuel in­jected, re­place­ment of ma­te­ri­als that would get cor­roded by the con­tact with ethanol, use of colder spark plugs suit­able for dis­si­pat­ing heat due to higher flame tem­per­a­tures, and an aux­il­iary cold-start sys­tem that in­jects gaso­line from a small tank in the en­gine com­part­ment to help start­ing when cold. Within six years, around 75% of all Brazil­ian pas­sen­ger cars were man­u­fac­tured with ethanol engines.

Pro­duc­tion and sales of neat ethanol ve­hi­cles tum­bled be­gin­ning in 1987 owing to sev­eral fac­tors, in­clud­ing a sharp de­cline in gaso­line prices as a re­sult of the 1980s oil glut, and high sugar prices in the world mar­ket, shift­ing sug­ar­cane ethanol pro­duc­tion from fuel to sugar. By mid-1989, a short­age of ethanol fuel sup­ply in the local mar­ket left thou­sands of ve­hi­cles in line at gas sta­tions or out of fuel in their garages, forc­ing con­sumers to aban­don ethanol vehicles.

Flexible-fuel vehicles

The 2003 VW Gol 1.6 Total Flex was the first full flex­i­ble-fuel ve­hi­cle launched in Brazil, ca­pa­ble of run­ning on any blend of gaso­line and E100. In March of that year, on its fifti­eth an­niver­sary, Volk­swa­gen do Brasil launched in the local mar­ket the Gol 1.6 Total Flex, the first Brazil­ian com­mer­cial flex­i­ble fuel ve­hi­cle ca­pa­ble of run­ning on any mix of E20-E25 gaso­line and up to 100% hy­drousethanol fuel (E100). After the neat ethanol fi­asco, con­sumer con­fi­dence in ethanol-pow­ered ve­hi­cles was re­stored, al­low­ing a rapid adop­tion of the flex tech­nol­ogy. This was fa­cil­i­tated by the fuel dis­tri­b­u­tion in­fra­struc­ture al­ready in place through­out Brazil, with more than 30 thou­sand fu­el­ing sta­tions, a her­itage of the Pró-Álcool pro­gram

Owing to the suc­cess and rapid con­sumer ac­cep­tance of the flex-fuel ver­sions, by 2005 VW had sold 293,523 flex-fuel cars and light-duty trucks, and only 53,074 gaso­line-only automobiles, jump­ing to 525,838 flex-fuel ve­hi­cles and only 13,572 gaso­line-only cars and 248 gaso­line-only light trucks in 2007, and reach­ing new car sales of 564,959 flex-fuel ve­hi­cles in 2008, rep­re­sent­ing 96% of all new cars and light-duty trucks sold in that year. VW do Brasil stopped man­u­fac­tur­ing gaso­line-only ve­hi­cles mod­els for the local mar­ket in 2006, and all of the re­main­ing gaso­line-only Volk­swa­gen mod­els sold in Brazil are im­ported. The flex-fuel mod­els cur­rently pro­duced for the local mar­ket are the Gol, Fox, Cross­Fox, Parati, Polo Hatch, Polo Sedan, Saveiro, Golf, and Kombi. By March 2009, Volk­swa­gen do Brasil had at­tained the mile­stone mark of two mil­lion flex-fuel ve­hi­cles pro­duced since 2003.

Hybrid vehicles

The Volkswagen Jetta Hybrid gets 48 mpg highway.

Volk­swa­gen and Sanyo have teamed up to de­velop a bat­tery sys­tem for hy­brid cars. Volk­swa­gen head Mar­tin Win­terkorn has con­firmed the com­pany plans to build com­pact hy­brid elec­tric ve­hi­cles. He has stated “There will def­i­nitely be com­pact hy­brid mod­els, such as Polo and Golf, and with­out any great delay”, with gaso­line and diesel power. For ex­am­ple, Golf is the ideal model to go hy­brid as the Golf 1.4 TSI was re­cently awarded the “Auto En­vi­ron­ment Cer­tifi­cate” by the Oko-Trend In­sti­tute for En­vi­ron­men­tal Re­search, and was con­sid­ered as one of the most en­vi­ron­men­tally friendly ve­hi­cles of 2007. Also un­der­way at Volk­swa­gen’s Braun­schweig R&D fa­cil­i­ties in North­ern Ger­many is a hy­brid ver­sion of the next-gen­er­a­tion Touareg.

VW in­tends all fu­ture mod­els to have the hy­brid op­tion. “Fu­ture VW mod­els will fun­da­men­tally also be con­structed with hy­brid con­cepts,” VW head of de­vel­op­ment Ul­rich Hack­en­berg told Au­to­mo­bil­woche in an in­ter­view. Hack­en­berg men­tioned that the car based on the Up! con­cept seen at Frank­furt Motor Show, as well as all fu­ture mod­els, could be of­fered with ei­ther full or par­tial hy­brid op­tions. The rear-en­gine up! will go into pro­duc­tion in 2011. Noth­ing has been said about plug-in hy­brid op­tions.

Volk­swa­gen an­nounced at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show the launch of the 2012 Touareg Hy­brid, sched­uled for 2011. VW also an­nounced plans to in­tro­duce diesel-elec­tric hy­brid ver­sions of its most pop­u­lar mod­els in 2012, be­gin­ning with the new Jetta, fol­lowed by the Golf Hy­brid in 2013 to­gether with hy­brid ver­sions of the Pas­sat. In 2012, the Volk­swa­gen Jetta Hy­brid set the world record to be­come the fastest hy­brid car at 187 mph.

Plug-in electric vehicles

In No­vem­ber 2009, Volk­swa­gen an­nounced it has hired Karl-Thomas Neu­mann as its group chief of­fi­cer for elec­tric trac­tion. VW’s Chief of re­search, Jürgen Leo­hold, said in 2010 the com­pany has con­cluded hy­dro­gen fuel-cell cars are not a vi­able option.

Volkswagen Golf GTE plug-in hybridcharging.

As of May 2016, the Volk­swa­gen Group of­fers for re­tails cus­tomers nine plug-in elec­tric cars, of which, three are all-elec­tric cars: the Volk­swa­gen e-Up!, e-Golf and Audi R8 e-tron, and six are plug-in hy­brids: the Volk­swa­gen Golf GTE, Pas­sat GTE, Audi A3 Sport­back e-tron, Q7 e-tron quat­tro, Porsche Panam­era S E-Hy­brid and Cayenne S E-Hy­brid. Also two lim­ited pro­duc­tion plug-in hy­brids were man­u­fac­tured be­gin­ning in 2013, the Volk­swa­gen XL1 (250 units) and the Porsche 918 Spy­der (918 units). Total cu­mu­la­tive sales of all Volk­swa­gen brand elec­tri­fied cars since the start of their re­spec­tive pro­duc­tion is ex­pected to reach about 103,000 by the end of 2016.

In order to com­ply with in­creas­ingly strict car­bon diox­ide emis­sion lim­its in major mar­kets, the VW Group ex­pects to sell about one mil­lion all-elec­tric and plug-in hy­brid ve­hi­cles a year world­wide by 2025. The Group plans to ex­pand its plug-in range with 20 new pure elec­tric and plug-in hy­brid cars, in­clud­ing two cars to com­pete with Tesla Mo­tors, the Porsche Mis­sion E all-elec­tric car and the Audi e-tron quat­tro, which is ex­pected to be­come the brand’s first mass pro­duc­tion elec­tric ve­hi­cle. Ac­cord­ing to Thomas Ul­brich, VW brand pro­duc­tion chief, the car­maker has ca­pacitty to build as many as 75,000 bat­tery elec­tric and plug-in hy­brids a year if de­mand rises. Volk­swa­gen an­nounced in Oc­to­ber 2015 that “it will de­velop a mod­u­lar ar­chi­tec­ture for bat­tery elec­tric cars, called the MEB. The stan­dard­ized sys­tem will be de­signed for all body struc­tures and ve­hi­cle types and will allow the com­pany to build emo­tion­ally ap­peal­ing EVs with a range of up to 310 mi (500 km).” In June 2016, VW launched a pro­gram to de­velop 30 all-elec­tric cars in 10 years, and sell 2-3 mil­lion elec­tric cars per year by 2025. Due to lower man­power re­quire­ments for elec­tric mo­tors than for pis­ton en­gines, VW ex­pects a grad­ual work­force re­duc­tion as num­bers of elec­tric cars increase. VW con­sid­ers bat­tery fac­tory own­er­ship as too expensive.

Environmental record

The Volkswagen XL1, with potential mileage as high as 261 mpg, is the most fuel-efficient car in the world

In 1974 Volk­swa­gen paid a $120,000 fine to set­tle a com­plaint filed by the En­vi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency over the use of so-called “de­feat de­vices” that dis­abled cer­tain pol­lu­tion-con­trol sys­tems. The com­plaint said the use of the de­vices vi­o­lated the U.S. Clean Air Act.

In 1996, Volk­swa­gen first im­ple­mented its seven en­vi­ron­men­tal goals in Tech­ni­cal De­vel­op­ment with themes in­volv­ing cli­mate pro­tec­tion, re­source con­ser­va­tion, and health­care, through ob­jec­tives such as re­duc­ing green­house emis­sions and fuel con­sump­tion, en­abling al­ter­na­tive fuels, and avoid­ing haz­ardous materials. The goals have been re­vised in 2002 and 2007. Volk­swa­gen was the first car man­u­fac­turer to apply ISO 14000, dur­ing its draft­ing stage and was re-cer­ti­fied under the stan­dards in Sep­tem­ber 2005.

In 2011, Green­peace began crit­i­cis­ing Volk­swa­gen’s op­po­si­tion to leg­is­la­tion re­quir­ing tighter con­trols on CO2 emis­sions and en­ergy ef­fi­ciency, and launched an ad­ver­tis­ing cam­paign par­o­dy­ing VW’s se­ries of Star Wars-based commercials.

In 2013, the Volk­swa­gen XL1 be­came the most fuel-ef­fi­cient pro­duc­tion car in the world, with a claimed com­bined fuel con­sump­tion of 261 mpg (0.90 liter/100 km). Dri­ving style has huge im­pact on this re­sult – “nor­mal” dri­ving pro­duces mileage in the 120 mpg range (1.96 liter/100 km).

As of 2014, VW is reg­is­tered with a Cor­po­rate Av­er­age Fuel Econ­omy (CAFE) of 34-38 mpg in USA.

Diesel emission violations

Main article: Volkswagen emissions scandal

On 18 Sep­tem­ber 2015, the United States En­vi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion Agency (EPA) said be­gin­ning in 2008 the au­tomaker im­prop­erly in­stalled en­gine con­trol unit (ECU) soft­ware de­ter­mined to be a “de­feat de­vice”, in vi­o­la­tion of the Clean Air Act to cir­cum­vent en­vi­ron­men­tal reg­u­la­tions of NO_xemis­sions by diesel en­gine 2009-2015 model year Volk­swa­gen and Audi cars. The soft­ware de­tects when the cars were being sub­ject to emis­sions test­ing, and then fully en­abled ECU emis­sion con­trols to suc­cess­fully pass. How­ever, dur­ing nor­mal dri­ving con­di­tions, emis­sion con­trol soft­ware was shut off in order to at­tain greater fuel econ­omy and ad­di­tional power, re­sult­ing in as much as 40 times more pol­lu­tion than al­lowed by law. Con­sumer Re­ports tested a 2011 Jetta Sport­Wa­gen TDI and found in emis­sions mode its 0-60 mph time in­creased by 0.6 sec­onds and its high­way fuel econ­omy dropped from 50 mpg to 46 mpg. Volk­swa­gen ad­mit­ted to using the de­feat de­vice, and has been or­dered to re­call ap­prox­i­mately 482,000 cars with four-cylin­der 2.0-liter TDI en­gines. United States fed­eral penal­ties may in­clude fines rang­ing up to US$18bil­lion, and pos­si­bly crim­i­nal charges. On 28 June 2016, Volk­swa­gen agreed to pay a set­tle­ment of $15.3 bil­lion, the largest auto-re­lated con­sumer class-ac­tion law­suit in the United States history.

In May 2014, the EPA was first alerted to the issue by the In­ter­na­tional Coun­cil on Clean Trans­porta­tion (ICCT), re­port­ing results of re­search com­mis­sioned for them by West Vir­ginia Uni­ver­sity‘s Cen­ter for Al­ter­na­tive Fuels, En­gines and Emis­sions (CAFEE). After 15 months of deny­ing the emis­sions con­trol sys­tems were de­lib­er­ately gamed and in­stead claim­ing dis­crep­an­cies due to “tech­ni­cal” rea­sons, on Au­gust 21 Volk­swa­gen ac­knowl­edged to the EPA and Cal­i­for­nia Air Re­sources Board (CARB) their emis­sion con­trols sys­tems were rigged. This was fol­lowed by a for­mal an­nounce­ment of ad­mis­sion to reg­u­la­tors on Sep­tem­ber 3 which took place im­me­di­ately after the EPA threat­ened to with­hold ap­proval for their 2016 cars. Volk­swa­gen’s ini­tial pub­lic re­sponse came on 20 Sep­tem­ber, when a spokesman said they would stop all US sales of the diesel mod­els af­fected. Chair­man Mar­tin Win­terkorn is­sued an apol­ogy and said Volk­swa­gen would co­op­er­ate with investigators. Since emis­sion stan­dards in Canada are close to those in the US, Volk­swa­gen Canada also halted sales of the af­fected diesel models. on 22 Sep­tem­ber 2015, Volk­swa­gen spokesman ad­mit­ted that the de­feat de­vice is in­stalled in ~11 mil­lion ve­hi­cles with Type EA 189 diesel en­gines worldwide.

On the first busi­ness day after the news, Volk­swa­gen’s stock price de­clined 20% and de­clined an­other 17% the fol­low­ing day, the same day a so­cial media ad­ver­tise­ment with Wired about “how diesel was re-en­gi­neered” was re­moved as well as a se­ries of YouTube ads ti­tled “Diesel Old Wives’ Tales”. On Wednes­day, 23 Sep­tem­ber, Volk­swa­gen chief ex­ec­u­tive of­fi­cer Mar­tin Win­terkorn re­signed. Volk­swa­gen hired Kirk­land & Ellis law firm for de­fense, the same firm that de­fended BP dur­ing the Deep­wa­ter Hori­zon oil spill.

On 2 No­vem­ber 2016, the EPA is­sued a sec­ond no­tice of vi­o­la­tion (NOV) per­tain­ing to cer­tain diesel 3.0-liter V6 equipped Audis, Volk­swa­gen Touaregs and Porsche Cayennes. The EPA found be­gin­ning with the 2009 model year all ve­hi­cles pow­ered by the V6 were non-compliant. Dur­ing test­ing the EPA, CARB and Trans­port Canada dis­cov­ered soft­ware that ac­ti­vates pol­lu­tion re­duc­tion sys­tems when the au­to­mo­biles are being dri­ven under fed­eral test con­di­tions, oth­er­wise dur­ing real world dri­ving these de­vices are inactive. Volk­swa­gen dis­puted the EPA’s find­ings stat­ing their soft­ware was legally permitted, how­ever shortly after Volk­swa­gen is­sued a stop-sale for the EPA’s dis­puted ve­hi­cles and ad­di­tional mod­els the EPA did not question.

In March 2016, the US Fed­eral Trade Com­mis­sion sued Volk­swa­gen for false ad­ver­tis­ing, be­cause Volk­swa­gen’s “clean diesel” ve­hi­cles were less en­vi­ron­men­tally friendly than advertised.

In No­vem­ber 2016, Volk­swa­gen and its labour unions agreed to re­duce the work­force by 30,000 peo­ple until 2021 as a re­sult of the costs from the vi­o­la­tions. How­ever, 9,000 new jobs would come by pro­duc­ing more elec­tric cars. Volk­swa­gen also an­nounced plans to be­come the world leader in elec­tric cars, pro­duc­ing 1 mil­lion VW-EVs by 2025 and 3 mil­lion by the group, and a VW man­ager stated that its diesel cars would not be­come avail­able in USA.

On 11 Jan­u­ary 2017, Volk­swa­gen agreed to plead guilty to the emis­sions-cheat­ing scan­dal and to pay $4.3 bil­lion in penal­ties. Six Volk­swa­gen ex­ec­u­tives were charged. The fol­low­ing day, one of the in­dicted ex­ec­u­tives was or­dered to be held with­out bail pend­ing trial as it was feared that he would flee to Ger­many and ex­tra­di­tion would be impossible. Se­nior VW man­age­ment staff were warned not to travel to the US. On 23 Jan­u­ary 2017, a US judge ap­proved a $1.2 bil­lion set­tle­ment in which 650 Amer­i­can deal­ers, “who, like con­sumers, were blind­sided by the brazen fraud that VW per­pe­trated,” would re­ceive an av­er­age of $1.85 million.

Awards

The Volkswagen Polo in Christchurch, New Zealand. The Volkswagen Polo won the 2010 World Car of the Year

The Volkswagen up! won the 2012 World Car of the Year

Volk­swa­gen was named the fourth most in­flu­en­tial car of the 20th cen­tury in the 1999 Car of the Cen­tury com­pe­ti­tion, for its Volk­swa­gen Type 1 ’Bee­tle” model. It trailed only the Ford Model T, BMC Mini, and Citroën DS.

Volk­swa­gen has pro­duced three win­ners of the 50-year-old Eu­ro­pean Car of the Year award.

• 1992 – Volkswagen Golf
• 2010 – Volkswagen Polo
• 2013 – Volkswagen Golf

Volk­swa­gen has pro­duced five win­ners of the United States Motor Trend Car of the Year award — the orig­i­nal Car of the Year des­ig­na­tion, which began in 1949.

• 1985 – Volkswagen GTI
• 1999 – Volkswagen New Beetle (Import COTY subgroup)
• 2004 – Volkswagen Touareg (Sport Utility Vehicle COTY subgroup)
• 2012 – Volkswagen Passat
• 2015 – Volkswagen Golf line-up

Volk­swa­gen has al­ready pro­duced four win­ners of the re­cently de­vel­oped World Car of the Year award.

• 2009 – Volkswagen Golf
• 2010 – Volkswagen Polo
• 2012 – Volkswagen up!
• 2013 – Volkswagen Golf

Motorsport

Main article: Volkswagen Motorsport

Formula racing

• In 1963, Formula Vee circuit racing, with cars built from easily available Beetle parts, started in the United States. It quickly spread to Europe and other parts of the world. It proved very popular as a low-cost route into formula racing.
• In 1971, Volkswagen of America started the more powerful Formula Super Vee, which became famous for hothousing new talent. In the 11 years it ran, until 1982, it produced a stable of world-famous Formula One drivers—names like Niki Lauda, Jochen Mass, Nelson Piquet, Jochen Rindt and Keke Rosberg. Volkswagen also notched up several victories, and the championship in Formula Three.
• In July 2011 Wolfgang Dürheimer, the director of Bugatti and Bentley, told German magazine Auto, Motor und Sport that “if [the VW group] is at the forefront of the auto industry, I can imagine us competing in Formula 1 in 2018. We have enough brands to pull it off.” They did not compete in F1 in 2018.

World Rally Championship

• In 1981, now based in Hanover, VW took a new direction into rallying, with the launch of the first-generation Golf, and Sweden’s Per Eklund, Frenchman Jean-Luc Thérier, and the Finn Pentti Airikkala. The final chapters in Volkswagen Racing UK’s rallying story were the ‘one-make’ Castrol Polo Challenge, and the Polo GTI ‘Super 1600’ in 2001.
• Volkswagen Motorsport won the World Rally Championship with Sébastien Ogier and co-driver Julien Ingrassia four years in a row from 2013 to 2016 in the Volkswagen Polo R WRC.

Dakar Rally

• In 1980, Volkswagen competed with the Audi-developed Iltis, placing 1st, 2nd, 4th and 9th overall.
• In 2003, the Hanover-based team entered with a 2WD buggy named Tarek, finishing 6th overall and 1st in the 2WD and Diesel class.
• In 2005, an updated Race-Touareg with slightly more power entered, with driver Bruno Saby finishing 3rd overall and 1st in the Diesel class.
• In 2006, the revised Race-Touareg entered, with driver Giniel de Villiers finishing 2nd overall and 1st in the Diesel class.
• Volkswagen won the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Dakar Rally, held in South America.

Volkswagen motorsport worldwide

• Europe: In 1998 the company founded the ADAC Volkswagen Lupo Cup, founded in 1998 (renamed Polo Cup in 2003, and Volkswagen Scirocco R-Cup from 2010 to 2014), and started the ADAC New Beetle Cup in 2000. In 2004, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles entered the European Truck Racing series with the Volkswagen Titan truck – it became a back-to-back champion for the 2004 and 2005 series.
• United States: In 1976, Volkswagen entered the under-2000-cc Trans-Am Series, with the Scirocco, and they won their class outright. Beginning in 2008 Volkswagen introduced the Jetta TDI Cup. The Jetta TDI Cup is a SCCA sanctioned race series that features 25 drivers between the ages of 16 and 26 driving slightly modified 2009 Jetta TDIs. The series features 10 events at 8 different road courses across North America. There is $50,000 prize money at stake over the course of the series in addition to the $100,000 prize awarded to the champion of the series at the conclusion of the last race.
• Argentina: Many Volkswagen models have competed in TC 2000, including the 1980 to 1983 champion Volkswagen 1500 and the 1994 champion Volkswagen Gol.
• In 1999 and 2000, VW won the F2 Australian Rally Championship with the Golf GTI.
• Finland: In 2002, VW won the Finnish Rally Championship in a7/(F2), with a Golf Mk4 KitCar, with Mikko Hirvonen. In 1999 and 2000, VW won the Finnish Rally Championship in a7/(F2) with a Golf Mk3 KitCar. In 2000, 2001 and 2002, VW won the Finnish Racing Championship in Sport 2000 with a Golf Mk4.
• Austria: From 1967 until 1974, the Austrian sole distributor Porsche Salzburg entered the VW Beetle (1500, 1302S and 1303S) in Europe-wide rallies. Victories were achieved in 1972 and 1973 in the overall Austrian championship, on Elba, in the Acropolis rally (first in class). Top drivers were Tony Fall (GB), Achim Warmbold (D), Günter Janger (A), Harry Källström(S).

• 
  1939 Berlin to Rome. Porsche Type 64 racer based on Bee­tle plat­form
• 1967 Volkswagen Beetle Fittipaldi-Baldahl 1967

  Twin-en­gine rac­ing Bee­tle de­vel­oped by Wil­sonand Emer­son Fit­ti­paldi broth­ers

  
  Bora in TC 2000, a na­tional cham­pi­onship of Ar­gentina
• 2006 Volkswagen Bora V8 Stock Car V8 Brasil Amir Nasr Racing

  Bora in Stock Car Brasil

  

  Edi­tion 2007 Race Touareg 2 at Essen Motor Show 2006
• 2006 Formula Truck 2006 Interlagos Ford leads

  Con­stel­la­tion in the 2006 Brazil­ian Fórmula Truck Cham­pi­onship

Literature

• Jonas Kiefer: VW Typenatlas, Serienfahrzeuge. 2. Auflage. Delius Klasing, Bielefeld 2002, ISBN 3-7688-1271-5.
• Rudi Heppe: VW Personenwagen. Podszun, Brilon 2001, ISBN 3-86133-209-4.
• Halwart Schrader: VW Personenwagen seit 1945, Band 1, Typenkompass. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-613-02105-6.
• Halwart Schrader: VW Personenwagen seit 1945, Band 2, Typenkompass. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-613-02186-2.
• Werner Oswald: Deutsche Autos, Band 2, 1920–1945. 2. Auflage. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-613-02170-6.
• Werner Oswald: Deutsche Autos, Band 3, 1945–1990, Ford, Opel und Volkswagen. 1. Auflage. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-613-02116-1.

The pictures I collected the last years, my own pictures and the ones from the worldwideweb:

Zentralbild Junge 20.3.1957 Ehemalige Botschaft der USA, Berlin Blick auf die Ruine der ehemaligen Botschaft der USA in Berlin, Pariser Platz 2 Ecke Friedrich-Ebert-Straße 21. (Aufgenommen am 18. März 1957)

VW-Werk, Wolfsburg
End-Montage

VW-Werk, Wolfsburg
Montage 412

VW-Werk, Wolfsburg
Forschung und Entwicklungsabteilung

VW-Werk, Wolfsburg
Forschung und Entwicklungsabteilung

VW-Werk Salzgitter
Salzgitter Endmontage 412 und K70

VW-Werk, Wolfsburg
Montage 412

VW-Werk, Wolfsburg
Montage-Käfer

VW-Werk, Wolfsburg
Montage 412

VW-Werk, Wolfsburg
Forschung und Entwicklungsabteilung

VW-Werk, Wolfsburg
Forschung und Entwicklung
PKW-Versuch/Abt. Sicherheit, Prüfgerät zur Belastung von Fahrzeugbauteilen mit Kräften, wie sie bei einem Crash auftreten.
1. März 1973

VW-Werk Wolfsburg
Endmontage Passat

VW-Werk, Wolfsburg
Forschung und Entwicklung
Fahrzeug im Klimawindkanal, Messungen des aerodynamischen Verhaltens, Heizungs- und Belüftungseigenschaften bei unterschiedlichen Klimabedingungen

Volkswagen e-up! at Hannover Messe

VW-Werk, Wolfsburg
Montage 412

Industriemesse Hannover 1978
Staatssekretär Erwin Stahl besichtigt den Innovationsmarkt

Scanned by Darren Walsh

volkswagen lt camper occasions in Inspirerend Foto van VW LT28 Volkswagen LT 28

That’s it what my collection has to show. There are some pictures double, I got them out so far as possible, but it was extremely hot today, so forgive. I hope you have a lot off pleasure.

Greetings Jeroen, your host!!

See also

• Baja bug
• Cal Look
• Fahrvergnügen
• List of German cars
• List of automobile manufacturers
• Punch buggy
• Standard Superior – a previous attempt to produce a “Volkswagen”
• Steyr 50
• Twin Drive
• VDub – tagline for the recent VWoA Golf GTI TV advertisemen*
• Volksflugzeug
• Volksrod
• Volkswagen advertising history
• VW 276 Schlepperfahrzeug, military use 1944

Notes

1. ^ Tooze notes: “Even if the war had not intervened, developments up to 1939 made clear that the entire conception of the ‘people’s car’ was a disastrous flop.” Tooze (2006) p.156).

References

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Further reading

• William Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (50th Anniversary Edition) (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990)
• Andrea Hiott, Thinking Small (New York: Ballantine Books, 2012)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Volkswagen and Volkswagen vehicles.

• Volkswagen.com Volkswagen Cars Worldwide portal
• Volkswagen Classic (in German)
• Volkswagen Cars Technical Information

Volkswagen Group
Ownership	Porsche SE State of Lower Saxony Qatar Holding LLC Capital Group Companies
Divisions and subsidiaries	Passenger cars Audi (99.55%) Audi Sport Bentley Motors Bugatti Lamborghini Porsche SEAT Škoda Volkswagen Commercial vehicles MAN Truck & Bus Navistar International (16.6%) Scania Volkswagen Caminhões e Ônibus Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Motorcycles Ducati Engines MAN Diesel & Turbo Services Italdesign Giugiaro Geographic Volkswagen Group of America(Electronics Research Laboratory) Volkswagen do Brasil Volkswagen Group China Volkswagen Group Sales India
Shareholdings	FAW-Volkswagen (40%) Here (33.3%) IAV (50%) MAN(75.56%) Navistar International (16.6%) SAIC Volkswagen(50%)
Products and technologies	Platforms Vehicles Engines Diesel: current / discontinued Petrol:current / discontinued North America Technologies BlueMotion Digifant DSG ETKA FSI Pumpe Düse SDI TDI VAG-COM
Discontinued brands	Auto Union DKW Horch NSU Wanderer
Places	Autostadt Ehra-Lessien Factories
People	Ferdinand Porsche (founder) Carl Hahn (Chairman Emeritus) Ivan Hirst (former Managing Director) Rudolf Leiding (former CEO) Kurt Lotz (former CEO) Heinrich Nordhoff (former Managing Director) Ferdinand Piëch (Chairman of the Supervisory Board) Bernd Pischetsrieder (former CEO) Toni Schmücker (former CEO) Martin Winterkorn (former Chairman of the Board of Management) Porsche family (owner)
Motorsport	Teams: Rally teams Series: Formula Volkswagen Germany Jetta TDI Cup Scirocco R-Cup
Other	Volkswagen emissions testing scandal
Category  Commons

Volkswagen passenger cars
A marque of the Volkswagen Group
Current	Cars Ameo Arteon/CC Beetle Bora Fox Gol Golf Jetta Lamando Lavida Santana Passat B8/Magotan Passat NMS Phideon Polo Up Vento Voyage SUVs/Crossovers Atlas/Teramont CrossFox CrossPolo CrossGolf/Golf AllTrack CrossTouran Passat AllTrack T-Roc Tiguan Touareg Vans Caddy Sharan Suran Touran Pick-up trucks/Utilities Amarok Saveiro
Discontinued vehicles	Aircooled 181 411/412 (Type 4) 1500/1600 (Type 3) Beetle (Type 1) Brasília Country Buggy (Sakbayan) Hebmüller Cabriolet Karmann Ghia Kommandeurswagen Kübelwagen Schwimmwagen SP2 Voyage Type 18A Type 147 (Fridolin) VW-Porsche 914 Watercooled Apollo Citi Golf Corrado Gol Eos Iltis K70 Lupo New Beetle Parati Phaeton Pointer/Logus Routan Saveiro Scirocco Voyage
Concept vehicles	1-Litre/L1/XL1 Concept Alltrack Concept ARVW Bio Runner BUDD-e Bulli Concept C Coupe GTE Chico Concept A Concept BlueSport Concept D Concept R CrossBlue Concept Cross Coupe concept EcoRacer EDAG Biwak (New Beetle estate) GTI Roadster/Supersport Vision Gran Turismo GX3 I.D. I.D. Buzz I.D. Crozz Iroc Microbus Concept Milano Taxi New Beetle Ragster New Compact Coupé Stanley Taigun Concept Touran HyMotion W12 Coupe/Roadster (Nardò)
VW-based kit-cars/ racing cars	Polo R WRC Formula Vee Baja Bug Meyers Manx EMPI Imp
Engines	Petrol engines Discontinued petrol engines G40 / G60 Diesel engines Discontinued diesel engines North American engines Air-cooled engine Wasserboxer
Factories	Bratislava Chattanooga Transparent Factory
Other	Emissions scandal 4Motion Advertising Fahrvergnügen AutoMuseum Volkswagen BlueMotion Deutsche Arbeitsfront G-Lader Herbie Platforms Westfalia Camper
Category

« previous — Volkswagen Passenger Cars, a marque of the Volkswagen Group, car timeline, European market, 1980s–present
Type	1980s										1990s										2000s										2010s
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Economy car	Beetle
City car																			Lupo							Fox							Up
Supermini	Polo / Derby I		Polo / Derby II												Polo III								Polo IV							Polo V
Small family car	Golf I				Golf II							Golf III							Golf IV					Golf V						Golf VI				Golf VII
	Jetta I					Jetta II							Vento							Bora						Jetta V					Jetta VI
																			New Beetle													Beetle
Large family car	Passat I	Passat II / Santana							Passat III						Passat IV				Passat V							Passat VI					Passat VII				Passat VIII
																													Passat CC					CC				Arteon
Luxury car																							Phaeton
Coupé	Scirocco I		Scirocco II																										Scirocco III
									Corrado
Convertible	Golf I Cabriolet															Golf III Cabriolet																Golf VI Cabriolet
																							New Beetle Cabriolet										Beetle Cabriolet
																											Eos
Compact MPV																												Golf Plus									Golf Sportsvan
																							Touran I												Touran II
Large MPV																Sharan I															Sharan II
SUV																																						T-Roc
																												Tiguan I									Tiguan II
																									Touareg I						Touareg II
Deutsche Arbeitsfront (founder) A marque of the Volkswagen Group 4motion G40 / G60

« previous — Volkswagen Passenger Cars, a marque of the Volkswagen Group, car timeline, United States/Canada market, 1980–present
Type	1980s										1990s										2000s										2010s
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
Subcompact								Fox
Compact	Rabbit I					Golf II								Golf III						Golf IV							Rabbit V				Golf VI					Golf VII
	Jetta I					Jetta II								Jetta III						Jetta IV						Jetta V						Jetta VI
	Dasher																		New Beetle														Beetle
Mid-size			Quantum								Passat III				Passat IV				Passat V							Passat VI							Passat VII
Full-size																									Phaeton
Coupé	Scirocco I		Scirocco II								Corrado																			CC
Convertible	Rabbit Convertible					Cabriolet										Cabrio											Eos
																								New Beetle Convertible										Beetle
Van	Vanagon													Eurovan																Routan
Pickup	Rabbit Pickup
Crossover																														Tiguan									Tiguan
Mid-sizeSUV																									Touareg							Touareg II							Atlas
Deutsche Arbeitsfront (founder) A marque of the Volkswagen Group 4motion Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. Electronics Research Laboratory North American Volkswagen engines

Volkswagen Passenger Cars, a marque of the Volkswagen Group, car timeline, South American market, 1980–present
Type	1980s										1990s										2000s										2010s
	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
Economy car	Fusca (Type 1)													Fusca (Type 1)																					up!
	Gol / Parati I							Gol / Parati IF								Gol / Parati II				Gol / Parati / Gol Country III						Gol / Parati / Gol Country IV
	Brasilia / Variant II																												Gol V
		Voyage / Gacel I						Voyage / Amazon / Senda IF										Polo Classic (Polo III)												Voyage V
Supermini																								Fox / CrossFox
																											SpaceFox / Suran
																							Polo IV					Polo IVF
Small family car															Pointer			Golf III		Golf IV									Golf IVF						Golf VII
											Apollo			Logus						Bora / Clásico							Bora / Vento / Jetta V					Vento / Jetta VI
Large family car	Passat I															Passat IV			Passat V							Passat VI							Passat VII
					Santana / Corsar / Carat / Quantum I(Passat II)							Santana / Corsar / Carat / Quantum IF (Passat II)
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AC (Auto Carriers Ltd) Cars West Norwood, London, England, UK 1901 till now first edition

AC Cars

AC Cars Group Ltd.

Type	Private
Industry	Automotive
Founded	West Norwood, London,United Kingdom (1901)
Founder	The Weller Brothers
Headquarters	Thames Ditton, Surrey, United Kingdom
Key people	Alan Lubinsky, current owner
Products	Automobile
Parent	ACEDES Holdings
Website	AC Cars official page

AC Cars Ltd. formerly known as Auto Carriers Ltd., is a British specialist automobile manufacturer and one of the oldest independent car makers founded in Britain.

History

 AC 10 open 2-seater
AC’s first 4-wheeled car

 AC 12 Royal drophead coupé 1926

 AC 16 Royal saloon 1927

 AC 16/80 open 2-seater 1939
body by March

The first car from what eventually became AC was presented at the Crystal Palace motor show in 1903; it was a 20 HP touring car and was displayed under the Weller name. The Weller Brothers of West Norwood, London, planned to produce an advanced 20 hp (15 kW) car. However, their financial backer and business manager John Portwine, a butcher, thought the car would be too expensive to produce and encouraged Weller to design and produce a little delivery three-wheeler. Weller did so, called it the Auto-Carrier, and a new company was founded and named Autocars and Accessories; production started in 1904. The vehicle caught on quickly and was a financial success. In 1907, a passenger version appeared, called the A.C. Sociable. It had a seat in place of the cargo box. The A.C. Sociable was described in a review of the 1912 Motor Cycle and Cycle Car Show as one of the most popular cycle cars on the road, both for pleasure and business, and A.C. displayed eight vehicles on their stand, six for pleasure and 2 for business. The single rear wheel contained a two-speed hub, and the single cylinder engine was mounted just in front of it, with rear chain drive.

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The company became Auto Carriers Ltd. in 1911 and moved to Ferry Works, Thames Ditton, Surrey—at this time they also began using the famed “AC” roundel logo. Their first four-wheeled car was produced in 1913; it was a sporty little two-seater with a gearbox on the rear axle. Only a few were built before production was interrupted by the first World War.

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During the Great War, the Ferry Works factory produced shells and fuses for the war effort, although at least one vehicle was designed and built for the War Office. At the end of the First World War, AC Cars started making motor vehicles again, designing and building many successful cars at Ferry Works, as well as expanding into an old balloon factory on Thames Ditton High Street.

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After the war, John Weller started on the design of a new overhead-cam 6-cylinder engine. The first versions of this design were running by 1919. The Weller engine would be produced until 1963; it is possibly the second-longest-lived production motor in history after the Volkswagen boxer. In 1921, Selwyn Edge (who had been with Napier & Son) bought shares in the company and was appointed governing director. He did not get along with Weller or Portwine, who resigned less than a year later. In 1922, the name changed again to AC Cars Ltd.

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In customary fashion Edge sought publicity for the company through motoring competition. In 1921 Sammy Davis joined A.C. as a driver, competing in the Junior Car Club 200-mile (320 km) race, for cars up to 1,500 c.c., atBrooklands. In 1923  and 1924  J.A. Joyce won the Brighton Speed Trials driving an A.C. In May 1924, at Montlhéry, near Paris, T. G. Gillett broke the continuous 24-hour record in a 2-litre A.C., fitted with special streamlined bodywork, covering a distance of 1,949.3 miles. In 1926 the Honourable Victor Bruce, an AC employee, won the Monte Carlo Rally in his 2-litre AC. In 1927, Victor Bruce, with his wife Mildred (The Hon Mrs Victor Bruce), assisted by J.A. Joyce, set a 10-day endurance record at Montlhéry, driving an AC Six.

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Selwyn Edge bought the company outright for £135,000 in 1927 and re-registered it as AC (Acedes) Ltd but sales, which had been falling, continued to decline. The company was caught by the crash of 1929 and went into voluntary liquidation. Production ceased for a time, and the company was sold to the Hurlock family who ran a successful haulage business. They wanted the High Street factory only as a warehouse (Ferry Works was not acquired), but allowed the service side of AC to continue.

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A single car was made for William Hurlock in 1930. He liked it and agreed to restart very limited production, mainly using components left over from previous models. An agreement was reached with Standard to supply new chassis, the ancient three-speed transaxle was replaced by a modern four-speed gearbox (built in unit with the engine), and by 1932 a new range of cars was finally launched. Production continued on this small scale, averaging less than 100 vehicles per year, until the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. The final pre-war car was delivered in June 1940, after which the factory was fully involved with war production.

After the Second World War

 While the company’s sporting cars won plaudits from many enthusiasts, it was the long-running contract with the UK government for the production of three-wheeled invalid carriages that may have most impressed those concerned for the company’s financial stability.

 A.C. 2-Litre 1947-1956.

The four-door configuration and the wider 6.75 × 16 inch wheels identify this as a later example. The flashing indicators will have been retro-fitted.

 1958 AC Ace, AC engined

 Seven of the 28 Southend Pier Railway cars, built by AC-Cars in 1949

 1957 AC Aceca Bristol prepared for the “Carrera Panamericana” Mexican road race

 A.C. Greyhound Saloon 1962

 1959 AC single-seater at Motor Sport at the Palace, Crystal Palace (circuit) 27 May 2013

Production of cars restarted in 1947 with the 2-Litre using the 1991 cc engine from the 16, and also a large contract with the government to produce the fiberglass-bodied, single seat, Thundersley Invacar type 57 invalid carriages with BSA engines. The 2-Litre used an updated version of the pre-war underslung chassis fitted with the AC straight-six and traditional ash-framed and aluminium-panelled saloon or convertible coachwork. The invalid carriages continued to be built until 1976 and were an important source of revenue to the company. They also built an aluminum-bodied three-wheeled microcar, the Petite. They also produced “Bag Boy” golf carts (with independent suspension to the two wheels!). In 1949, AC Cars also produced four trains, each consisting three power cars and four coaches, for the Southend Pier Railway in Essex. These remained in use until 1976.

In 1953, the firm began production of the

AC Ace

, based on a lightweight chassis designed by John Tojeiro and Hand built Aluminium Body designed and built by Eric George Gray with the venerable Weller-designed 2-Litre engine. Soon after, car dealer and racing driver Ken Rudd fitted his own competition Ace with a pre-war BMW-designed, Bristol-produced 135 bhp (101 kW) six-cylinder engine. This combination was put into production as the AC Ace-Bristol in 1957. In this form, the car raced at Le Mans in 1957 and 1958.

For 1954, a new aluminum-bodied closed coupe was unveiled at Earls Court, the

This is the coupe version of the AC Ace that Carroll Shelby used as the basis for his AC Cobra.

AC Aceca.

It was only slightly heavier than the convertible Ace, and because of better aerodynamics was actually slightly faster (128 mph (206 km/h) top speed). Only 328 Acecas were produced, and they were equipped with either of the Ace’s engines. There was a demand from some customers for a larger four-seater car, for whom AC produced the

Greyhound.

This was built on a stretched Ace chassis with coil suspension all around and a 2.2-litre Bristol engine.

In 1961, Bristol stopped producing their own engines—and once again, Ken Rudd came to the rescue, suggesting that AC use a 6-cylinder engine from the Ford Zephyr. These engines when fitted with the Raymond Mays twelve-port alloy head and Weber carburetors could be made to produce a safe 170 bhp (127 kW) and a 125 mph (201 km/h) top speed. The AC Ace 2.6 (as it is latterly known today) is for many people the prettiest Ace of all—and undoubtedly the rarest, with only 37 such cars built. To fit the Zephyr engine, AC had to modify the frame, relocate the steering box and completely change the nose of the car. These changes are often mistakenly attributed to Carroll Shelby.

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Today, Acecas are popular at historic racing events. Arch McNeill, a factory Morgan racer from the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s told fellow Texan and Aceca owner Glenn Barnett that “the Morgan team spent two years campaigning to beat the factory AC Acecas and finally did in the late 1950s”. Though more valuable than comparable AC or Shelby replicas, the Aceca is still a bargain when compared to a Shelby CSX Cobra, while maintaining similar performance.

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This is the coupe version of the AC Ace that Carroll Shelby used as the basis for his AC Cobra.

The company also ventured briefly into railway rolling stock business, building five four-wheel railbuses for British Rail in 1958.

Carroll Shelby and the Cobra

 Cobra Mark II 427 1965

In 1962, AC was approached by Carroll Shelby to use a small block Ford V8 engine in the Ace chassis, producing the AC Cobra. Shelby needed a car that could compete with the Chevrolet Corvette in US sports car racing. The resulting Cobra was a very powerful roadster, and it is commonly blamed for the introduction of the 70 mph (110 km/h) limit on British motorways. While this was a major factor in the decision, after a coupe version was caught doing 196 mph (315 km/h) during a test run, a then-recent spate of accidents under foggy conditions also helped the introduction of the limit.

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At the end of the 1964 racing season, the Cobra was being outclassed in sports car racing by Ferrari. Carroll Shelby decided he needed a bigger engine. A big block Ford FE series 390 V8 was installed in a Cobra and the result was scary—the car was virtually undrivable. It was decided that a completely new chassis was needed. With the combined help of Ford’s computers and the experience of the AC engineers, the new MKIII was born with 4-inch (100 mm) main tubes instead of 3-inch (76 mm) for the chassis, huge cross-braced shock towers and coil springs all around. This, along with a bigger 427 ci version of the FE, made the new AC Cobra MKIII an absolutely unbeatable 2,200 lb (1,000 kg) race car. Specifically, the engine that was installed in the car was Ford’s famed 427 FE NASCAR “Side-Oiler” V8, a power-house engine developing 425 bhp (317 kW) in its mildest street version. Unfortunately, the car missed homologation for the 1965 season and was not raced by the Shelby team. However, it was raced successfully by many privateers and went on to win races all the way into the 1970s. The AC 427 Cobra, although a commercial failure when in production, has now become one of the most sought-after and replicated automobiles ever.

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It was produced in two versions: a street model with a tamer motor, optional dual carburetors, a glove box, and exhaust running under the car, and a competition version with a stripped interior, no glove box, different instrument layout and revised suspension. The competition version also had a more powerful motor with only one carburetor, side exhausts, a roll bar and wider fenders to accommodate racing tires. At the end in 1966, Shelby was left with 31 unsold competition cars; he decided to sell them to the general public under the name of Cobra 427 S/C or Semi-Competition. Today these S/C cars are the most sought after models and can sell in excess of 1.5 million dollars.

Carroll Shelby sold the Cobra name to Ford in 1965 and went on to develop the famed racing Ford GT40.

Meanwhile, AC went on producing a milder version of the 427 MK III Cobra for the European market fitted with the small block Ford motor. The car was called the AC 289 and 27 were produced.

AC 428 or Frua and AC 429

 AC 428 Frua

 1971 AC Frua

At the same time, the company realized they needed a grand tourer model that could appeal to wealthy customers. AC contacted the famed Italian coach builder Pietro Frua to design an appealing GT body that could be fitted on a MKIII Cobra chassis stretched by 6 inches (150 mm). The new car was shown at the 1965 Turin show. A few early models were fitted with the famed 427 Ford FE motors. In 1967 the long-stroked 428 motor became available and the car was known as the AC Frua. Built out of steel rather than AC’s usual aluminum, the Frua is heavier than a Cobra at slightly under 3,000 lb (1,400 kg). That said, it is still a light and very fast automobile built on a racing chassis. The car was never fully developed and the cost of sending chassis from England to Italy and back for final assembly made it so expensive that only a few were produced. Production ended in 1973 after only 80 cars (29 convertibles and 51 coupes) were finished.

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

AC 428 Convertible. Pietro Frua had first exhibited the Maserati Mistral at Turin in 1963, and when Derek Hurlock from AC Cars sent a Cobra MkIII chassis to Frua in 1965 it seems that he borrowed heavily from the Mistral for the AC 428 Fastback and later convertible.

In 1970, a special version of the coupé was built. It was based on an extended bodyshell that Frua built for Monteverdi which was supposed to become the second Monteverdi 375/L. After the alliance of Monteverdi and Frua split off in Summer 1969, that bodyshell remained in the Frua works in Turin. A year or so later Frua changed some details on front and rear, including some semi-hidden headlamps which had been seen on the Iso Lele and the Iso Grifo, second series, before. The car was called AC 429; it remained a one-off.

3000ME

 1979 AC 3000ME

The 1970s were not a good period for luxury car manufacturers and Derek Hurlock went searching for a totally new smaller car. Mid-engined designs were in fashion at the time and in 1972 the Diablo, a prototype with anAustin Maxi engine and transaxle, was built by privateers Peter Bohanna and Robin Stables. In much the same way as they had taken up the Tojeiro prototype and turned it into the Ace, AC acquired the rights and at the 1973 London Motor Show showed their own version, the mid-engined ME3000 with the 3.0-litre Ford Essex V6 engine installed transversely over a bespoke AC-designed gearbox. Development was virtually complete in 1976 when new Type Approval regulations were introduced. A prototype failed the 30 mph (48 km/h) crash test, and the chassis had to be redesigned. On the second attempt, the car passed with flying colours. This was a huge achievement for a tiny firm—Vauxhall had to make several attempts before the contemporary Chevette passed. For AC, such delays meant that the first production cars (now renamed 3000ME) were not delivered until 1979, by which time they were in direct competition with the Lotus Esprit. Although comfortable, brisk, nicely built and practical, AC’s ambitions of selling 250 cars per year were a distant memory. After just 71 cars were sold, Hurlock called a halt to production as his health was suffering and the company was struggling in the teeth of a recession. In 1984, production stopped at Thames Ditton and the car and the AC name were licensed to a new company registered as AC (Scotland) plc run by David McDonald in a new factory in Hillington, Glasgow. Here, 30 cars were built, including a development car tested with Alfa Romeo‘s 2.5-litre V6 engine and a nearly complete Mark 2 prototype of the same. Regardless (or possibly because) of these developments, AC Scotland called in the receivers in 1985. After selling the historic High Street works for redevelopment, AC themselves soldiered on as a service operation in the “21st Century” works on Summer Road until the Hurlock family finally sold their holdings in 1986 to William West. After some complex machinations the company was split between property interests and the car brand; the former was renamed and the latter was acquired by Brian Angliss.

Brian Angliss era

In 1982 Brian Angliss was running Autokraft, a Cobra restoration shop, parts supplier and replica manufacturer. To further such pursuits, he acquired some of the tooling from Thames Ditton and created the MKIV; the car had US-spec 5 mph (8.0 km/h) bumpers, a federalized motor, and a larger interior with modern switchgear. About 480 cars were produced in his factory at Brooklands. He also produced a lightweight model which was more in tune with the original Cobra spirit, though it could not be imported to the US due to Federal regulations.

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5.0.2

Early cars were sold as the Autokraft MKIV but eventually Angliss acquired the rights to use the AC name. Derek Hurlock had been strongly protective of the name, but Angliss’ high standards of craftsmanship won him over. When the Hurlock family finally sold up in 1986 Angliss fully acquired the AC trademark rights and set up a new AC company as a joint venture with Ford, who had also recently bought Aston Martin. A big conflict followed over the future direction for AC, but Angliss eventually won his independence as well as Ford’s continuing and essential cooperation as an engine and parts supplier.

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Also interested in aircraft, Angliss restored a Hawker Hurricane XIIB at Brooklands as well as acquiring two ex–Indian Air Force Hawker Tempest IIs as future projects. The Hurricane was registered as G-HURR and was destroyed in a fatal accident at the Shoreham air show in 2007.

Angliss looked for a new car to complement and perhaps replace the MKIV. At the 1993 London Motor Show, he introduced a new vehicle that he named the AC Ace. It was a modern automobile with a stainless steel chassis and an aluminum body, but was expensive to develop and build. The costs hit Angliss hard and he sold his large motor bike collection, vintage Bentley and other assets to try to make ends meet. The receivers were called in by 1996 after approximately 50 “new” Aces had been built.

AC (1996–present)

In March 1996, largely due to the cost of developing the new Ace, Angliss’ company went into receivership and was eventually sold to Pride Automotive in December 1996, who continued car production in Weybridge, Surrey under the name of AC Car Group Ltd. The AC trademarks and intellectual property were transferred to Acedes Holdings, LLC. Both the Cobra Mk IV and the Ace were made, and soon a ‘CRS’ version of the Mk IV was announced with a carbon fibre body shell, a 212 S/C version with Lotus twin turbo V8 power, as well as the AC Superblower with a supercharger Ford V8. Two or three closed Aceca coupe versions of the Ace were also made.

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In 2003, Carroll Shelby International and AC Motor Holdings, Ltd. announced production of an authentic Shelby/AC Cobra, with the production vehicle arriving at dealers in July 2004. Initially, available models included Shelby AC 427 S/C Cobra and Shelby AC 289 FIA Cobra, which would be branded as the CSX 1000 and CSX 7500 Series, respectively. In February 2004, the first handcrafted aluminum body shell was built.

Due to rising costs in the UK, AC relocated to Malta in 2005 and started production of the carbon-fibre bodied AC MkV. Due to problems with the factory building, production ceased in 2007.

In 2007, AC announced a joint venture with Brooklands Motor Company (the spiritual successor of Autokraft) in Weybridge, Surrey, UK and confirmed plans for the continuation of the traditional AC designed tubular chassis and aluminium bodied models.

AC Heritage seem to be the owners of certain models, as their website lists two, both of the original design. More importantly, because their models are made in the “origin” country of where AC Cars started over a century ago, then the heritage of these cars is retained. Whereas, the model made in Germany would not follow the heritage of company, and so would not be an “authentic” AC branded car, much like a Ferrari would not be seen as a “genuine” Ferrari if it were made in China. Their website reveals their adherence to the history of the company.

In April 2009, a joint venture in Germany was announced to manufacture the new AC MKVI. Following a supply deal with GM, the AC MKVI had a totally new spaceframe chassis, 6.2 litre V8 engine and 6-speed manual transmission, and new Corvette brakes, retaining the original shape in lightweight composite material with the moulds taken from an original AC MKIII body. Following extensive development the car went into series production in July 2012 after two years of intense prototyping.

In 2010, AC announced a joint venture with the USA-based company Iconic which resulted in the design of the ultimate “Cobra”: the “Iconic AC Roadster”.

Acedes Holdings, LLC is the current owner of AC Cars.

At the Geneva Motor Show in 2012, AC Cars showed three different models: the AC MK VI, AC MK II, and

AC 378 GT Zagato.

Car models

Type	Engine	Approx Production	Year	Notes
Autocarrier	648 cc single-cylinder air-cooled		1904–1914	Three-wheeler goods carrier with single wheel at rear and driver behind the load. Chain drive to rear wheel via two-speed epicyclic gearbox.
AC Sociable	648 cc single-cylinder air-cooled	Possibly 1800	1907–1914	Passenger version of the Auto Carrier from 1907 with driver and passenger side by side (2-seater) or driver behind (3-seater).
AC Ten	1096 cc four-cylinder water-cooled	About 100	1913–1916	Engine made by Fivet of France. Transmission by Transaxle (combined rear axle and gearbox). Two-seater and dickey or Sports two-seater. Optional 1327 cc engine pre war, standard post war.
AC 12 hp	1478/1992 cc four-cylinder water-cooled	Approx 850 including six-cylinder models to 1929	1920–1927	Engine made by Anzani or later Cubitt in Aylesbury. Transmission by three-speed transaxle. Two- or four-seater bodies.
AC Six (16/40, 16/56 and 16/66)	1478/1991 cc six-cylinder water-cooled	Approx 850 including 12 hp models to 1929 plus 50 assembled from parts 1930–33.	1920–1929	Engine made by A.C. Larger capacity from 1922. 16/66 had triple SU carburetors. Transmission by 3-speed transaxle. Two- or four-seater bodies.
AC Six (16/60, 16/70, 16/80 and 16/90)	1991 cc six-cylinder water-cooled	618 1932 to 1940	1932–1940	Engine made by AC; 16/90 was supercharged with an Arnott blower. Transmission by four-speed ENV, Moss synchromesh or Wilson pre-selector gearbox. Longer and wider than previous Six. Chassis overslung 1932-33, underslung 1933-1939, overslung 1939-1940.
AC 2-Litre	1991 cc six-cylinder water-cooled	1284	1947–1958	Engine made by A.C. Two- and four-door saloons, drophead coupé and tourer bodies.
AC Petite	350 cc single-cylinder two-stroke	Approx 4000	1952–1958	Engine made by Villiers. Four-speed gearbox. Three-wheeler with single front wheel. Two/three-seater.
AC Ace	1991/1971 cc six-cylinder water-cooled	689	1953–1963	Engine made by AC or Bristol (1971 cc) from 1956 or Ford Zephyr engine (Later models). Two-seat aluminium open sports bodies.
AC Aceca	1991/1971/2553 cc six-cylinder water-cooled	357	1954–1963	Engine made by AC or Bristol (1971 cc) from 1956 or Ford (2553 cc) from 1961. Front disc brakes from 1957. Two-seat aluminium sports coupé bodies with hatchback.
AC Greyhound	1971/2216/2553 cc six-cylinder water-cooled	83	1959–1963	Engine from Bristol. De Dion rear suspension, (Some might have the AC Independent suspension). 2 plus 2 coupe bodies.
AC Cobra 260/289/AC289	4261/4727 cc V8	75/571/27	1962–1968	Legendary two-seat aluminum roadster. Ford small block V8 Engine. Four-wheel disk brakes. Early MK1 cars had cam and peg steering, later MK2 cars rack and pinion. Later AC 289 had AC 427 MK3 coil spring chassis & body with narrow fenders.
AC Cobra 427/428	6997/4948 cc V8	306 to 1966	1964-1966 1983-1990	MK3 series. A reworked AC Cobra designed for racing with coil springs all around and beefed up 4″ chassis tubes. Early cars had Ford FE 427 Engines, later cars fitted with less expensive 428 FE motors. Around 400 bhp (298 kW) or more depending on version, four-wheel disc brakes and rack and pinion steering. Aluminum-bodied two-seat roadster bodies.
AC Invacar	147 cc	?	1960s–1977
AC Frua	6997/7016 cc V8	81	1965–1973	Frua body built on a six-inch (150 mm)stretched Cobra 427 Chassis Ford FE 428 400 bhp (298 kW) engine. four-wheel disc brakes. Manual or automatic transmission. Two-seat open or coupé, steel body built in Italy.
AC 3000ME	2994 cc V6 Ford ‘Essex’	101 full production cars	1979–1985	Transverse mid-engined with five-speed AC gearbox. Platform chassis with front and rear subframes, GRP body.
AC Brooklands Ace	4601/4942 cc V8		1993–1996	Engine made by Ford. 4942 cc version supercharged.
AC Ace V8	4601/4942 cc V8		1997–2000	Engine made by Ford. 4942 cc version supercharged. Chassis made in South Africa, bodies in Coventry.
AC Aceca	4601/4942 cc V8		1998–2001	Engine made by Ford. 4942 cc version supercharged. Four-seat coupé version of the Ace. Chassis made in South Africa, bodies in Coventry.
AC 212 S/C	3506 cc V8 Twin Turbo Lotus Engine	2 cars	2000	Car built in Brooklands, Surrey.
AC MK VI	6.2 V8		2009–	Corvette sourced engine. Car assembled by Gullwing in Germany (eventually by Hi-Tech Automotive in South Africa)
AC MK II	6.2 V8		2012–	Corvette sourced engine. Car assembled by Brooklands Motor Company in UK (Aluminium body) or by Hi-Tech Automotive in South Africa (composite body)
AC 378 GT Zagato	6.2 V8		2012–	First shown as Perana Z-One in 2009. Car built in South Africa by Hi-Tech Automotive.

See also

• British motor industry
• List of car manufacturers of the United Kingdom

References

1. Jump up^ “The Motor Cycle and Cycle Car Show at Olympia”, The Auto Motor Journal, 30th Nov, 1912, p1448
2. Jump up^ Eric Dymock, Writing a page of history, The Guardian, January 13, 1981, Page 21.
3. Jump up^ The Light Car and Cyclecar, July 20, 1923 “A.-C. MAKES FAST TIME”; The Autocar, July 20, 1923; Brighton & Hove Herald, July 21, 1923; Motor Sport, April 1955, Page 191: “Sprint Results of the Nineteen-Twenties” lists the overall winner on July 14, 1923 as J.A. Joyce (A.C.). The event was restricted to cars up to 1,500 c.c. and run as a knockout competition in six classes. J.A. Joyce won the top class for cars up to 1,500 c.c. of any type. No times were published.
4. Jump up^ The Motor, September 9, 1924, Page 250;The Light Car and Cyclecar, September 12, 1924, Page 486; The Autocar, September 12, 1924, Page 469; The Brooklands Gazette, October 1924, Page 168.
5. Jump up^ The Brooklands Gazette, December 1924, Page 248 for a photograph of J.A. Joyce.
6. Jump up^ Montlhéry: The Story of the Paris Autodrome, William Boddy, 2007, Page 26.
7. Jump up^ The Illustrated Directory of Classic Cars, Graham Robson, Salamander Books, 2001.
8. Jump up^ Montlhéry: The Story of the Paris Autodrome, William Boddy, 2007, Pages 58-59.
9. Jump up^ Casucci, Piero. “City Cars: The Answer to the World’s Traffic Problems?”, in Northey, Tom, ed. World of Automobiles (London: Orbis, 1974), Vol. 4, p.383.
10. Jump up^ Advert in “Country Life” April 27, 1951, page 1304.
11. Jump up^ “Transport Miscellany article on the Southend Pier Railway”. Greywall Productions. Archived from the original on 25 August 2010. Retrieved 2010-08-20.
12. Jump up^ “AC COBRA: The AC Story”.
13. Jump up^ “Frequently Asked Questions: When was the 70 mph (110 km/h) motorway speed limit introduced in Britain?”. Speedlimit.org.uk.
14. Jump up^ “AC Heritage Ltd;”. acheritage.co.uk/. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
15. Jump up^ accars.co.uk
16. ^ Jump up to:^{a b c} Robson, G (1974). A-Z of British Cars 1945-1980. Devon: Herridge. ISBN 0-9541063-9-3.
17. Jump up^ “AC Cobra 212 S/C”. Supercars.net. 2000-10-17. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
18. Jump up^ “AC Automotive – AC MkVI”. Accars.de. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
19. ^ Jump up to:^{a b} Fresh start for AC Cars, Daily Telegraph, May 28, 2012
20. Jump up^ french leaflet from Geneva Motor Show
21. Jump up^ Noah Joseph RSS feed. “Perana Z-One resurfaces with AC badge as 378 GT Zagato”. Autoblog.com. Retrieved 2012-05-22.

 

Other sources

• Rinsey Mills. AC Six Cylinder Sports Cars In Detail 1933-1963. Herridge ISBN 978-0-9549981-7-2

External links

• Official Page
• AC Heritage website
• AC Cars at DMOZ
• AC cars on 3-wheelers.com
• AC built railcar

AC Cars has always been known as a very individualist manufacturer of very individualist cars, arguably the most notable being the 7-litre Ford V8-engined Model 428 in convertible and fast back forms, styled by Pietro Frua of Italy. The 428 was an expensive, luxury-type car of essentially limited production. However, AC fortunes were founded on an infinitely more mundane vehicle sold in quantity over 100 years ago. The marque’s origins go back almost to the beginning of the 20th century, the joint founders being John Weller, talented engineer and designer, and John Portwine, a butcher, who financed him and handled the business side. Weller’s first car was the 20 hp four-cylinder Weller, built at West Norwood, London, in 1903. It was of advanced design, making considerable use of aluminium to keep weight down. But the project never got under way owing to production and cost problems, and on Portwine’s suggestion a cheap, reliable three-wheeled commercial vehicle was designed and put into production instead. This was called the Auto-Carrier which, right from its introduction in 631cc, single-cylinder-engined form in 1905, proved a considerable success. It had tiller steering and chain drive from the engine to the single rear wheel, which contained a Roe pattern epicyclic two-speed gear and clutch incorporated in the hub. A large number of London and provincial firms found Auto-Carriers far more efficient than horse-drawn carts, which were the common form of transport at the time, and orders flowed in. To build them in quantity a new company named Autocars & Accessories Limited was formed, and with production under way Weller’s next step was to develop passenger-carrying versions of the original design. On the first of these the driver kept his seat in front of the rear wheel, with one or more passengers seated ahead of him in a forecar. On later types the driver and passengers sat side-by-side in the forecar, tiller steering being retained. Late in 1907 Weller and Portwine reformed their business again as Auto-Carriers Limited, to build these new AC ‘Sociables’ alongside the commercials, all of them costing under £100. The first AC, then, was a three-wheeler, but success made the partners ambitious and, following removal in 1911 from West Norwood to a new factory in the pleasant riverside village of Thames Ditton, Surrey, John Weller got down to designing a four-wheeled car. At first he tried fitting a two-wheeled rear axle to the Sociable, but the resultant cyclecar did not please him, so instead he laid down a new design. It was a true small car, unusual in having its three-speed gearbox integral with the rear axle, and incorporating a disc transmission brake at the back on the end of the propellor shaft – these becoming distinctive AC features for the next 16 years. Its engine was a Fivet, a neat French 1094 cc side-valve four-cylinder unit. Suspension was by transverse leaf spring at the front and quarter-elliptics at the rear, and by use of much aluminium the whole car in open two-seater form weighed only 10 cwt and could attain 45 mph. John Weller’s Masterpiece, the AC ‘Light Six’ Engine As announced in 1913, this first AC four-wheeler was notably pretty, with elegant curved wings, rounded-vee radiator, and a choice of wire or artillery wheels. It performed well and reliably, and, after the upheavals of World War 1, was continued in improved form. Supply of the Fivet engine became difficult, however, so AC employed the lively 1.5-litre, 69mm x 100 mm, Anzani four-cylinder side-valve unit instead, giving even better performance. Meanwhile, production of the tricars was dropped and John Weller produced his masterpiece, the AC ‘Light Six’ engine. First shown in 1919, and initially offered in 56mm x 10 mm 1.5-litre and 65 mm x 100 mm 2-litre forms, this was in full production as a 2-litre by 1921; it was a remarkably advanced and efficient power unit, giving about 40 bhp and having a single overhead-camshaft driven at first by a vertical shaft and helical gears. Noise and manufacturing costs caused Weller to quickly to replace this by an endless inverted-tooth chain, controlled by what became known as the Weller spring-loaded tensioner, the patents for which were to earn the inventor some sizeable royalty fees. The engine also had wet cylinder liners in an aluminium block, and an aluminium sump, iron head and aluminium cam-cover, the whole being extremely attractive in appearance. The old engineering maxim ‘If it looks right, it is right’ certainly applied to the six-cylinder AC engine, which set records for longevity, basically the same unit being employed until 1963 – a span of over 40 years during which power output rose almost threefold to over 100 bhp. The year 1921 brought big company changes, when the dynamic S. F. Edge, who had steered the Napier marque to fortune before World War 1, became a director. The following year he became Chairman and Governing Director, and the co-founders Weller and Portwine both resigned from their company, which changed its name to AC Cars Limited. Edge swiftly launched a racing and record-breaking programme, with four-cylinder 1.5-litre and six-cylinder 2-litre cars. The 1.5-litre cars, variously powered by side-valve Anzani, and overhead-camshaft eight and 16-valve engines evolved by Weller, set many highly impressive short and long-distancerecords at Brooklands, including several at over 100 mph, between 1921 and 1932. The bigger sixes also figured prominently, one creating a new world 24-hour record in 1925 at Montlhery, France, averaging 82.58 mph. In December 1927, the Hon. Victor Bruce and Mrs Bruce broke the world 15,000-mile record at 68.01 mph, plus six other long-distance figures, despite appalling wintry weather and the loss of over 15 hours for repairs after the car overturned following a skid in the snow. It was the Hon. Victor Bruce, too, who scored the first British victory in the famous Monte Carlo Rally in 1926, sharing a 2-Iitre six with W. J. Brunei!. The first AC model was, naturally enough, the Auto Carrier. The image above is from a 1903 version, used as a delivery vehicle. The driver would steer from the rear courtesy of a ’tiller’, it being driven by a 20hp engine driving a single rear wheel via a chain.The image above is of one of the very first passenger carrying AC’s, directly converted from the original Auto Carrier. The firsr versions had the driver sitting behind the passengers, but this 1910 ‘Sociable’ version had the driver sitting next to the passengers. Now with 4 wheels, the 1921 AC Sprint would set many records atBrooklands. By 1921 AC were not only building racing cars, but accomplished passenger four-seaters such as this 11.9.

We uncovered this strange image of what we believe to be a 1938 AC, obviously highly modified by the looks of the rear wheels.

The AC Buckland Sports was an elegant five seater tourer fitted with a sweet 1991cc engine, first shown at the 1952 London Motor Show.

This rare archive image shows the AC Thames Ditton works in full production mode, with Cobra’s undergoing various stages of completion.

The AC ME300 began with the end of the Unipower story.

AC cars also scored numerous successes at Brooklands, and in hillclimbs and sprints, while a 1.5-litre car finished third in the I923 ‘200 Miles’ race despite delays through tyre trouble. Production of the four-cylinder 1.5-litre AC model was dropped after I927 and two years later S. F. Edge decided to retire. The company then went into voluntary liquidation and no cars were built between 1929 and I931. But two engineering brothers, William and Charles Hurlock, acquired AC Cars Limited in 1930 and began a cautious design revision.

First, they replaced the cantilever front springs by semi-elliptic. Their next step was to fit a 4-speed Moss gearbox in unit with the engine in place of the now outdated 3-speed unit on the rear axle. The chassis was now underslung at the rear and the resultant car, called the Ace, was very successful, one winning the 1933 RAC Rally, driven by Kitty Brunell, daughter of the 1926 Monte Carlo co-victor.

AC built their own coachwork at Thames Ditton, and produced a very individual range of bodies, ranging through open, drophead and closed 2-seaters to two and four-door coupes, convertibles and saloons, establishing the AC as one of the most handsome among the ‘middleclass’ sporting cars of the 1930S. They were lively, refined performers, and 60, 70 or 80 bhp variations of Weller’s famous ohc six were optional, while even an Arnott-supercharged version giving close on 90 bhp was offered.

AC Cars Limited was one of the first British makers to export cars to America, sending the first batch over in 1937 and exhibiting at the New York Show. World War 2 diverted AC’s activities away from motor cars until 1947, when the first post-war two-door AC saloon was announced. This was very much in the current styling idiom, with deep, valanced ‘helmet’ type wings merging with a wide bonnet containing an integral radiator grille and headlights.

Beneath this new shape was the faithful old Weller engine and non-independent semi-elliptic springing, but it now had lengthened springs, new tubular hydraulic shock absorbers and revised braking by Girling, hydraulically operated at the front and mechanically at the rear.

Those were the days of intensive exporting, and the Thames Ditton factory joined in, cars going to many parts of the globe and finding many contented customers. Although heavy, the saloon was lively and comfortable, besides retaining that AC quality and individuality which counted so much.

For 1952 a switch was made to all-hydraulic brake operation and in that same year the Buckland Body Works of Buntingford, Hertfordshire, announced a shapely, open 5-seater tourer version of the model, called the Buckland Sports. This sold well alongside the saloon, both being built until 1957 when they were superseded.

The AC All-Weather Invalid Chair

Two world wars had given the AC Company ample experience in diversification and in the 1950s the company reverted to three-wheeler manufacture, developing the AC all-weather invalid chair to a Ministry of Pensions contract. For a period AC also built a three-wheeled 250cc Villiers-engined mini-car called the Petite.

Remarkably, another venture was to manufacture four special electric trains for the Southend Corporation, to transport holiday passengers on the Southend pier. Yet another AC product was the ‘Bag Boy’ golf trolley, made under licence from the USA, but in 1953 came a sensational change in AC policy which gladdened the hearts of all sports car enthusiasts – the introduction of an all-new Ace.

The Ace, Barchetta Style

This model, one of the highlights of the 1953 Earls Court Motor Show, was based on the very successful Tojeiro sports-racing car built by John Tojeiro of Cambridge for the racing driver Cliff Davis. The competition Tojeiro was powered by a 2-Iitre Bristol engine, and its body closely followed the Ferrari open two-seaterBarchetta style as used on the original 166 ‘Inter’ model. AC’s interpretation had much the same elegant shape, but its engine was John Weller’s time-honoured 2-litre aluminium six, in triple SU- carburettored 85 bhp form, driving through a Moss 4-speedsynchromesh gearbox.

For an AC, the chassis was daringly new, being of welded ‘ladder’ type in 3 in. diameter 16-gauge steel tube, with all-round independent suspension by transverse leaf springs and fabricated tubular wishbones, controlled by Armstrong telescopic hydraulic dampers.

Beautifully clean in shape and with a dry weight of only 15 cwt, this new AC could top the 100 mph mark and was an immediate success.It was followed 12 months later by the even more handsome Aceca coupe, and subsequently AC at last broke away from their own classic six-cylinder engine, and offered the 125 bhp 2-Iitre Bristol six-cylinder unit, giving 118mph, as an alternative.

In 1961 yet another power variant, the 2.6-litre Ford Zephyr six with Ruddspeed modifications and five stages of tune, became optional. Not that the old AC six was pensioned right off; it remained available right up to 1963, still with its original 65 mm x 100 mm bore and stroke and basic 1919 characteristics.

Indeed, the changes wrought upon it during its 44-year career amounted to little more than multiplication of the carburettors from one to three, raised compression ratio and improved breathing, modified water circulation, use of Vandervell-type bearings, and addition of a fifth main bearing and a crankshaft damper.

The Ace-Bristol Two-Seater

Meantime, the Ace-Bristol open two-seater had been successful in racing, making hay in the 2-litre production sports class in the United States, and doing well in British races, where one example won the Three Hours final of the 1956 Autosport Championship, and another won this championship outright in 1957. The cars also ventured to Le Mans for the famous 24-Hours race, being placed 10th in 1957, 8th and 9th in 1958 and 7th in 1959, all of which demonstrated their commendable stamina in the face of much fiercer prototype sports machines.

These performances undoubtedly played a vital part in the next major AC development, but meanwhile 1959 brought another new production model, the Greyhound (reviving a pre-war name). This was a less attractive car than the Ace or Aceca, but more roomy with a four-seater coupe body on a longer wheelbase. A Bristol 2-litre or 2.2-litre engine was used, together with disc front brakes, and a significant change came in the suspension, which utilised coil springs and double wishbones in place of the former transverse leaves.

The AC Greyhound

The Greyhound was expensive at over £2,800, but 150 were built between 1960 and 1963, when a tempestuous newcomer swept it and all other existing AC models off the production line. The Ace-Bristol’s racing feats in the USA drew the eye of a shrewd Texan racing driver, Carroll Shelby, co-winner of Le Mans 1959 in an Aston Martin. To Shelby it was obvious that the sturdy Ace chassis could take a lot more power than it was currently using.

The Bristol engine, moreover, was expensive to maintain and the fastest examples tended to be fragile. Shelby envisaged putting an American Ford ohv V8 engine, comparatively little stressed, into the Ace, and in 1962 he visited the Thames Ditton factory to finalise his project.

AC lost no time. A 4.2-litre unit giving about 240 bhp was installed in a chassis, the suspension, transmission and wheels were ‘beefed up’, disc brakes were fitted and very quickly the first AC Cobra prototype was built and sent out to the States. The reaction was sensational and Shelby clamoured for all the Cobras the factory could possibly make. The chassis and bodies were built in Britain, then shippedout to California to have their engines and gearboxes fitted.

subsequently the 270 bhp 4.7-litre engine was fitted. So great was the demand for the Cobra that by early 1963 AC were obliged to drop production of all other models. The design was improved as the production rates grew, the wheels and tyresgrew larger, rack and pinion steering was adopted and the transverse leaf springing replaced by coil springs and wishbones.

In appearance the Cobra was extremely impressive, the grace of the original Ace bodywork being enhanced by the massive wheels, extended wheel arches, swelling bonnet and big twin exhausts, to impart a very rugged but superbly balanced shape.

The car travelled as fast as it looked, and inevitably it was raced. Shelby formed a team for the GT class of the 1964 World Sports Car Championship series and his Cobras were placed 1-2-3 in class (4-5-6 overall) in the Sebring r z-Hours race, and first in class, 4th overall, at Le Mans.

In 1965 they scored class victories at Daytona, Nurburgring and Le Mans, winning the GT Championship outright. Shelby’s next step was to persuade a Ford 6997 cc, 425 bhp engine into the car, the variant being called the Cobra 427 after the cylinder displacement in cubic inches. This made a 160mph road car at appreciably less cost than contemporaryFerraris, Maseratis etc, and Cobra demand continued.

From AC’s point of view, however, the Cobra operation had become remote from Thames Ditton, which simply became a source of chassis. AC therefore evolved their own 427 model, fitting the 7-litreFord engine in a lengthened Cobra chassis, and getting the Italian coachbuilder Pietro Frua to design and build an elegant two-seater convertible body. Refinement rather than fierce performance divorced the AC 427 from the Cobra image; automatic transmission was employed, and in 1967 a slightly larger, more modern Ford V8 unit of 7016 cc (428 cu. in.) giving 345 bhp was fitted, the model then becoming the 428.

The AC 3000ME

The 1970s were not a good period for luxury car manufacturers and Derek Hurlock went searching for a totally new smaller car. Mid-engined designs were in fashion at the time and in 1972 the Diablo, prototype with an Austin Maxi engine and transaxle was built by privateers Peter Bohanna and Robin Stables. In much the same way as they had taken up the Tojeiro prototype and turned it into the Ace, AC acquired the rights and at the 1973 London Motor Show showed their own version, the mid-engined ME3000 with the 3.0-litre Ford Essex V6 engine installed transversely over a bespoke AC-designed gearbox.

Development was virtually complete in 1976 when new Type Approval regulations were introduced. A prototype failed the 30 mph (48 km/h) crash test, and the chassis had to be redesigned. On the second attempt, the car passed with flying colours. This was a huge achievement for a tiny firm – Vauxhall had to make several attempts before the contemporary Chevette passed. For AC, such delays meant that the first production cars (now renamed 3000ME) were not delivered until 1979, by which time they were in direct competition with the Lotus Esprit. Although comfortable, brisk, nicely built and practical, AC’s ambitions of selling 250 cars per year were a distant memory.

After just 71 cars were sold, Hurlock called a halt to production as his health was suffering and the company was struggling in the teeth of a recession. In 1984 production stopped at Thames Ditton and the car and the AC name were licenced to a new company registered as AC (Scotland) plc run by David McDonald in a new factory in Hillington, Glasgow. Here, 30 cars were built, including a development car tested with Alfa Romeo’s 2.5-litre V6 engine and a nearly-complete Mark 2 prototype of the same.

Regardless (or possibly because) of these developments, AC Scotland called in the receivers in 1985. After selling the historic High Street works for redevelopment, AC themselves soldiered on as a service operation in the ’21st Century’ works on Summer Road until the Hurlock family finally sold their holdings in 1986 to William West. After some complex machinations the company was split between property interests and the car brand; the former was renamed and the latter was acquired by Brian Angliss.

Also see: AC Car Reviews | AC Ace | AC Cobra | AC ME3000

Stunningly beautiful and very brutal, the AC Cobra evolved into the graceful but still powerful 428, and the handy 345 bhp made it good for a top speed of just over 150 mph, with gut-busting acceleration…

STUDEBAKER – E-M-F – ERSKINE – ROCKNE South Bend Indiana USA 1852 – 1967

 Studebaker

Studebaker Corporation

Badge used in the 1950s and 1960s
Industry	Vehicle manufacture
Founded	February 1852
Founders	Studebaker brothers (pictured below)
Defunct	May 1967
Headquarters	South Bend, Indiana, USA
Products	Automobiles historic wagons, carriages, buses and harness
Parent	Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company

1917 Studebaker logo

Studebaker “turning wheel” badge on cars produced 1912–1934

Studebaker (1852-1967, /ˈst(j)uːdəbeɪkə/ stew-də-bay-kər) was a United States wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 under the name of the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the company was originally a producer of wagons for farmers, miners, and the military.

Studebaker entered the automotive business in 1902 with electric vehicles and in 1904 with gasoline vehicles, all sold under the name “Studebaker Automobile Company”. Until 1911, its automotive division operated in partnership with the Garford Company of Elyria, Ohio and after 1909 with the E-M-F Company. The first gasoline automobiles to be fully manufactured by Studebaker were marketed in August 1912. Over the next 50 years, the company established an enviable reputation for quality and reliability. After years of financial problems, in 1954 the company merged with luxury carmaker Packard to form Studebaker-Packard Corporation. However, Studebaker’s financial problems were worse than the Packard executives thought. The Packard marque was phased out and the company returned to the Studebaker Corporation name in 1962. The South Bend plant ceased production on December 20, 1963 and the last Studebaker automobile rolled off the Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, assembly line on March 16, 1966.

History

1910

19th-century wagonmaker

1912 E-M-F Model 30 Roadster 1912

German forebears

1913

According to the official Studebaker history written by Albert R. Erskine, History of the Studebaker Corporation, South Bend, Indiana, published in 1918, “The ancestors of the Studebaker family first arrived in America at the Port of Philadelphia on September 1, 1736, on the ship Harle, from Rotterdam, Holland, as shown by the original manuscripts now in the Pennsylvania State Library at Harrisburg, and included Peter Studebecker, age 38 years; Clement Studebecker, age 36 years; Henry Studebecker, age 28 years; Anna Margetha Studebecker, age 38 years; Anna Catherine Studebecker, age 28 years. The last part of the name, “becker,” was afterwards changed to “baker.” The tax list of what was then Huntington Township, York County, Pennsylvania, in 1798-9, showed among the taxable were Peter Studebaker, Sr., and Peter Studebaker, Jr., wagon-makers, which trade later became the foundation of the family fortune and the corporation which now bears the name.

1916 Studebaker SF Tourer

In Albert Russel Erskine‘s official history, John Studebaker, father of the five brothers, born in Adams County, Pennsylvania, was the son of Peter Studebaker. Anyone with interest can view the pages of Erskin 1918 annual report on Bakers Lookout exhibit page for Albert R. Erskine.

1916 Studebaker 16 pass. winnipeg Buses

In any event, John Studebaker (1799–1877) moved to Ohio in 1835 with his wife Rebecca (née Mohler) (1802–1887)—and taught his five sons to make wagons. They all went into that business as it grew to gigantic proportions with the country.

The five brothers

The five Studebaker brothers—founders of the Studebaker Corporation. Left to right, (standing) Peter and Jacob; (seated) Clem, Henry, and John M.

1916-studebaker-speedster

The five sons were, in order of birth: Henry (1826–1895), Clement (1831–1901), John Mohler (1833–1917), Peter Everst (1836–1897) and Jacob Franklin (1844–1887). The boys had five sisters. Photographs of the brothers and their parents are reproduced in the 1918 company history, which was written by Erskine after he became president, in memory of John M., whose portrait appears on the front cover.

South Bend operation

1916-studebaker-touring

Clement and Henry Studebaker, Jr., became blacksmiths and foundrymen in South Bend, Indiana, in February 1852. They first made metal parts for freight wagons and later expanded into the manufacture of complete wagons. At this time, John M. was making wheelbarrows in Placerville,California. The site of his business is California Historic Landmark #142.

1916

The first major expansion in Henry and Clem’s South Bend business came from their being in the right place to meet the needs of the California Gold Rush that began in 1849.

1918 Studebaker Ambulance by Armstrong & Hotson emergency

1918-studebaker-rhtcbus

From his wheelbarrow enterprise at Placerville, John M. had amassed $8,000. In April 1858, he quit and moved out to apply this to financing the vehicle manufacturing of H & C Studebaker, which was already booming because of a big order to build wagons for the US Army. In 1857, they had also built their first carriage—”Fancy, hand-worked iron trim, the kind of courting buggy any boy and girl would be proud to be seen in”.

1919

1919 Studebaker WECo 16 seats Winnipeg

That was when John M. bought out Henry’s share of the business. Henry was deeply religious and had qualms about building military equipment. The Studebakers were Dunkard Brethren, conservative German Baptists, a religion that viewed war as evil. Longstreet’s official company history simply says “Henry was tired of the business. He wanted to farm. The risks of expanding were not for him”. Expansion continued from manufacture of wagons for westward migration as well as for farming and general transportation. During the height of westward migration and wagon train pioneering, half of the wagons used were Studebakers. They made about a quarter of them, and manufactured the metal fittings for other builders in Missouri for another quarter-century.

1920

The fourth brother, Peter E, was running a successful general store at Goshen which was expanded in 1860 to include a wagon distribution outlet. A major leap forward came from supplying wagons for the Union Army in the Civil War (1861–65). By 1868, annual sales had reached $350,000. That year, the three older brothers formed the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company—Clem (president), Peter (secretary), and John M. (treasurer). By this time the factory had a spur line to the Lake Shore railroad and, with the Union Pacific Railroad finished, most wagons were now dispatched by rail and steamship.

1920 NL

World’s largest vehicle house

Studebaker wagon hauled by eight Budweiser Clydesdales in Wisconsin, 2009

In 1875, the youngest brother, 30-year-old Jacob, was brought into the company to take charge of the carriage factory, making sulkies and five-glass landaus. Following a great fire in 1874 which destroyed two-thirds of the entire works, they had rebuilt in solid brick, covering 20 acres (81,000 m²) and were now “The largest vehicle house in the world”.^[8]:p.43 Customers could choose from Studebaker sulkies, broughams, clarences,phaetons, runabouts, victorias, and tandems. For $20,000 there was a four-in-hand for up to a dozen passengers, with red wheels, gold-plated lamps and yellow trim.

1922

In the 1880s, roads started to be surfaced with tar, gravel, and wooden blocks. In 1884, when times were hard, Jacob opened a carriage sales and service operation in a fine new Studebaker Building on Michigan Avenue, Chicago. The two granite columns at the main entrance, 3 feet 8 inches (1.12 m) in diameter and 12 feet 10 inches (3.91 m) high, were said to be the largest polished monolithic shafts in the country. Three years later in 1887, Jacob died—the first death among the brothers.

1923 Studebaker van Maessen NL

In 1889, incoming President Harrison ordered a full set of Studebaker carriages and harnesses for the White House. The only issue was that the harness fell apart during a ride and all of the horses escaped. As the twentieth century approached, the South Bend plant “covered nearly 100 acres (0.40 km²) with 20 big boilers, 16 dynamos, 16 large stationary engines, 1000 pulleys, 600 wood- and iron-working machines, 7 miles (11 km) of belting, dozens of steam pumps, and 500 arc and incandescent lamps making white light over all”.

1924 Studebaker Ambulance-Hearse-Policecar

1924 Studebaker Buses in Wassenaar Holland

1924 Studebaker bus Gotfredson

The worldwide economic depression of 1893 caused a dramatic pause in sales and the plant closed down for five weeks, but industrial relations were good and the organized workforce declared faith in their employer.

1925-studebaker-bender-buses

1925-studebaker-bus

1925-studebaker-bus-catalog-08

1925-studebaker-bus

1925-studebaker-van-kerckhoffs-die-is-ingebracht-in-de-vad-central 1 NL

1925 Studebaker Police Paddy Wagon.

The impressive wagons pulled by the Budweiser Clydesdales are Studebaker wagons modified to carry beer, originally manufactured circa 1900.

Family association continues

The five brothers died between 1887 and 1917 (John Mohler was the last to die). Their sons and sons-in-law remained active in the management, most notably lawyer Fred Fish after his marriage to John M’s daughter Grace in 1891. Col. George M Studebaker, Clement Studebaker Jr, J M Studebaker Jr, and [Fred Sr’s son] Frederick Studebaker Fish served apprenticeships in different departments and rose to important official positions, with membership on the board. Erskine adds sons-in-law Nelson J Riley, Charles A Carlisle, H D Johnson, and William R Innis.

1926 Studebaker Hearse

1926-studebaker-six-duplex-phaeton

1926-studebaker-bus-middle-in-manitoba

1926-studebaker-camperbus-ad-mbldg-forum © Richard Zuinn

1926 Studebaker Carr. Pennock The Hague The Netherlands

1926-studebaker-six-duplex-phaeton

Studebaker automobiles 1897–1911

In the beginning

In 1895, John M. Studebaker’s son-in-law Fred Fish urged for development of ‘a practical horseless carriage’. When, on Peter Studebaker’s death, Fish became chairman of the executive committee in 1897, the firm had an engineer working on a motor vehicle. At first, Studebaker opted for electric (battery-powered) over gasoline propulsion. While manufacturing its own Studebaker Electric vehicles from 1902 to 1911, the company entered into body-manufacturing and distribution agreements with two makers of gasoline-powered vehicles, Garford of Elyria, Ohio, and the Everitt-Metzger-Flanders (E-M-F) Company of Detroit and Walkerville, Ontario). Studebaker began making gasoline-engined cars in partnership with Garford in 1904.

Garford

1908 Studebaker-Garford B limousine

1912 Studebaker bus

Under the agreement with Studebaker, Garford would receive completed chassis and drivetrains from Ohio and then mate them with Studebaker-built bodies, which were sold under the Studebaker-Garford brand name at premium prices. Eventually, vehicles with Garford-built engines began to carry the Studebaker name. Garford also built cars under its own name and, by 1907, attempted to increase production at the expense of Studebaker. Once the Studebakers discovered this, John Mohler Studebaker enforced a primacy clause, forcing Garford back on to the scheduled production quotas. The decision to drop the Garford was made and the final product rolled off the assembly line by 1911, leaving Garford alone until it was acquired by John North Willys in 1913.

E-M-F

Studebaker’s agreement with the E-M-F Company, made in September 1908 was a different relationship, one John Studebaker had hoped would give Studebaker a quality product without the entanglements found in the Garford relationship, but this was not to be. Under the terms of the agreement, E-M-F would manufacture vehicles and Studebaker would distribute them exclusively through its wagon dealers.

E-M-F 1909

The E-M-F gasoline-powered cars proved disastrously unreliable, causing wags to say that E-M-F stood for Every Morning Fix-it, Easy Mark’s Favorite, and the like. Compounding the problems was the infighting between E-M-F’s principal partners, Everitt, Flanders, and Metzger. Eventually in mid-1909, Everitt and Metzger left to start a new enterprise. Flanders also quit and joined them in 1912 but the Metzger Motor Car Co could not be saved from failure by renaming it the Flanders Motor Company.

E-M-F 1910

E-M-F 1911

Studebaker’s president, Fred Fish, had purchased one-third of the E-M-F stock in 1908 and followed up by acquiring all the remainder from J. P. Morgan in 1910 and buying E-M-F’s manufacturing plants at Walkerville, Ontario, Canada, and across the river in Detroit.

E-M-F 1912

Studebaker marque established in 1911

In 1910, it was decided to refinance and incorporate as the Studebaker Corporation, which was concluded on 14 February 1911 under New Jersey laws. The company discontinued making electric vehicles that same year. The financing was handled by Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs who provided board representatives including Henry Goldman whose contribution was especially esteemed.

1927

After taking over E-M-F’s facilities, Studebaker sought to remedy the customer dissatisfaction by paying mechanics to visit each disgruntled owner and replace defective parts in their vehicles, at a total cost of US$1 million. The worst problem was rear-axle failure. Hendry comments that the frenzied testing resulted in Studebaker’s aim to design ‘for life’—and the consequent emergence of “a series of really rugged cars… the famous Big and Special Sixes”. From that time, Studebaker’s own marque was put on all new automobiles produced at the former E-M-F facilities as an assurance that the vehicles were well built.

Engineering advances from WWI

The corporation benefited from enormous orders cabled by the British government at the outbreak of World War I. They included 3,000 transport wagons, 20,000 sets of artillery harness, 60,000 artillery saddles, and ambulances, as well as hundreds of cars purchased through the London office. Similar orders were received from the governments of France and Russia.

1928

The 1913 six-cylinder models were the first cars to employ the important advancement of monobloc engine casting which became associated with a production-economy drive in the years of the war. At that time, a 28-year-old university graduate engineer, Fred M. Zeder, was appointed chief engineer. He was the first of a trio of brilliant technicians, with Owen R. Skelton and Carl Breer, who launched the successful 1918 models, and were known as “The Three Musketeers“. They left in 1920 to form a consultancy, later to become the nucleus of Chrysler Engineering. The replacement chief engineer was Guy P. Henry, who introduced molybdenum steel, an improved clutch design, and presided over the six-cylinders-only policy favored by new president Albert Russel Erskine who replaced Fred Fish in July 1915.

End of horse-drawn era

John M. Studebaker had always viewed the automobile as complementary to the horse-drawn wagon, pointing out that the expense of maintaining a car might be beyond the resources of a small farmer. In 1918, when Erskine’s history of the firm was published, the annual capacity of the seven Studebaker plants was 100,000 automobiles, 75,000 horse-drawn vehicles, and about $10,000,000 worth of automobile and vehicle spare parts and harness.

1929

In the preceding seven years, 466,962 horse-drawn vehicles had been sold, as against 277,035 automobiles, but the trend was all too clear. The regular manufacture of horse-drawn vehicles ended when Erskine ordered removal of the last wagon gear in 1919. To its range of cars, Studebaker would now add a truck line to replace the horse-drawn wagons. Buses, fire engines, and even small rail locomotive-kits were produced using the same powerful six-cylinder engines.

First auto proving ground

In 1925, the corporation’s most successful distributor and dealer Paul G. Hoffman came to South Bend as vice-president in charge of sales. In 1926, Studebaker became the first automobile manufacturer in the United States to open a controlled outdoor proving ground on which, in 1937, would be planted 5,000 pine trees in a pattern that spelled “STUDEBAKER” when viewed from the air. Also in 1926, the last of the Detroit plant was moved to South Bend under the control of Harold S Vance, vice-president in charge of production and engineering.

1930

That year, a new small car, the Erskine Six was launched in Paris, resulting in 26,000 sales abroad and many more in America. By 1929, the sales list had been expanded to 50 models and business was so good that 90 per cent of earnings were being paid out as dividends to shareholders in a highly competitive environment. However, the end of that year ushered in the Great Depression that saw many layoffs and massive national unemployment for several years.

Facilities in the 1920s

Studebaker’s total plant area was 225 acres (0.91 km²), spread over three locations, with buildings occupying seven-and-a-half million square feet of floor space. Annual production capacity was 180,000 cars, requiring 23,000 employees.

The original South Bend vehicle plant continued to be used for small forgings, springs, and making some body parts. Separate buildings totaling over one million square feet were added in 1922–23 for the Light, Special, and Big Six models. At any one time, 5,200 bodies were in process. South Bend’s Plant 2 made chassis for the Light Six and had a foundry of 575,000 sq ft (53,400 m²), producing 600 tons of castings daily.

1931

Plant 3 at Detroit made complete chassis for Special and Big Six models in over 750,000 sq ft (70,000 m²) of floor space. Plant 5 was the service parts store and shipping facility, plus the executive offices of various technical departments. All of the Detroit facilities were moved to South Bend in 1926.

Plant 7 was at Walkerville, Canada, where complete cars were assembled from South Bend, Detroit, and locally-made components for the Canadian and British Empire (right-hand-drive) trade. By locating it there, Studebaker could advertise the cars as “British-built” and qualify for reduced tariffs. This manufacturing facility had been acquired from E-M-F in 1910 (see above). By 1929, it had been the subject of $1.25 million investment and was providing employment that supported 500 families.

Impact of the 1930s depression

Few industrialists were prepared for the Wall Street Crash of October 1929. Though Studebaker’s production and sales had been booming, the market collapsed and plans were laid for a new, small, low-cost car—the Rockne. However, times were too bad to sell even inexpensive cars. Within a year, the firm was cutting wages and laying off workers, but not quickly enough. Erskine maintained faith in the Rockne and rashly had the directors declare huge dividends in 1930 and 1931. He also acquired 95% of the White Motor Company‘s stock at an inflated price and in cash. By 1933, the banks were owed $6 million, though current assets exceeded that figure. Instead of reorganizing in receivership, Albert R. Erskine committed suicide, leaving it to successors Harold Vance and Paul Hoffman to deal with the problems.

1932

© Ken Goudy Collection

By December 1933, the company was back in profit with $5.75 million working capital and 224 new Studebaker dealers. With the substantial aid of Lehman Brothers, full refinancing and reorganization was achieved on March 9, 1935. A new car was put on the drawing boards under chief engineer Delmar “Barney” Roos—the Champion. Its final styling was designed byVirgil Exner and Raymond Loewy. The Champion doubled the company’s previous-year sales when it was introduced in 1939.

World War II

From the 1920s to the 1930s, the South Bend company had originated many style and engineering milestones, including the Light Four, Light Six,Special Six, Big Six models, the record-breaking Commander and President, followed by the 1939 Champion. During World War II, Studebaker produced the Studebaker US6 truck in great quantity and the unique M29 Weasel cargo and personnel carrier.

1933

© Ken Goudy Collection

© Ken Goudy Collection

© Ken Goudy Collection

Studebaker ranked 28th among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. After cessation of hostilities, Studebaker returned to building automobiles that appealed to average Americans.

Post-WWII styling

1953 Studebaker Commander Starliner, showing the streamlined design of the 1950s Studebaker

1934

Studebaker prepared well in advance for the anticipated post-war market and launched the slogan First by far with a post-war car. This advertising premise was substantiated by Virgil Exner‘s designs, notably the 1947 Studebaker Starlight coupé, which introduced innovative styling features that influenced later cars, including the flatback “trunk” instead of the tapered look of the time, and a wrap-around rear window. Exner’s concepts were spread through a line of models like the 1950 Studebaker Champion Starlight coupe The new trunk design prompted a running joke that one could not tell if the car was coming or going.

Hamilton, Ontario plant

See also: Studebaker Canada Ltd.

On August 18, 1948, surrounded by more than 400 employees and a battery of reporters, the first vehicle, a blue Champion four-door sedan, rolled off of the Studebaker assembly line in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

1935

The company was located in the former Otis-Fenson military weapons factory offBurlington Street on Victoria Avenue North, which was built in 1941. Having previously operated its British Empire export assembly plant at Walkerville, Ontario, Studebaker settled on Hamilton as a post-war Canadian manufacturing site because of the city’s centrality to the Canadian steel industry.

Industry price war brings on crisis

Studebaker’s strong post-war management team including president Paul G Hoffman and Roy Cole (vice-president, engineering) had gone by 1949 and was replaced by more cautious executives who failed to meet the competitive challenge brought on by Henry Ford II and his Whiz Kids.

1936

© Ken Goudy Collection

Massive discounting in a price war between Ford and General Motors could not be equalled by the independent carmakers, for whom the only hope was seen as a merger of Studebaker, Packard, Hudson, and Nash into a third giant combine. This had been unsuccessfully attempted by George W. Mason. In this scheme, Studebaker had the disadvantage that its South Bend location would make centralization difficult. Its labor costs were also the highest in the industry.

Merger with Packard

Ballooning labor costs (the company had never had an official United Auto Workers [UAW] strike and Studebaker workers and retirees were among the highest paid in the industry), quality control issues, and the new-car sales war between Ford and General Motors in the early 1950s wreaked havoc on Studebaker’s balance sheet. Professional financial managers stressed short-term earnings rather than long-term vision. There was enough momentum to keep going for another ten years, but stiff competition and price-cutting by the Big Three doomed the enterprise.

1937

From 1950, Studebaker declined rapidly and, by 1954, was losing money. It negotiated a strategic takeover by Packard, a smaller but less financially troubled car manufacturer. However, the cash position was worse than it had led Packard to believe and, by 1956, the company (renamed Studebaker-Packard Corporation and under the guidance of CEO James J. Nance) was nearly bankrupt, though it continued to make and market both Studebaker and Packard cars until 1958. The “Packard” element was retained until 1962, when the name reverted to “Studebaker Corporation”.

Contract with Curtiss-Wright

A three-year management contract was made by Nance with aircraft maker Curtiss-Wright in 1956 with the aim of improving finances. C-W’s president, Roy T. Hurley, attempted to cure Studebaker’s ruinously lax employment policies. Under C-W’s guidance, Studebaker-Packard also sold the old Detroit Packard plant and returned the then-new Packard plant to its lessor, Chrysler.

1938

The company became the American importer for Mercedes-Benz, Auto Union, and DKW automobiles and many Studebaker dealers sold those brands as well. C-W gained the use of idle car plants and tax relief on their aircraft profits while Studebaker-Packard received further working capital to continue car production.

Last automobiles produced

The automobiles that came after the diversification process began, including the redesigned compact Lark (1959) and the Avanti sports car (1962), were based on old chassis and engine designs. The Lark, in particular, was based on existing parts to the degree that it even utilized the central body section of the company’s 1953–58 cars, but was a clever enough design to be popular in its first year, selling over 130,000 units and delivering a $28.6 million profit to the automaker. “S-P rose from 56,920 units in 1958 to 153,844 in 1959.”

1939

However, Lark sales began to drop precipitously after the big three manufacturers introduced their own compact models in 1960, and the situation became critical once the so-called “senior compacts” debuted for 1961. The Lark had provided a temporary reprieve, but nothing proved enough to stop the financial bleeding.

1940

There was a labor strike at the South Bend plant starting on January 1, 1962 and lasting 38 days. The strike came to an end after an agreement was reached between company president Sherwood H. Egbert and Walter P. Reuther, president of the UAW. Despite a sales uptick in 1962, continuing media reports that Studebaker was about to leave the auto business became a self-fulfilling prophecy as buyers shied away from the company’s products for fear of being stuck with an “orphan”. NBC reporter Chet Huntley made a television program called “Studebaker—Fight for Survival” which aired on May 18, 1962. By 1963, all of the company’s automobiles and trucks were selling poorly.

Exit from auto business

Closure of South Bend plant, 1963

1941

After insufficient initial sales of the 1964 models and the ousting of president Sherwood Egbert, the company announced the closure of the South Bend plant on December 9, 1963, and produced its last car in South Bend on December 20. The engine foundry remained open to supply the Canadian plant until the end of the 1964 model year, after which it was also shuttered. The Avanti model name, tooling, and plant space were sold off to Leo Newman and Nate Altman, a longtime South Bend Studebaker-Packard dealership. They revived the car in 1965 under the brand name “Avanti II”. (See main article Avanti cars (non-Studebaker).) They likewise purchased the rights and tooling for Studebaker’s trucks, along with the company’s vast stock of parts and accessories. Trucks ceased to be built after Studebaker fulfilled its remaining orders in early 1964. There were some ‘1965’ model Champ trucks built in South America using CKD parts ( completely knocked down ). These models used a different grill than all previous Champ models.

Closure of Hamilton plant, 1966

1966 Cruiser four-door sedan, the last Studebaker manufactured

Limited automotive production was consolidated at the company’s last remaining production facility in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, which had always been profitable and where Studebaker produced cars until March 1966 under the leadership of Gordon Grundy. It was projected that the Canadian operation could break even on production of about 20,000 cars a year, and Studebaker’s announced goal was 30,000–40,000 1965 models. While 1965 production was just shy of the 20,000 figure, the company’s directors felt that the small profits were not enough to justify continued investment. Rejecting Grundy’s request for funds to tool up for 1967 models, Studebaker left the automobile business on March 16, 1966 after an announcement on March 4. A turquoise and white Cruiser sedan was the last of fewer than 9,000 1966 models manufactured. In reality, the move to Canada had been a tactic by which production could be slowly wound down and remaining dealer franchise obligations honored. Final 1966 cars used Chevrolet engines and drivetrains when Studebaker drivetrains were no longer available.

1942

The closure adversely affected not only the plant’s 700 employees, who had developed a sense of collegiality around group benefits such as employee parties and day trips, but the city of Hamilton as a whole; Studebaker had been Hamilton’s tenth largest employer.

Network and other assets

Many of Studebaker’s dealers either closed, took on other automakers’ product lines, or converted to Mercedes-Benz dealerships following the closure of the Canadian plant. Studebaker’s General Products Division, which built vehicles to fulfill defense contracts, was acquired by Kaiser Industries, which built military and postal vehicles in South Bend. In 1970, American Motors(AMC) purchased the division, which still exists today as AM General.

1943

The grove of 5,000 trees planted on the proving grounds in 1937, spelling out the Studebaker name, still stands and has proven to be a popular topic on such satellite photography sites as Google Earth. The proving grounds were acquired by Bendix in 1966 and Bosch in 1996. After Bosch closed its South Bend operation in 2011, a part of the proving ground was retained and, as of April 2013, has been restored to use under the name “New Carlisle Test Facility”. For many years a rumor persisted of a Studebaker grave yard. The rumor was later confirmed to be fact when the remains of many Studebaker prototype automobiles and a few trucks were discovered at a remote site within the confines of the former Studebaker proving grounds. A few of the prototypes were rescued and are in private collections. The only example of a never-produced wood-sided Champion station wagon has been restored and is on display at the Studebaker National Museum. Unfortunately, most of the prototypes were left to rot in direct contact with the ground and full exposure to the weather and falling trees. Attempts to remove some of these rusting bodies resulted in the bodies crumbling under their own weight as they were moved, so now they exist only in photographs.

1944

In May 1967, Studebaker and its diversified units were merged with Wagner Electric. In November 1967, Studebaker was merged with the Worthington Corporation to form Studebaker-Worthington Inc., a Delaware corporation. The Studebaker name disappeared from the American business scene in 1979, when McGraw-Edison acquired Studebaker-Worthington, except for the still existing Studebaker Leasing, based in Jericho, NY. McGraw-Edison was itself purchased in 1985 by Cooper Industries, which sold off its auto-parts divisions to Federal-Mogul some years later. As detailed above, some vehicles were assembled from left-over parts and identified as Studebakers by the purchasers of the Avanti brand and surplus material from Studebaker at South Bend. (See article Avanti (car) (non-Studebaker).)

1945

Now the Studebaker company continues with their current prodigal son Michael Studebaker who resides in Hawaii

Diversified activities

By the early 1960s, Studebaker had begun to diversify away from automobiles. Numerous companies were purchased, bringing Studebaker into such diverse fields as the manufacture of tire studs and missile components.

1946

The company’s 1963 annual report listed the following divisions:

• Clarke – Floor Machine Division, Muskegon, Michigan
• CTL – Missile/Space Technology Division, Cincinnati, Ohio
• Franklin – Appliance Division, Minneapolis, Minnesota (home office; other locations also in Minnesota, Iowa, and Ontario). Manufactured private label kitchen and laundry appliances for major retailers until sold to White Consolidated Industries.
• Gravely Tractor – Tractors Division, Dunbar, West Virginia, and Albany, Georgia
• International – South Bend, Indiana (handled business matters for all divisions doing business overseas)
• Onan – Engine/Generator Division, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Paxton Automotive – automobile superchargers
• STP – Scientifically Treated Products Division, Des Plaines, Illinois, and Santa Monica, California. Produced automotive engine additives.
• Schaefer – Commercial Refrigeration Division, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Aberdeen, Maryland
• Studebaker of Canada – Automotive Manufacturing, Hamilton, Ontario
• SASCO – Studebaker Automotive Sales Corp., South Bend, Indiana.
• Studegrip – Tire Stud Division, South Bend, Indiana, Jefferson, Iowa, and Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Trans International Airlines – founded by Kirk Kerkorian

Having built the Wright R-1820 under license during World War II, Studebaker also attempted to build what would perhaps have been the largest aircraft piston engine ever built. With 24 cylinders in an “H” configuration, a bore of 8 in (203 mm) and stroke of 7.75 in (197 mm), displacement would have been 9,349 cubic inches (153.20 L), hence the H-9350 designation. It was not completed.

1947

The impressive wagons pulled by the Budweiser Clydesdales are Studebaker wagons modified to carry beer, originally manufactured circa 1900.

1948

Products

See also List of Studebaker vehicles

Studebaker National Museum

Studebaker automobile models

• Studebaker Electric (1902–1912)
• Studebaker-Garford (1904–1911)
• Studebaker Six monobloc-engine models (1911–1918)
• Studebaker Light Four (1918–1920)
• Studebaker Big Six (1918–1927)
• Studebaker Special Six (1918–1927)
• Studebaker Light Six (includes Standard Six model) (1918–1927)
• Studebaker Commander (1927–35, 1937–58, 1964–66)
• Studebaker President (1928–42, 1955–58)
• Studebaker Dictator/Director (1927–37)
• Studebaker Champion (1939–58)
• Studebaker Land Cruiser (1934–54)
• Studebaker Conestoga (1954–55)
• Studebaker Speedster (1955)
• Studebaker Scotsman (1957–58)
• Hawk series:
  • Studebaker Golden Hawk (1956–58)
  • Studebaker Silver Hawk (1957–59)
  • Studebaker Sky Hawk (1956)
  • Studebaker Flight Hawk (1956)
  • Studebaker Power Hawk (1956)
  • Studebaker Hawk (1960–61)
  • Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk (1962–64)
• Studebaker Lark (1959–1966) (Includes the Lark-based 1964–66 Cruiser, Daytona, Commander, and Challenger)
• Studebaker Avanti (1962–64)
• Studebaker Wagonaire (1963–66)

1949

Studebaker trucks

• Studebaker Coupe Express (1937–1939)
• Studebaker US6 (1941–1945)
• Studebaker M29 Weasel (1942–1945)
• Studebaker 2R Series (1949–1953)
• Studebaker 3R Series (1954)
• Studebaker E Series Truck (1955-1964)
• Studebaker Transtar (1956–1958, 1960-1964)
• Studebaker Champ (1960–1964)
• Studebaker M series (1940–1948)
• M35 2-1/2 ton cargo truck (early 1950s)

1950

Studebaker body styles

• Studebaker Starlight (1947–55, 1958)
• Starliner
• Coupe Express

1951

Affiliated automobile marques

• Tincher: An early independent builder of luxury cars financed by Studebaker investment, 1903–1909
• Studebaker-Garford: Studebaker-bodied cars, 1904–1911
• E-M-F: Independent auto manufacturer that marketed cars through Studebaker wagon dealers, 1909–1912
• Erskine: Brand of automobile produced by Studebaker, 1926–1930
• Pierce-Arrow: owned by Studebaker 1928–1933
• Rockne: Brand of automobile produced by Studebaker, 1932–1933
• Packard: 1954 merger partner of Studebaker
• Mercedes-Benz: Distributed through Studebaker dealers, 1958–1966

1952

See also

• Automotive industry
• Charles Brady King
• List of defunct United States automobile manufacturers
• South Bend Watch Company (maker of Studebaker watches)
• Studebaker Canada Ltd.
• Studebaker National Museum
• Story Monument
• The Three Musketeers (Studebaker engineers)
• Tippecanoe Place

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

Then it was suddenly over for Studebaker 

Erskine (automobile)

1927 Erskine 50 Regal Sedan

 Erskine Model 50 Touring 1927

1927 Erskine-50-Custom-Coupe

1927 Erskine-50-Sport-Roadster

1927 Erskine-50-Touring-Car

1927 Erskine-Custom-Coupe

1927 Erskine-Custom-Sedan

The Erskine was an American automobile brand produced by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana, USA, from 1926 to 1930. The marque was named after Albert Russel Erskine (1871–1933), Studebaker’s president at the time.

Erskine Model 51 Sedan 1928

1928 Erskine

During his term as president, Erskine encouraged Studebaker engineers to develop advanced engines. As a result, the company achieved numerous racing wins and a bigger share of the upper-price market. This left Studebaker without an entry level automobile in the United States, and Erskine, who had always been fascinated by smaller European vehicles, saw market potential in a short-wheel-base compact car, especially if it could expand Studebaker’s presence in the European market. The Erskine Six was therefore first launched in Paris.

Erskine ad 1929

1929 Erskine-Royal-Sedan

When introduced in time for the American 1927 model year, the car was named after its creator, and marketed as The Little Aristocrat. To make the Erskine affordable, Studebaker fitted the cars with six-cylinder Continental engines rather than the more advanced Studebaker units and priced the cars at $995. Body design was by Ray Dietrich; the design proved to be quite a head-turner, and received numerous accolades from the British and French press. Initially, sales demand was promising. However, within a year Ford introduced its Model A and priced it at $525, undercutting the Erskine by $470.

1930 Erskine Regal Sedan

To remedy this, Studebaker marketing suggested that the Erskine become a larger car which, when implemented, grew the wheelbase from 108 in (2,743 mm) to 114 in (2,896 mm). The Erskine was no longer small, and became more like its Studebaker brethren. Ultimately, the Erskine was absorbed into Studebaker by May 1930. A little over a year later, Studebaker would try again with the 1931 Rockne brand automobile.

To his credit, Albert Russel Erskine successfully strengthened Studebaker’s core automobile business and helped to guide the corporation toward technical advancements that eventually would help the company through the first few years of the depression.

However Erskine also encouraged the payment of stockholder dividends from Studebaker’s capital reserves as the depression deepened; this inflated the value of the stock, and eventually weakened the company. In addition to the two failed marques he created (Rockne and Erskine), Erskine also had purchased luxury car maker Pierce-Arrow during the high rolling 1920s, which had to be sold off to investors as a means of improving cash flow.

1930 Erskine ad

Faced with loss of control of Studebaker, Albert Russel Erskine committed suicide in 1933 on the Studebaker proving grounds (now Bendix Woods Park) outside of South Bend, Indiana.

Production totals (model year) for Erskine

• 1927, 24,893 units
• 1928, 22,275 units
• 1929, 25,565 units
• 1930, 22,371 units

Rockne

A Studebaker Rockne at the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana

The Rockne was an American automobile brand produced by the Studebaker Corporation of South Bend, Indiana from 1932-1933. The brand was named for University of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne.

Discussions between Studebaker and Knute Rockne began in 1928. Rockne was offered a high-visibility job by Studebaker president Albert Erskine. Studebaker planned for a durable, inexpensive car. The Rockne would replace the slow-selling, unduly expensive Erskine car.

There were two prototypes that some would consider 1931 Rocknes. In 1930, Ralph Vail and Roy Cole operated an engineering/consulting firm in Detroit. Willys-Overland commissioned them to design a new small six and build two prototypes. Upon presenting the two vehicles to W-O the independent designers/engineers where told W-O was on the verge of bankruptcy and they could do what they wanted with the cars, one a sedan, one a coupe. Vail stopped in South Bend and demonstrated the car to Albert Erskine. Erskine bought the design that day and both Vail and Cole would be brought into the Studebaker organization. The Rockne moniker was a later adoption so, technically, there were no 1931 Rocknes.

On March 31, 1931, 12 days after being appointed manager of sales promotion, Knute Rockne was killed in an airplane crash. In September, 1931, George M. Graham, formerly of Willys-Overland, was named sales manager of the new Rockne Motor Corporation. Two models were approved for production, the “65” on 110 in (2,800 mm) wheelbase and the “75” on a 114 in (2,900 mm) wheelbase. The “75” was based on the Studebaker Six, while the “65” was based on designs by Vail and Cole, the two engineers under contract for Willys-Overland. The “75” was designed under Studebaker’s head of engineering, Delmar “Barney” Roos.

Production of the Rockne “75” began at South Bend on December 15, 1931. The smaller “65” went into production at the old E-M-F plant on Piquette Avenue in Detroit, February 22, 1932. This was the same plant at which the 1927 and 1928 Erskine models had been built. The Rockne also went into production at Studebaker’s Canadian plant at Walkerville, Ontario, near Windsor.

The 1933 Rockne line was reduced to one line, the “10”. The Rockne “10” was an update of the “65”. When Studebaker went into receivership on March 18, 1933, it was decided to move production of the Rockne to the Studebaker plant in South Bend. The Rockne “10” was built in South Bend from April through July, 1933.

The Rockne “65/10” engine would replace all the six-cylinder Studebaker car engines then in production and power Studebaker cars and trucks through 1961.

Although the Rockne was not a success, its failure was a product of the times. The year 1932 was the bottom of the depression, not a good time to introduce a new name. Leftover Rocknes were sent to Norway in kits, where they were reassembled and sold.

Studebakers without Date

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FLOIRAT Buses France

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Sylvain Floirat

Sylvain Floirat était un homme d’affaires français (a French Business Man) né le 28 septembre 1899 à Nailhac en Dordogne et mort le 14 mars 1993.

Autobus Floirat Z10 des transports en commun de Mulhouse, actuellement au musée de l’AMTUIR.

Was son of factor, apprentice charron, first bodybuilder in Saint-Denis (coach Floirat) at the end of the Second World War, then launches into business by getting in 1946 the licensing of airlines in connection with public transport : it is the creation of the company Aigle Azur in April 1946, which starts its activities in North Africa, Lebanon and in Indochina and which still exists. Manager of the company the equipment Automobile 1934-38. In 1951 he bought factory Joseph Besset constructor of coaches at Annonay in difficulty. In 1955, he returned, at the request of the french government, the Europe n^o 1 radio station then distressed and in fact very quickly one of the most popular radio stations in France. Its founder Charles Michelson sells its stake in the company, 17 July 1956 against the considerable sum for the time, of 245 million francs. In 1962, noticing the huge success of the company, Michelson tries in vain to renegotiate this assignment to higher courts. The case reflects then up to the Summit of States french and monegasque that press hastens of relate with including, an article on the cover of the daily newspaper Le Monde dated 27 January 1962 and Le Figaro, the next day.

3 x Floirat

Taking the direction of Matra gear, it’s actually a profitable industrial complex focused on innovation in telecommunications, transport and military computer.

At the end of the 1960s, Sylvain Floirat bought the famous Hôtel Byblos founded in 1967 by Lebanese billionaire Jean Prosper Gay-Para in Saint-Tropez. The hotel which largely owes its notoriety to the Gallery of stars and “people” who attended it. CEO. of Breguet Aviation between 1955 and 1967, President of the French television company between 1966 and 1968. Mayor of Nailhac, Honorary President of the Chamber of Commerce of Périgueux. Grand Officer of the Legion of honour; President of Essendiéras plantations, he bought the castle ofAndré Maurois in Essendiéras. In 1981, he is a Director of the Hachette group and participates in the Board of the Filipacchi group in 1984.

1948 Floirat

The Floirat (www.groupe-floirat.com) Group specialises in luxury with the Byblos in Saint-Tropez hotel, La Réserve, Saint Jean de Luz and Les Manoirs de Tourgeville at Deauville, in the clubs with Les Caves du Roy in Saint Tropez and the Black Legend in Monaco (opened in 2009) and real estate in the southeast of the France. It is now run by the grandson of the creator, Antoine Chevanne.

1950 Brounais car Floirat

1938-50 Floirat X 123 – Renault ABV

Floirat Railcar

1948-file floirat 1 t/m 4

1948 floirat (railcar)

1948 floirat x 5707 railcar

Floirat 5006-5007 et 5701 a 5708 railcar

1948 rem floirat

1952 Autorail Floirat ATLAS ACB3

1950 Floirat GA1B9

1953 Floirat C14 56 small

1953 Floirat C14 Saca

1953 Floirat C14 Saca

1953 Floirat C14 Saca

1953 Floirat C14 Saca

1953 Floirat C14 SACA

1953 FLOIRAT Y55 (le seul)

1954 Floirat Z10 des transports en commun de Mulhouse, actuellement au musée de l’AMTUIR.

1955 Floirat Y 55

1955 LATILLE-FLOIRAT Istanbul

1956-57,je pense à des Floirat.

1958 Floirat B8R

1958 Floirat B8R II

1958 Floirat Boulogne © B Basset

1958 Floirat Hochwaldliniek

1958 Floirat

1958 Floirat oldie

1963 Floirat in Chair de poule, Movie

1966-0444 – Mulhouse, autobus Floirat Y55

Floirat Railcar

autocar floirat

Beauvais, autocar Floirat

Floirat Z10

Floirat Z10a FM450 150 pass

Floirat

Floirat anhanger B7gr

Floirat autocar

Floirat CAI B 6 CAI 4 L 65

Floirat Ad

floirat long

Floirat Lourdes article126-2

Floirat Pinder (Saviem?)

Floirat Trolley Turkey 15

Floirat vlcsnap

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Buses and Traincars SCEMIA from 1918-1958 France

SCEMIA

Société de construction et d’entretien de matériel industriel et agricole

Publicité de la firme.

 Automotrice Renault Scemia

 Automotrice Scemia des chemins de fer des Côtes du Nord

La Société de construction et d’entretien de matériel industriel et agricole (Scemia) a construit du matériel industriel et agricole depuis 1918, jusqu’à 1958. Elle s’est aussi spécialisée dans les véhicules de transport en commun.

À l’origine de la société se trouve monsieur André Mariage administrateur de la STCRP. Son siège se trouvait 32, rue Championnet, à Paris dans le 18^earrondissement, puis 3 rue Tronchet dans le 8^e arrondissement puis 67 rue Arago à Puteaux (Hauts-de-Seine)

Histoire

La Scemia commence son activité en 1918, par la construction des tracteurs agricoles Universel, sous licence anglaise comme suite à un accord établi avec la firme Saunderson. Cette production est abandonnée en 1921.

La Scemia oriente son activité après cette date vers la construction de véhicules routiers et ferroviaires en association avec Schneider puis Renault en 1923.

La Production

• Tracteurs agricoles:
• Véhicules ferroviaires
• Carrosseries d’autobus
• Carrosserie de véhicules utilitaires

Le site de production se trouvait à Villetaneuse.

Notes et références

1. ↑ (en) Fiche sur la société Scemia, sur steel-wheels.net. Consulté le 4 avril 2013.
2. ↑ http://www.renaultoloog.nl/bussen-francais.htm 

PANHARD (LEVASSOR) since 1981 Paris France

Panhard

Industry	Manufacturing
Founded	1891
Founder(s)	René Panhard, Emile Levassor
Headquarters	Paris, France
Products	Cars

Panhard et Levassor (1890-1895). This model was the first automobile in Portugal

Panhard et Levassor’s

Daimler Motor Carriage, 1894

1933 Panhard et Levassor X74

1937 Panhard et Levassor Dynamic

1955 DB Panhard HBR

1960 Panhard DB Le Mans

1963-1967 Panhard 24

Panhard is a French manufacturer of light tactical and military vehicles. Its current incarnation was formed by the acquisition of Panhard by Auverland in 2005. Panhard had been under Citroën ownership, then PSA (after the 1974 Peugeot Citroën merger), for 40 years. The combined company now uses the Panhard name; this was decided based on studies indicating that the Panhard name had better brand recognition worldwide than the Auverland name. Panhard once built civilian cars but ceased production of those in 1968. Many of its military products however end up on the civilian market via third sources and as military/government surplus vehicles. Panhard also built railbuses between the wars.

History

Panhard was originally called Panhard et Levassor, and was established as a car manufacturing concern by René Panhard and Émile Levassor in 1887.

Early Years

Panhard et Levassor sold their first automobile in 1890. based on a Daimler engine license. Levassor obtained his licence from Paris lawyer Edouard Sarazin, a friend and representative of Gottlieb Daimler’s interests in France. Following Sarazin’s 1887 death, Daimler commissioned Sarazin’s widow Louise to carry on her late husband’s agency. The Panhard et Levassor license was finalised by Louise, who married Levassor in 1890. Daimler and Levassor became fast friends, and shared improvements with one another.

These first vehicles set many modern standards, but each was a one-off design. They used a clutch pedal to operate a chain-driven gearbox. The vehicle also featured a front-mounted radiator. An 1895 Panhard et Levassor is credited with the first modern transmission. For the 1894 Paris–Rouen Rally, Alfred Vacheron equipped his 4 horsepower (3.0 kW; 4.1 PS) with a steering wheel, believed to be one of the earliest employments of the principle.

In 1891, the company built its first all-Levassor design, a “state of the art” model: the Systeme Panhard consisted of four wheels, a front-mounted engine with rear wheel drive, and a crude sliding-gear transmission, sold at 3500 francs. (It would remain the standard until Cadillac introducedsynchromesh in 1928.) This was to become the standard layout for automobiles for most of the next century. The same year, Panhard et Levassor shared their Daimler engine license with bicycle maker Armand Peugeot, who formed his own car company.

In 1895, 1,205 cc (74 cu in) Panhard et Levassors finished first and second in the Paris–Bordeaux–Paris race, one piloted solo by Levassor, for 48¾hr. Arthur Krebs succeeded Levassor as General Manager in 1897, and held the job until 1916. He turned the Panhard et Levassor Company into one of the largest and most profitable manufacturer of automobiles before World War I.

Panhards won numerous races from 1895 to 1903. Panhard et Levassor developed the Panhard rod, which became used in many other types of automobiles as well.

From 1910 Panhard worked to develop engines without conventional valves, using under license the sleeve valve technology that had been patented by the American Charles Yale Knight. Between 1910 and 1924 the Panhard & Levassor catalogue listed plenty of models with conventional valve engines, but these were offered alongside cars powered by sleeve valve power units. Following various detailed improvements to the sleeve valve technology by Panhard’s own engineering department, from 1924 till 1940 all Panhard cars used sleeve valve engines.

The First World War

Under the presidency of Raymond Poincaré, which ran from 1913 till 1920, Panhard & Levassor’s 18CV and 20CV models were the official presidential cars.

During the war Panhard, like other leading automobile producers, concentrated on war production, including large numbers of military trucks, V12-cylinder aero-engines, gun components, and large 75 and 105 diameter shells.

The military were also keen on the sleeve valve engined Panhard 20HP. General Joffre himself (not, till December 1916, promoted Marshal of France) used two 35HP Panhard Type X35s with massive 4-cylinder 7,360cc engines for his personal transport, and these were frequently to be seen by Parisians carrying military leaders between the front-line and the Élysée Palace.

Between two world wars

Following the outbreak of peace in 1918, Panhard resumed passenger car production in March 1919 with the 10HP Panhard Type X19 which used a 4-cylinder 2,140cc engine. This was followed three months later by three more 4-cylinder models which will have been familiar to any customers whose memories pre-dated the war, but they now incorporated ungraded electrics and a number of other modifications. For the 15th Paris Motor Show, in October 1919, Panhard were displaying four models, all with four cylinder engines, as follows:

• Panhard Type X19 2,150 cc / 10 HP
• Panhard Type X31 2,275 cc / 12 HP

(This replaced the 12 HP Panhard Type 25 for 1920.)

• Panhard Type X28 3,175 cc / 16 HP
• Panhard Type X29 4,850 cc / 20 HP

By 1925, all Panhard’s cars were powered by Knight sleeve valve engines that used steel sleeves. The steel sleeves were thinner and lighter than the cast iron ones that had been fitted in Panhard sleeve valve engines since 1910, and this already gave rise to an improved friction coefficient permitting engines to run at higher speeds. To reduce further the risk of engines jamming, the outer sleeves, which are less thermally stressed than the inner sleeves, were coated on their inner sides with an anti-friction material, employing a patented technique with which Panhard engineers had been working since 1923. This was one of several improvements applied by Panhard engineers to the basic Knight sleeve-valve engine concept.

In 1925 a 4.8 litre (292ci) model set the world record for the fastest hour run, an average of 185.51 km/h (115.26 mph).

A surprise appeared on the Panhard stand at the 20th Paris Motor Show in October 1926, in the shape of the manufacturer’s first six cylinder model since before the war. The new Panhard 16CV “Six” came with a 3445cc engine and sat on a 3540 mm wheelbase. At the show it was priced, in bare chassis form, at 58,000 francs. Of the nine models displayed for the 1927 model year, seven featured four cylinder engines, ranging in capacity from 1480cc (10CV) to 4845cc (20CV), and in price from 31,000 francs to 75,000 francs (all in bare chassis form). Also on show was an example of the 8-cylinder 6350cc (35CV) “Huit” model which Panhard had offered since 1921 and which at the 1926 show was priced by the manufacturer in bare chassis form at 99,000 francs.

Panhard et Levassor’s last pre-war car was the unusually styled monocoque Dynamic series, first introduced in 1936.

Panhard et Levassor also produced railbuses, including some for the metre gauge Chemin de Fer du Finistère.

Post-war era

After World War II the company was renamed Panhard (without “Levassor”), and produced light cars such as the Dyna X, Dyna Z, PL 17, 24 CT and 24 BT. The company had long noted the weight advantages of aluminum, and this as well as postwar government steel rationing (designed to limit new car models to ensure an orderly return to production at the major firms), encouraged the firm to proceed with the expensive alternative of making the bodies and several other components out of aluminum; thus the Dyna X and early Dyna Z series 1 had aluminum bodies. Unfortunately, cost calculations by Jean Panhard himself, inheriting son and managing director of the firm, failed to account fully for all of the extra cost of aluminum vs steel, as his calculation were made for the sheet metal panel area actually utilized per body shell, and erroneously did not account for the cut offs and scrap of each of the stampings making up the shell. Once in production, a re-examination cost analysis showed a cost of 55,700fr for aluminum shells and only 15,600fr for steel. The use of aluminum had pushed the firm perilously close to bankruptcy, and a rush engineering job saw the firm return to steel. Thus, the later Dyna Z (from mid September 1955) and the successor PL 17 bodies were steel, and the major stampings retained the heavier gauge intended for durability with aluminum, so as to avoid complete replacement of the stamping dies.

The air-cooled flat-twin engine of the Dyna was also used by Georges Irat for his “Voiture du Bled” (VdB) off-road vehicle, built in Morocco in small numbers in the early 1950s.

The styling of the Dyna Z was distinctively smooth and rounded, with an emphasis on aerodynamics and an overall minimalist design. The 24 CT was a later (fr summer 1963-on) stylish 2+2 seater; the 24 BT being a version of the same with a longer wheelbase and space for four.

For a period after the war, the Panhard-based Monopole racing cars received unofficial support from Panhard (as did DB and other clients such as Robert Chancel), using it to good effect in winning the “Index of Performance” class at Le Mans in 1950, 1951, and 1952. In 1953, Panhard moved on to a more direct involvement with Chancel, which however came to an end after the deadly 1955 Le Mans. In the latter half of the fifties and the early sixties, the Deutsch Bonnet racers (“DB Panhard”) picked up this mantle and went on to dominate the “Index of Performance” as well as other small-engine racing classes.

The last Panhard passenger car was built in 1967. After assembling 2CV panel trucks for Citroen in order to utilize capacity in face of falling sales, and raising operating cash by selling ownership progressively to Citroën (full control as of 1965), in fall of 1967 the civilian branch was absorbed by Citroën, and the marque was retired. Since 1968 Panhard has only made armored vehicles.

In 2004, Panhard lost a competition to another manufacturer of military vehicles, Auverland, for the choice of the future PVP of the French Army. This allowed Auverland to purchase Panhard in 2005, then a subsidiary of PSA Peugeot Citroën. However, the fame of Panhard being greater, it was decided to retain the name; the PVP designed by Auverland would bear a Panhard badge.

Car models

Panhard models

Type	Construction period
Panhard Dyna X	1945–1954
Panhard Junior	1951–1956
Panhard Dyna Z	1953–1959
Panhard PL 17	1959–1965
Panhard CD	1962–1965
Panhard 24	1963–1967

Models with Panhard technology

Type	Construction period
Dyna Veritas	1949–1954
Rosengart Scarlette	1952
DB HBR 5	1954–1961
DB Le Mans	1958–1964
Sera-Panhard	1959–1961

Current military models

A VBL of the French Army

AVL

PVP

PVPXL / AVXL: an enlarged AVL

TC 54

TC 10

TC 24

A3

Peugeot P4

ERC 90 Sagaie

VBR: enlarged VBL multipurpose armored vehicle

VAP: Véhicule d’Action dans la Profondeur (deep penetration vehicle), VBL based special operations vehicle

VPS: P4 based SAS Patrol vehicle

Vehicles in service

Panhard has supplied more than 18,000 military wheeled vehicles to over 50 countries with a range of combat vehicles weighing less than 10 tonnes, as follows:

5,400 armoured wheeled vehicles (AML, ERC 90 Sagaie, and LYNX VCR 6×6)

2,300 VBL in 16 countries which includes 1600 in service with the French Army

933 A4 AVL—PVP—selected by the French Army

9,500 vehicles under 7 tonnes; most being jeep-like vehicles produced under the Auverland name.

Gallery

Panhard et Levassor 4 CV with Wagonette body (1896) Panhard et Levassor Landaulette type AL (1898) Panhard et Levassor automobile circa 1900 Panhard et Levassor water-cooled 2-cylinder automobile engine, circa 1900 Panhard et Levassor 2,4 litres Phaéton coachwork by Kellner (1901) Panhard et Levassor 7 CV Voiturette (1902) Panhard et Levassor Char-à-banc (1903) Panhard et Levassor 10 CV (1914) Panhard et Levassor X46 2300cc (1924) Saloon by Salmons and Son, Tickford Panhard et Levassor Cabrio-Coupé Pourtout Panhard et Levassor Eclipse (1934) Pourtout Panhard Dyna X 86 Saloon (1952) Panhard Dyna 750 Coupé Allemano (1952) Panhard Dyna Z (1953) Panhard 24 CT, (1966) Panhard 178 Engin Blindé de Reconnaissance 75 Auto Mitrailleuse Légère HE-60-7 P4

See also

• ACMAT
• The 1916 St Chamond tank
• Panhard 178
• Panhard EBR 8 wheeled heavy armored car
• Arthur Constantin Krebs, Panhard General Manager from 1897 to 1916

Panhard et Levassor Dynamic

Panhard et Levassor Dynamic 130, 140, 160
1937-mhv-pl-dynamic
Overview
Manufacturer	Société des Anciens Etablissements Panhard et Levassor
Production	1936 – 1940 2,742
Assembly	Porte d’Ivry district, Paris
Designer	Louis Bionier
Body and chassis
Class	Large car
Body style	4-door saloon 4-door “6-light” saloon 2-door coupé 2-door cabriolet
Layout	Front engine, rear-wheel drive
Powertrain
Engine	2,516 cc – 3,834 cc sleeve-valve I6
Dimensions
Wheelbase	2,600 mm (102 in) 2,800 mm (110 in) 3,000 mm (118 in)
Length	4,750 mm (187 in) to 5,150 mm (203 in)
Width	1,900 mm (75 in)

The Panhard et Levassor Dynamic is a large car introduced by the French auto-maker Panhard et Levassor as a replacement for the company’s CS model at the Paris Motor Show in October 1936.

1939 Dynamic 140 six-light Berline(X81)

A Dynamic 140 Coupé Major

The bodies

For the Dynamic, Panhard et Levassor’s in-house designer Louis Bionier came up with a streamlined design, featuring half-covered rear wheel arches, an eye-catching three-piece front windscreen with three wipers, and headlights integrated into the front wings. All these features caught on with other auto-makers in subsequent years, and headlights integrated into the bodywork became mainstream, but in 1936 they gave the car a very modern look.

The bodies were also of great technical interest. Despite its size, the Dynamic offered little comfort to traditional coachbuilders, being the first French car in the luxury class to feature a steel body electrically welded together and constructed as a monocoque, without a separate chassis.

A “six-light” four-door saloon/sedan bodied version was offered with a long passenger cabin, but no trunk/boot. This version, introduced in the fall of 1937, could seat nine. A four-door saloon/sedan (“berline”) was also available with a shorter passenger cabin, but with a protruding boot/trunk. The car was also unusually wide, allowing for three abreast seating: on early cars, Panhard et Levassor positioned the steering wheel in the middle of the front panel. It was hoped that this would provide a superior view out. The centrally mounted steering was probably the feature that attracted the most comment when the car appeared at the 1936 Paris Motor Show, and Panhard et Levassor advertised it as a “common sense” solution during a period when French automakers were switching over from right hand drive (which had been virtually universal in France twenty years earlier) to left hand drive (which would be virtually universal in France twenty years later). However, the market-place found the central steering wheel an innovation too far and drivers complained about the contortions necessary to slide from the side of the wide car to the central position necessary to control it. From 1938 the Panhard et Levassor Dynamic featured a conventionally positioned steering wheel.

There were also two-seater coupé versions and a cabriolet version offered, but by the end of 1938 these “minority“ models had accounted for only 358 cars.

Engines

A first prototype, known as the Dynamic 20 CV, was presented in March 1936. This was powered by a six-cylinder in-line engine of 3,485 cm³ with cylinder diameters that indeed corresponded with the French 20 hp taxation class. However, the car that entered production and was offered for sale from May 1935 as the Dynamic 130 came with the six-cylinder in-line sleeve-valve engine of 2,516 cc from the predecessor model, the Panhard et Levassor CS. This placed it in the French 14 CV taxation class. The “130” in the name was to indicate a claimed top speed of 130 km/h (81 mph).

Along with the Dynamic 130, Panhard et Levassor offered a Dynamic 140, which shared its engine with the (initially still in production) “CS Spécial” model. The engine size on this version was 2.861 cc (16 CV). Actual claimed horsepower was 75 hp (55 kW) and it was this “Dynamic 140” that was the most popular with customers, 2,230 having been produced by 1940 when war brought production to an end. By this time the car had become the last production sleeve-valve-engined car in the world.

Variants

While three wheelbases were available, the shortest was largely restricted to the (soon discontinued) Coupé Junior model and the longest to the Berline. Most Dynamics (Majors) ended up having the 280 cm wheelbase. In 1937 Panhard et Levassor introduced a range topping “Dynamic 160”, as a successor to the Panhard et Levassor DS. This car was fitted with a 3,834 cc (22 CV) version of the Panhard et Levassor six-cylinder in-line engine, with 100 PS (74 kW). 153 had been produced by 1938.

Commercial

Panhard et Levassor Dynamics were never particularly cheap, which reflected the technological progress that they represented. However, less than six months after the October 1936 launch Panhard et Levassor updated their price list, many the prices published in February 1937 involving eye-watering increases of more than 20%. After February 1937 the short wheelbase “Junior 130” (coupe) 14CV Dynamic was priced at 53,850 Francs while prices for the four door “Berline 130” started at 58,850 Francs. For comparison, the Renault Primaquatre, admittedly an older and less flamboyant design from a manufacturer who still fitted side-valve engines in all its models, but nonetheless with an engine size and wheelbase length that also placed it squarely in the same 14CV category as the Panhard et Levassor, was priced at 22,500 Francs for a “Berline” (saloon/sedan) in October 1936, which had risen to 25,500 Francs in October 1937 Price lists from Talbot, whose Minor was launched in October 1937 with a list of 42,500 Francs for a 13CV four seater compact four door “Berline” from a manufacturer with a more modern model range, also left the listed prices for the Panhard et Levassor Dynamic looking optimistically high.

Wartime production

In September 1939 France declared war on Germany and in June 1940 the German army rapidly invaded and occupied Northern France. Before September 1939, unlike Renault, Panhard et Levassor had not supplied cars to the French army, but with the outbreak of war Panhard et Levassor received an order for 180 of the larger-engined Dynamics, with the emphasis on the long cabined “six-light” sedans/salons. The army cars, generally reserved for senior ranks, are in most instances recognisable from the spare wheel mounted on the outside of the rear panel. Civilian versions, even with the long cabin body, kept the spare wheel inside the car.

As the war progressed, Panhard et Levassor found it prudent to transfer production to their site at Tarbes in the extreme southwest, and a gazogene powered version of the Dynamic was produced albeit only in small numbers. However, following the defeat of France in June 1940 Panhard et Levassor, along with other auto-makers was increasingly obliged to manufacture military supplies.