Automotive industry in Germany
The automotive industry in Germany is one of the largest employers in the country, with a labor force of over 857,336 working in the industry.
Being home to the modern car, the German automobile industry is regarded as one of the most competitive and innovative in the world, and has the third-highest car production in the world, and seventh-highest total motor vehicle production. With an annual output close to four million and a 31.5% share of the European Union, German-designed cars won in the European Car of the Year, the International Car of the Year, and the World Car of the Year annual awards the most times among all countries. The Volkswagen Beetle and Porsche 911 took 4th and 5th places in the Car of the Century award.
History
Early history
Motor-car pioneers Karl Benz and Nicolaus Otto developed four-stroke internal combustion engines in the late 1870s; Benz fitted his design to a coach in 1887, which led to the modern-day motor car. By 1901, Germany was producing about 900 cars a year. In 1926 Daimler-Benz formed from the predecessor companies of Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler; it produced cars under the marque of Mercedes-Benz. BMW, though founded in 1916, didn't start auto production until 1928.American economist Robert A. Brady extensively documented the rationalization movement that shaped German industry in the 1920s, and although his general model of the movement applied to the automotive industry, the sector was in poor health in the later years of the 1918-1933 Weimar Republic. The slow development of the German automotive industry left the German market open for major American auto-manufacturers such as General Motors and the Ford Motor Company.
The collapse of the global economy during the Great Depression in the early 1930s plunged Germany's auto industry into a severe crisis. While eighty-six auto companies had existed in Germany during the 1920s, barely twelve survived the depression, including Daimler-Benz, Opel and Ford's factory in Cologne. Four of the country's major car manufacturers — Horch, Dampf Kraft Wagen, Wanderer and Audi — formed a joint venture known as the Auto Union in 1932, which would play a leading role in Germany's comeback from the depression.
The turnabout for the German motor industry came about in the mid-1930s following the election of the Nazi Party to power in 1933. The Nazis instituted a policy known as , a transport policy which Adolf Hitler himself considered a key element of attempts to legitimise the Nazi government by raising the people's standard of living. In addition to development and extensions of major highway schemes, the Volkswagen project aimed to design and construct a robust but inexpensive "people's car", the product of which was the Volkswagen Beetle, presented in 1937. A new city grew up around the Volkswagen factory to house its huge workforce, but Volkswagen production switched to military output in 1940.
Postwar era
By the end of World War II, most of the auto factories had been destroyed or badly damaged. In addition, the eastern part of Germany was under control of the Soviet Union, which dismantled much of the machinery that was left and sent it back to the Soviet Union as war reparations. Some manufacturers, such as Maybach and Adler, started up again, but did not continue making passenger cars. The Volkswagen production facility in Wolfsburg continued making the Volkswagen Beetle in 1945, a car which it had intended to make prior to the war, except that the factory was converted to military truck production during the war. By 1955 VW had made one million Volkswagen Beetles, and by 1965 had built 10 million, as it gained popularity on export markets as well as on the home market. Other auto manufacturers rebuilt their plants and slowly resumed production, with initial models mostly based on pre-war designs. Mercedes-Benz resumed production in 1946 with the pre-war–designed 170 series. In 1951 they introduced the 220 series, which came with a more modern engine, and the 300 series. Opel revived the pre-war cars Opel Olympia in 1947 and the Opel Kapitän in 1948..Borgward began production in 1949, and Goliath, Lloyd, Gutbrod, and Auto Union began in 1950. BMW's first cars after the war were the luxurious BMW 501 and BMW 502 in 1952. In 1957 NSU Motorenwerke re-entered the car market.
Automobile manufacturers in East Germany after the war included Eisenacher Motorenwerk, which also made the Wartburg, and VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke Zwickau, which made the IFA F8 and the Trabant. East Germany's status as a communist country was reflecting in the relatively primitive design and refinement of these cars, although they both continued in production until the early 1990s, shortly after the fall of the communist rule and the German reunification.
Initial production by EMW after the war were models that were essentially pre-war BMW 326 and BMW 327 models, as the plant in Eisenach was formerly owned by BMW.
During the mid-to-late 1950s, the Bubble car became popular. BMW was the largest maker, with the BMW Isetta and BMW 600. Other makes included the Messerschmitt KR175 and KR200, the Heinkel Kabine, and the Zündapp Janus. Microcars such as the Glas Goggomobile, BMW 700, and Lloyd 600 also were popular. However, the "Bubble car" concept had been abandoned by 1970.
In the late-1950s, BMW developed financial difficulties and control of the company was acquired by the Quandt family. BMW acquired Glas in 1966. In 1961, the Borgward auto group, including Goliath and Lloyd went out of business. In 1958 Auto Union was acquired by Daimler, but then, in turn, it was sold in stages from 1964 to 1966 to Volkswagen. In 1969, Volkswagen AG acquired NSU Motorenwerke and merged it with Auto Union, but the NSU nameplate disappeared by 1977 when production of the Ro80 rotary-engine saloon was stopped largely due to disappointing sales and a poor reputation for reliability.
Ford merged its German and British operations in 1967, with the intention of producing identical cars at its German and British factories. Ford had also opened a factory at Genk, Belgium, in 1963. In 1976, it also opened a factory in Valencia, Spain, where production of the new Fiesta supermini was concentrated. The Escort, launched in 1967, was the first new Ford to be produced at both the German and British factories. At the beginning of 1969, Ford launched a new sporting coupe, the Capri, which like the Escort was produced throughout Europe. The Taunus of 1970 made use of the same basic design as the British Cortina MK3, but had slightly different exterior styling, although those styling differences were ironed out with the launch of the 1976 Taunus. Ford's new flagship model, the Granada, was built in Britain, Germany and Spain from the beginning of 1972, although British production was withdrawn after a few years.
1970s
Volkswagen was faced with major financial difficulties in the early 1970s; with its aging Beetle still selling strongly all over the world but its newer models had been less successful. However, the company then enjoyed a revival with the arrival of the popular Passat in 1973, Golf in 1974 and Polo in 1975 - all of these cars featured the new front-wheel drive hatchback layout which was enjoying a rise in popularity across Europe after first being patented by Renault of France with the R16 in 1965. The Polo was Volkswagen's new entry-level model, and was aimed directly at modern small hatchbacks like the Fiat 127 and Renault 5. The mid-range Golf was seen as the car to eventually replace the Beetle, and was easily the first popular hatchback of this size in Europe, leading to most leading carmakers having a similar-sized hatchback by the early 1980s. Production of the Beetle finished in Germany in 1978, although it continued to be produced in Mexico and Brazil until 2003, with a small number of models being imported to Germany and the rest of Europe during its final 25 years. The Passat was marketed as a more advanced alternative to traditional larger saloon cars like the Ford Taunus/Cortina, Opel Ascona and the Renault 12.The Scirocco coupe of 1974 was also a success in the smaller sports car market, competing against the likes of the Ford Capri and Opel Manta. Its partner company Audi also enjoyed an upturn thanks to the success of its 100 range and the smaller 80. Both of the new Audi models featured front-wheel drive. The Volkswagen Polo was in fact a rebadged version of the Audi 50, but the Audi original was a slower seller than the Volkswagen that it spawned and was only available in certain markets.
Volkswagen and Audi both enjoyed a growing rise in popularity in overseas markets during the 1970s and this continued throughout the 1980s. Audi launched a well-received large saloon model, the Audi 100, in 1968, and followed this four years later with the smaller Audi 80, winner of the European Car of the Year award for 1973. In 1980, Audi moved into the sports car market with its front-wheel drive Coupe and the four-wheel drive, high-performance version, the Quattro. The Quattro four-wheel drive system was later adopted on Audi's saloon models.
During the 1970s and early 1980s, General Motors integrated Opel with the British Vauxhall brand so that designs were shared with the only difference being the names. Faced with fierce competition from up-to-date designs from Volkswagen, General Motors moved to a front-wheel drive hatchback in 1979 with the latest version of the Opel Kadett, followed in 1981 by new Ascona. In 1982 it opened a new plant Zaragoza, Spain, to produce the new Opel Corsa supermini; this car was later imported to Britain as the Vauxhall Nova. Production of the Kadett/Astra and Ascona/Cavalier models was divided between factories in Germany, Belgium, Spain and Britain. The Vauxhall Carlton was briefly built in Britain from its 1978 launch, but within a few years production was fully concentrated in Germany, where it was built alongside the identical Opel Rekord.