A Factory in Saxony Gets Demolished

kernals12

Banned
Scene: March 1946, British zone occupied Germany
Orders are sent to demolish a factory which was supposed to be building the Kdf-wagen, one of Hitler's pet projects. At the last minute, British Army Officer Ivan Hurst convinces them to keep the factory running to produce vehicles for the British army. The town that was built to house the factory's workers is renamed Wolfsburg, and the car is christened the Volkswagen. The rest is history. So what if Hurst was ignored and the plant was destroyed and the Beetle never saw the light of day? I'd say the biggest impact would be across the pond. The Beetle's impact on the US Auto Industry can't be overstated. Because it was designed to handle Germany's autobahns, it had the performance and durability for American highways, meanwhile imports from Britain and France left their owners on the side of the road. This made it very popular, so popular that Detroit was forced to respond. In 1960 we got the first wave of compacts with the Ford Falcon, the Plymouth Valiant, and the Chevrolet Corvair, before then, each car company sold one car in one size in a variety of bodystyles. Then in 1970 we got subcompacts with, for better or worse, the AMC Gremlin, the Ford Pinto, and the Chevrolet Vega. Without the Beetle, America's small car revolution would be delayed by at least half a decade (at which point the increasingly popular Rambler would've forced them to act).
 
There was more than a niche demand for simple durable low cost autos. Was there anything else that could have filled the VWs customers garages in the 1950s & 60s? Anything else that could have been developed?
 

kernals12

Banned
There was more than a niche demand for simple durable low cost autos. Was there anything else that could have filled the VWs customers garages in the 1950s & 60s? Anything else that could have been developed?
AMC had a lot of success in the late 50s with their Rambler.
 

kernals12

Banned
There was more than a niche demand for simple durable low cost autos. Was there anything else that could have filled the VWs customers garages in the 1950s & 60s? Anything else that could have been developed?
Mercedes Benz, which after the war found itself in a desirable place in not having any of its factories in the new East Germany, had tried selling in the low cost segment, and I'm sure they'd have no problem filling in the void in West Germany's car market.
 
AMC had a lot of success in the late 50s with their Rambler.

If those have profitably filled maybe half the sales or better VW did by 1960 they maybe the other US manufactors won't dismiss the small car market & move back into it earlier in the 1960s? Or maybe AMC sees the possibilities and goes aggressively for the small car & economy car market. Perhaps they anticipate the budget sports car and come up with something to fit the market niche the Datsun 280Z filled?
 
Japanese were already building small cars and exporting them to the United States so that should get American manufacturers moving in the small car market maybe even earlier then the Volkswagen Beetle
 

Driftless

Donor
One of the hurdles for compact cars in that era was the very cheap gas in the US. The total cost to fill up and run a "gas-hog" wasn't appreciably different than for most smaller and fuel efficient cars. Big and Powerful were hot for a very large part of the American market...

VW succeed more by being cheap, durable, easy to repair, and unique.
 
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Saab would have been able to step into the niche market with their Model 92 if there was no VW. Even though it was a 2 cycle, the motor produced 25HP in early models and up to 35HP in later models. Top speed originally was about 65mph and more in later models. Construction was rugged and probably benefitted from Saab's experience with aircraft design. It's front wheel drive may have even opened some eyes of the US car makers to the advantages of this layout.
 

kernals12

Banned
Saab would have been able to step into the niche market with their Model 92 if there was no VW. Even though it was a 2 cycle, the motor produced 25HP in early models and up to 35HP in later models. Top speed originally was about 65mph and more in later models. Construction was rugged and probably benefitted from Saab's experience with aircraft design. It's front wheel drive may have even opened some eyes of the US car makers to the advantages of this layout.
don't forget volvo
 
There was more than a niche demand for simple durable low cost autos. Was there anything else that could have filled the VWs customers garages in the 1950s & 60s? Anything else that could have been developed?
My grandfather was an early VW driver - i think the first one he bought was in '56. The first thing that VW did right that every other foreign automaker screwed up until the late 1960's and 1970's was to establish a stand-alone dealer network. The second thing they did right was to make customer service a priority, and do it better than the big 3 domestic automakers. Third thing they did right was to make sure that any dealer could basically build a new VW from scratch with in-stock parts - no wiring back to Germany for a widget that took a month to arrive.
 

kernals12

Banned
My grandfather was an early VW driver - i think the first one he bought was in '56. The first thing that VW did right that every other foreign automaker screwed up until the late 1960's and 1970's was to establish a stand-alone dealer network. The second thing they did right was to make customer service a priority, and do it better than the big 3 domestic automakers. Third thing they did right was to make sure that any dealer could basically build a new VW from scratch with in-stock parts - no wiring back to Germany for a widget that took a month to arrive.
Don't forget their awesome ads
 
Saab would have been able to step into the niche market with their Model 92 if there was no VW. Even though it was a 2 cycle, the motor produced 25HP in early models and up to 35HP in later models. Top speed originally was about 65mph and more in later models. Construction was rugged and probably benefitted from Saab's experience with aircraft design. It's front wheel drive may have even opened some eyes of the US car makers to the advantages of this layout.

Saab did try to make an early attempt to get into the American market. Kurt Vonnegut (Before he became a famous writer) opened the first American dealership in Cape Cod. It folded pretty quick and they got a pretty bad image because of some technical problems. Vonnegut wrote a hilarious article for the NYT decades later where he describes them belching as much smoke as a destroyer laying a smoke screen.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/jalopn...gut-a-saab-could-drag-a-vw-at-a-stoplight/amp

I suppose if the Saab venture had worked out Vonnegut might never have made it big as a writer and would be remembered as the Saab King of Cape cod.
 
Because it was designed to handle Germany's autobahns, it had the performance and durability for American highways, meanwhile imports from Britain and France left their owners on the side of the road.

24hp 1100cc Beetles of the mid '50s topped out at 65mph, with a tailwind.
The original 2CV did maybe 40 on a good day

Wasn’t there a company called Tucker automotive that built a very revolutionary car

My dad had the chance to test drive a Tucker.

He wasn't impressed, thought it 'about as good as a Plymouth' and he hated Plymouths. It was Mopar's economy line at the time

Was there anything else that could have filled the VWs customers garages in the 1950s & 60s? Anything else that could have been developed?

Morris Minor had better performance than the Beetle, and more options at first

this made it very popular, so popular that Detroit was forced to respond. In 1960 we got the first wave of compacts with the Ford Falcon, the Plymouth Valiant, and the Chevrolet Corvair, before then, each car company sold one car in one size in a variety of bodystyles. Then in 1970 we got subcompacts with, for better or worse, the AMC Gremlin, the Ford Pinto, and the Chevrolet Vega. Without the Beetle, America's small car revolution would be delayed by at least half a decade

There were all kinds of foreign car imports in the '50s.
VW was different, 1st for marketing, 2nd for robust dealer network
That's what made the Beetle a success in the '50-60s
 
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