1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to tex Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:16,919 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:19,439 Speaker 1: iHeart Radio and I love all things tech. And in 5 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:23,600 Speaker 1: our last episode, we talked about the founding of Volkswagen, 6 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: how designer, engineer and entrepreneur Ferdinand Porsche and his son, 7 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:35,040 Speaker 1: also Ferdinand Porsche, but known as Fiery, responded to a 8 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:39,760 Speaker 1: call from Adolf Hitler to design a people's car and 9 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:44,040 Speaker 1: how that led to establishing Volkswagen as a company. We 10 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: also talked about how the manufacturing facility would switch gears 11 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:51,320 Speaker 1: so to speak, to go into wartime production for the 12 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: German military during World War Two, how that made the 13 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: new Volkswagen facility a target during Allied bombing runs, and 14 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 1: how a British officer named Hearst campaign to return the 15 00:01:03,800 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: manufacturing plant back to its originally intended purpose producing civilian automobiles. 16 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:12,880 Speaker 1: And then we talked a lot about the Volkswagen Beetle. 17 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 1: But there's more to cover than just the old love bug. 18 00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:20,360 Speaker 1: So what else did Volkswagen the company do over the years. Well, 19 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:22,679 Speaker 1: for the first few years after World War Two, the 20 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:27,400 Speaker 1: company focused exclusively on building the Type one. That's the 21 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:30,040 Speaker 1: car that was known in the US as the aforementioned 22 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:34,000 Speaker 1: Beetle or the Volkswagen Bug. The first priority for the 23 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: company was producing cars to be used by British officials 24 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:40,800 Speaker 1: who were largely in charge of running Germany after Germany's 25 00:01:40,880 --> 00:01:45,200 Speaker 1: surrender after World War Two in ninety eight, after successfully 26 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:48,559 Speaker 1: restoring the manufacturing facility to working order, the British government 27 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:51,480 Speaker 1: tried to find someone else to take over the facility. 28 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: They offered it up to companies and agencies in France, Australia, 29 00:01:56,600 --> 00:02:00,360 Speaker 1: Britain and the United States, but no one was eager 30 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:02,480 Speaker 1: to take them up on it. A year later, the 31 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:05,320 Speaker 1: British military found the person to take over the operations, 32 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:10,119 Speaker 1: a man named Heinrich Nordoff. Nordoff was born in Germany 33 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 1: and had worked for a company called opal Ope L, 34 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:17,960 Speaker 1: a property of US automotive company General Motors, during World 35 00:02:18,040 --> 00:02:22,080 Speaker 1: War Two. He oversaw the production of trucks. That facility 36 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:25,800 Speaker 1: also reportedly relied at least in part on forced labor, 37 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:29,880 Speaker 1: just as Volkswagen had during World War Two. After the war, 38 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:35,919 Speaker 1: the British military relied on Heinrich's expertise and eventually made 39 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 1: him the managing director of the Volkswagen facility. Mainly due 40 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:43,359 Speaker 1: to the urging of Major Hearst, the British official who 41 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:47,120 Speaker 1: had taken it over, Nordoff was able to ramp up 42 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: production beyond the relatively modest levels that the British military 43 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:55,720 Speaker 1: had managed. He optimized processes, he made the whole operation 44 00:02:55,760 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: more efficient, and he doubled the manufacturing output in short 45 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:02,079 Speaker 1: order and technically. It was around this time that the 46 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:06,080 Speaker 1: company would officially adopt Volkswagen as its name. It would 47 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:08,760 Speaker 1: become one of the more important manufacturing companies in the 48 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:12,960 Speaker 1: nation of West Germany, with the region of Lower Saxony 49 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: in West Germany receiving a twenty percent voting stake in Volkswagen. 50 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:22,520 Speaker 1: The company made Type one models with different engine capacities, 51 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:25,799 Speaker 1: the earliest being the modest eleven hundred cc or one 52 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:28,960 Speaker 1: point one Leader engine that worked fine for the early 53 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:32,160 Speaker 1: days of motoring in post war Germany, but it didn't 54 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:35,240 Speaker 1: quite match the expectations for people living in other markets, 55 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 1: so the manufacturing facility began making Type one vehicles with 56 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: slightly beefier engines. While operations were picking up financial limitations 57 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:45,680 Speaker 1: meant that the company wasn't really able to focus too 58 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:49,840 Speaker 1: much on expanding beyond the Type one car. Ter ben 59 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:53,960 Speaker 1: Pone Pone was a car dealer in the Netherlands who 60 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: imported Volkswagen's to sell them in his home country. He 61 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:01,040 Speaker 1: had taken over his father's business. Originally was all about 62 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:04,880 Speaker 1: selling sewing machines, but had gradually over time added things 63 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: like bicycles, motorized bikes and motorcycles, and then cars to 64 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: its list of products. After World War Two, he visited 65 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:16,200 Speaker 1: the Volkswagen plant and he was impressed by the Type 66 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:19,960 Speaker 1: one vehicle. He and the company came to an agreement 67 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 1: that would make ben Pons Dealership the first outside of 68 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: Germany to offer the Type one the VW Beetle, and 69 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 1: while at the facility, Pone saw a curious vehicle. Now, 70 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:35,560 Speaker 1: it was built on top of a Type one chassis, 71 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:39,720 Speaker 1: but it definitely didn't look like a VW Beetle. So 72 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:43,680 Speaker 1: imagine a pickup truck. Now imagine that the bed of 73 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:47,279 Speaker 1: the truck isn't behind the cab where the driver sits, 74 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:51,360 Speaker 1: but it's instead in front of the cab. Now, remember 75 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:55,720 Speaker 1: the Type one was a rear engine rear wheel drive vehicle. 76 00:04:56,320 --> 00:04:58,839 Speaker 1: So in this design you would have the engine mounted 77 00:04:58,920 --> 00:05:02,839 Speaker 1: on the back of the chassis. Above the engine compartment 78 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,080 Speaker 1: would be a cab where the driver would sit, so 79 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:09,800 Speaker 1: the engine is essentially under the driver's seating area. The 80 00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: area in front of the cab was a flat platform 81 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:16,039 Speaker 1: upon which workers could put parts to transport them to 82 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 1: other areas within the manufacturing facility. So it's kind of 83 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:23,320 Speaker 1: like a forklift, only without the lift part. Because the 84 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:26,719 Speaker 1: platform on the chassis didn't move, it was called a 85 00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:30,440 Speaker 1: plot in vagin. Pond saw this and thought, hey, you know, 86 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:33,520 Speaker 1: post war Europe is really going to need some commercial 87 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:37,480 Speaker 1: vehicles for businesses of various sizes so that everything can 88 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 1: get up and running again. And the chassis for this 89 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:43,679 Speaker 1: little car can be used for lots of different types 90 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:47,719 Speaker 1: of builds. So Pond then starts to sketch out an idea. 91 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:51,359 Speaker 1: His design called for a small van built on top 92 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:54,919 Speaker 1: of the Type one chassis. The driver and passenger of 93 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:57,800 Speaker 1: the van would sit up front in a cab that 94 00:05:57,880 --> 00:06:00,280 Speaker 1: was at the extreme front end of the via goal 95 00:06:00,360 --> 00:06:03,279 Speaker 1: and this was made possible because, again the engine for 96 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:05,360 Speaker 1: the vehicle would be in the back. So think of 97 00:06:05,440 --> 00:06:09,360 Speaker 1: things like your typical school bus where that has that 98 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:13,040 Speaker 1: flat front, those style school buses. That's what this one 99 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:15,680 Speaker 1: would be like too. In a way. The body they 100 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,560 Speaker 1: sketched out was essentially a box, and the idea was 101 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:20,599 Speaker 1: that such a vehicle would be able to carry a 102 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:24,600 Speaker 1: good deal of materials or passengers and serve as a 103 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:28,279 Speaker 1: light commercial vehicle in Europe. Pone also said he would 104 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:31,760 Speaker 1: want such a vehicle to weigh around seven rams when 105 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:35,840 Speaker 1: empty that's about one thousand, six hundred fifty pounds, and 106 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:39,159 Speaker 1: that it should be able to carry essentially an equal 107 00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:43,320 Speaker 1: amount of weight. Now, Poe wasn't in the manufacturing business himself. 108 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:45,960 Speaker 1: He was a car dealer, not a car maker, so 109 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:49,240 Speaker 1: he handed over his design to his contacts at Volkswagen. 110 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:53,880 Speaker 1: Nordoff and his technical director, Alfred Hessner looked over Pone's 111 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:57,640 Speaker 1: design and they liked it. They particularly liked that it 112 00:06:57,640 --> 00:06:59,919 Speaker 1: would make use of a chassis that the plant was 113 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:03,120 Speaker 1: already producing. So in their mind they said, well, there 114 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:05,600 Speaker 1: would be no need to develop, test and build a 115 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:09,200 Speaker 1: new chassis, so that cuts down on the development cost 116 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: of getting into producing this vehicle. So with these bonuses 117 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:17,960 Speaker 1: in mind, they decided to pursue this new vehicle model. 118 00:07:18,440 --> 00:07:20,960 Speaker 1: It took a little time to schedule a prototype because 119 00:07:20,960 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 1: they were still in full production mode for the Type one, 120 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:27,200 Speaker 1: and they then finally got things going. It only took 121 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:30,720 Speaker 1: three months from the point where they started the process 122 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:34,720 Speaker 1: to when they could roll off a prototype. But along 123 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 1: the way they also learned some valuable lessons. Now, as 124 00:07:37,600 --> 00:07:40,800 Speaker 1: it turned out, the weight of this new vehicle and 125 00:07:40,880 --> 00:07:44,840 Speaker 1: the weight that it would ultimately hold would require Volkswagen 126 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:47,800 Speaker 1: to go back and tweak the chassis after all, because 127 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:50,960 Speaker 1: it just wasn't gonna be strong enough to carry three 128 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:53,600 Speaker 1: thousand or more pounds of weight if you're talking about 129 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 1: a fully loaded vehicle. So they went back and built 130 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:02,280 Speaker 1: a ladder chassis. That's called a ladder chassis because it 131 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:04,360 Speaker 1: kind of looks like a ladder, So you know how 132 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:08,560 Speaker 1: a ladder has two long rails that are connected by rungs. 133 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:11,080 Speaker 1: A ladder chassis is story of the same way. It's 134 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:14,000 Speaker 1: the chassis or the base of a vehicle, and it 135 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:17,920 Speaker 1: has those sort of horizontal rungs running across to provide 136 00:08:17,960 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: more strength and more stability, so it gives the chassis 137 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 1: a stronger frame. Despite this unexpected cost, the project did 138 00:08:26,440 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 1: continue and Volkswagen engineers had another challenge, how to make 139 00:08:31,120 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: a Volkswagen engine power a vehicle that could at max 140 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:41,520 Speaker 1: wait top out at around three thousand pounds or um. 141 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:44,920 Speaker 1: So to do that, they looked at one of the 142 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:48,000 Speaker 1: vehicles that the factory had made during World War Two. 143 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:50,760 Speaker 1: That'd be the kubel Wagen. Now, if you listen to 144 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 1: my last episode, you know that this was the lightweight 145 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:58,000 Speaker 1: two wheeled general purpose military vehicles, sort of the German 146 00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:01,760 Speaker 1: equivalent to the United States g and Volkswagen had produced 147 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:05,360 Speaker 1: these during the war. The vehicle, the kugol Wagon, that is, 148 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:09,000 Speaker 1: had a reduction gear system to manage torque, and so 149 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:12,200 Speaker 1: the VW engineers took that design and then adapted it 150 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:16,840 Speaker 1: for this new commercial vehicle. Now, beyond these mechanical challenges, 151 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:20,600 Speaker 1: Volkswagen faced some other hurdles. One was that when they 152 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:26,240 Speaker 1: tested this design in wind tunnels, this boxy shaped bus 153 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 1: wasn't shaping up to be particularly useful. The wind resistance 154 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:32,400 Speaker 1: was considerable, meaning that the engine was going to have 155 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:35,280 Speaker 1: to work even harder to move the vehicle, and thus 156 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:38,640 Speaker 1: you would waste fuel. Designers began to make some changes 157 00:09:38,679 --> 00:09:42,080 Speaker 1: to the structure, including a split windshield design that was 158 00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:46,000 Speaker 1: divided down the front. Eventually all the pieces fell into place, 159 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:50,559 Speaker 1: and on November twelfth, nine, the first of the Volkswagen 160 00:09:50,679 --> 00:09:54,920 Speaker 1: Type two models rolled off the production line. By the way, 161 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:58,400 Speaker 1: you should consider that date to have an asterisk by it, 162 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:00,920 Speaker 1: because this is one of those cases where I found 163 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:05,760 Speaker 1: multiple sources, all with different dates listed for that first 164 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:10,120 Speaker 1: Type two, So depending on some that figure could be 165 00:10:10,160 --> 00:10:12,960 Speaker 1: off by as much as a year. But that was 166 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:14,640 Speaker 1: the one that I found that seemed to be the 167 00:10:14,679 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 1: most reliable resource, So again uh ish. Now, the Type 168 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:25,840 Speaker 1: two has many names. In the United States, you would 169 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:29,440 Speaker 1: typically hear it described as the VW Bus. In other 170 00:10:29,480 --> 00:10:31,960 Speaker 1: places it was called the COMBI, which is short for 171 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:34,880 Speaker 1: a combination vehicle more on that in a second, or 172 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:38,640 Speaker 1: the splitty because it had that split windshield, or in 173 00:10:38,679 --> 00:10:41,959 Speaker 1: Germany it was called the v W Bully, among many 174 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:48,560 Speaker 1: other names. At Volkswagen, the comby ko Mbi version referred 175 00:10:48,559 --> 00:10:54,079 Speaker 1: to a type of Volkswagen bus that had either side 176 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:58,120 Speaker 1: windows and removable seats, which meant that you could actually 177 00:10:58,679 --> 00:11:01,760 Speaker 1: put passengers in there it should be fairly comfortable, or 178 00:11:01,840 --> 00:11:04,360 Speaker 1: you could get a second version called the commercial that 179 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:06,640 Speaker 1: had no windows on the side. It was meant to 180 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:09,080 Speaker 1: be a cargo van, so it wasn't meant to carry 181 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:11,480 Speaker 1: people in the back. If you were in the back 182 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:13,280 Speaker 1: of one of those would be very dark and probably 183 00:11:13,320 --> 00:11:16,959 Speaker 1: a little scary. And then it would emerge in the 184 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:20,839 Speaker 1: early nineteen fifties, but here in the United States it 185 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:23,680 Speaker 1: would really take off about a decade later. It would 186 00:11:23,679 --> 00:11:28,160 Speaker 1: become a symbol of the counterculture movement, and many people 187 00:11:28,280 --> 00:11:31,840 Speaker 1: would associate it with hippies. Now, the funny thing to 188 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:35,079 Speaker 1: me is that the whole reason for the Type two 189 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:37,920 Speaker 1: to exist in the first place was that Ben Pone 190 00:11:38,000 --> 00:11:42,080 Speaker 1: wanted a low cost, efficient vehicle to help European businesses 191 00:11:42,080 --> 00:11:44,920 Speaker 1: get up and running after the war. He wanted something 192 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:48,680 Speaker 1: that was easy to work on, easy to maintain. It 193 00:11:48,760 --> 00:11:51,560 Speaker 1: was meant to be affordable and utilitarian, in other words, 194 00:11:51,880 --> 00:11:56,440 Speaker 1: not fancy, not necessarily sought after, but useful. Years later, 195 00:11:56,760 --> 00:12:00,880 Speaker 1: after Volkswagen ended production on the Type too, some of 196 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:05,320 Speaker 1: those early models would end up bringing huge auction prices 197 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:10,080 Speaker 1: among avid collectors and avid Volkswagen fans. Some of them 198 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:14,200 Speaker 1: sold for several hundred thousand dollars. Quite the opposite of 199 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:18,480 Speaker 1: Ben Poem's initial vision. The Type two was an instant 200 00:12:18,559 --> 00:12:21,600 Speaker 1: success in Europe, so much so that the demand actually 201 00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:25,679 Speaker 1: required Volkswagen to invest in a new manufacturing facility so 202 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:28,000 Speaker 1: that it can meet its production goals for both the 203 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:31,480 Speaker 1: Type one, the beatle, and the Type two, the bus. 204 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:35,120 Speaker 1: The company selected a site in Hanover to build a 205 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:39,000 Speaker 1: new manufacturing facility, and that plant became the main center 206 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:44,160 Speaker 1: of operations focused on building Volkswagen vehicles for the commercial sector. Now, 207 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:47,760 Speaker 1: I can't really get into every single vehicle Volkswagen had 208 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:51,320 Speaker 1: produced over the course of its entire history. Uh, there 209 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:54,640 Speaker 1: are a lot of them that only appeared in specific markets, 210 00:12:55,120 --> 00:12:58,360 Speaker 1: and we're virtually unknown elsewhere in the world. So I 211 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:00,920 Speaker 1: would be spending all my time trying to blaine why 212 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:04,040 Speaker 1: a certain car would appear in certain places the world 213 00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:07,760 Speaker 1: but wasn't found anywhere else. But this one story that 214 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:12,040 Speaker 1: I want to convey next is really interesting, particularly to me, 215 00:13:12,360 --> 00:13:14,800 Speaker 1: and it shows how different companies were willing to come 216 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:18,680 Speaker 1: together and collaborate when there was opportunity to tap into 217 00:13:18,800 --> 00:13:23,000 Speaker 1: an emerging market. Okay, so, by the mid nineteen fifties, 218 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:29,360 Speaker 1: Europe was transitioning from recovery and into a more booming economy. 219 00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:32,199 Speaker 1: You know, and immediately after World War Two, it was 220 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:34,600 Speaker 1: all about how can we get back to where we were? 221 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:39,760 Speaker 1: Then it was we're actually prospering for the automotive industry. 222 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:41,560 Speaker 1: This meant that there was a chance to make a 223 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:45,600 Speaker 1: more upscale vehicle, something with a bit more luxury than 224 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:49,199 Speaker 1: a workhorse Type one beetle or a Type two microbus. 225 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:52,120 Speaker 1: And there were three different companies that would come together 226 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:55,439 Speaker 1: to do this with UH for the Volkswagen picture, one 227 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:58,559 Speaker 1: of them being Volkswagen, the other two i'll get into. 228 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:01,560 Speaker 1: In fact, one of them was a company, a German 229 00:14:01,559 --> 00:14:06,800 Speaker 1: company called Carmen spelled k A R M A n N. 230 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:10,280 Speaker 1: It was founded by a dude named Wilhelm Carmen, and 231 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:12,480 Speaker 1: this company traced its history all the way back to 232 00:14:12,559 --> 00:14:15,640 Speaker 1: nineteen o one. Although that company was built on top 233 00:14:15,679 --> 00:14:18,880 Speaker 1: of an even older coach building business that was run 234 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:23,000 Speaker 1: by a guy named Christianne Claugus. Bill Helm oversaw the 235 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:27,880 Speaker 1: coach building business transition over to an automotive industry right away. 236 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:31,960 Speaker 1: Mainly his company would build car bodies, so he would 237 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:35,480 Speaker 1: use car chassiss that were made by other manufacturers. He 238 00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:38,880 Speaker 1: wasn't building that part. He would bring the chassis and 239 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:41,760 Speaker 1: then design and build car bodies on top of it. 240 00:14:41,960 --> 00:14:45,040 Speaker 1: So his business had gone into hibernation during World War 241 00:14:45,120 --> 00:14:49,280 Speaker 1: Two and he essentially was not doing any of that 242 00:14:49,320 --> 00:14:52,360 Speaker 1: business while the war was going on. But afterward he 243 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:56,280 Speaker 1: got back into production. And then Volkswagen placed an order 244 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 1: for convertible tops for the Type one Beatle for variation 245 00:15:00,480 --> 00:15:04,560 Speaker 1: known as the Cabriole. So Carmen and Volkswagen had a 246 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:08,600 Speaker 1: previously established working relationship. But that was just one of 247 00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:11,920 Speaker 1: the other two companies that worked with Volkswagen on this 248 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:15,000 Speaker 1: new concept. And when we come back, I'll talk about 249 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:18,680 Speaker 1: the other one, but first let's take a quick break, 250 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:28,960 Speaker 1: all right. Before the break, I was teasing about that 251 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:32,320 Speaker 1: third party. And the third party that I have hinted 252 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:38,520 Speaker 1: at was the Italian automobile design company Carrazeria Gia. And 253 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:42,960 Speaker 1: I know I've butchered the pronunciation, as I do all languages, 254 00:15:43,360 --> 00:15:46,120 Speaker 1: but this was a company that was established by Giacinto 255 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:49,840 Speaker 1: Gia at the early twentie century, and the company didn't 256 00:15:49,880 --> 00:15:54,640 Speaker 1: produce cars. They weren't a car manufacturer. They designed cars. 257 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:58,880 Speaker 1: They might build a limited number of cars, but it 258 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:03,120 Speaker 1: was in a very pain staking, almost handmade kind of approach. 259 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:05,880 Speaker 1: So Gia would work with a lot of other automotive 260 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:10,040 Speaker 1: companies designing their car bodies or sometimes just specific elements 261 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: on a car. So for example, in the nineteen thirties, 262 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:15,640 Speaker 1: Gia worked on the body for a Fiat five oh 263 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:19,760 Speaker 1: eight S Spider sports car. Now, during World War Two, 264 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:25,720 Speaker 1: Carozeria Guilla's facilities were all but destroyed. Giacinto Gia wanted 265 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:29,080 Speaker 1: to rebuild, but before he could oversee those efforts, he 266 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:32,840 Speaker 1: took ill and then he passed away in nineteen four. 267 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:36,960 Speaker 1: His company, however, would live on after his death. His 268 00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:41,160 Speaker 1: widow gave the company over to Felice se Mario Boana 269 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:46,800 Speaker 1: and Giorgio albert So. Buano, in turn would later bring 270 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 1: in a businessman named Luigi Segre, who pushed the company 271 00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:55,360 Speaker 1: to make more international contracts. This ultimately led to Seregre 272 00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:00,640 Speaker 1: effectively taking over Gia. So we now get to the 273 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:05,600 Speaker 1: weird part of this story. Villhelm Carmen thought that the 274 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:08,800 Speaker 1: chassis of the Volkswagen Type one would serve as the 275 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:13,000 Speaker 1: basis for a much more sporty body than the Volkswagen Beetle, 276 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:16,200 Speaker 1: and he thought that that would be a valuable thing 277 00:17:16,280 --> 00:17:21,440 Speaker 1: to pursue. However, nord Off over at Volkswagen wasn't particularly interested, 278 00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:25,400 Speaker 1: so he turned elsewhere. You see, Carmen had run into 279 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:29,359 Speaker 1: Luigi Segre several times at various automotive industry events in Europe, 280 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:31,879 Speaker 1: so he met up with Segrey to talk about the 281 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:35,399 Speaker 1: possibility of developing a sports car on top of a 282 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:39,359 Speaker 1: Volkswagen Type one chassis. There was no real hope of 283 00:17:39,400 --> 00:17:42,359 Speaker 1: getting Volkswagen on board from the get go nord Off 284 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:44,840 Speaker 1: you know again, the head of Volkswagen. He was more 285 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:48,600 Speaker 1: focused on producing cars for the average European that didn't 286 00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:52,600 Speaker 1: really see the business case for more sporty vehicles. So 287 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:58,119 Speaker 1: Segre agreed to have Carozeria Gia designer prototype after getting 288 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:01,359 Speaker 1: hold of a Type one Volkswagen. They literally bought a 289 00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:05,040 Speaker 1: Volkswagen Beetle and they drove it over to Guia's headquarters 290 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:08,600 Speaker 1: in Turin, and then they stripped it bare all the 291 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:10,840 Speaker 1: way down to the chassis in order to build a 292 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:14,080 Speaker 1: brand new body on top of it. Now, this was 293 00:18:14,160 --> 00:18:18,240 Speaker 1: to become the prototype for the Carmen Gia, and there's 294 00:18:18,359 --> 00:18:22,280 Speaker 1: controversy surrounding who actually designed the look of the thing. 295 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:24,600 Speaker 1: If you've never seen one, you should look up Carmen 296 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:27,919 Speaker 1: Gia on the internet, and it's as I said k 297 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:32,360 Speaker 1: A R M A N N and Guia as g H. 298 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:35,840 Speaker 1: I A look it up because it's a sporty little car. 299 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:39,000 Speaker 1: I think it's adorable, really cute. And there were some 300 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:43,080 Speaker 1: who said that Mario Bolano was clearly the designer with 301 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:47,119 Speaker 1: the most input in the design process. Other people dispute that. 302 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:49,320 Speaker 1: They said, no, it was this other designer who did 303 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:51,399 Speaker 1: all that work. And some people say, you know what, 304 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:55,480 Speaker 1: they actually pretty much lifted the design from an entirely 305 00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:57,960 Speaker 1: different car manufacturer. And there's a lot of back and 306 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:04,200 Speaker 1: forth online in various car forums about this. So I 307 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:07,760 Speaker 1: just don't know the real truth here. There's way too 308 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:10,320 Speaker 1: much conflicting information out there, and I don't know who's 309 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:13,400 Speaker 1: right and who's wrong. So rather than report on all 310 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:17,840 Speaker 1: of that, we'll just say there's some controversy anyway. So 311 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:22,080 Speaker 1: about a year after Luigi Segre had first met with 312 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:25,520 Speaker 1: Wilhelm Karmen about this project, he presented Carmen with the 313 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:29,640 Speaker 1: prototype and Carmen loved it, and he immediately said that 314 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:33,240 Speaker 1: he wanted his company to produce the bodies for this 315 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:36,440 Speaker 1: type of car using Gias design. But there was still 316 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:39,240 Speaker 1: one little piece of the puzzle that was missing. Which 317 00:19:39,280 --> 00:19:41,280 Speaker 1: was the fact that they needed to get the Chassiss 318 00:19:41,440 --> 00:19:45,199 Speaker 1: from Volkswagen. So Carmen goes to nord Off and he 319 00:19:45,280 --> 00:19:48,600 Speaker 1: pitches this idea, and according to Carmen, I don't know 320 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:51,199 Speaker 1: if this is actually true, but it's according to his 321 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:55,399 Speaker 1: own records of it. Nordof's first reaction upon seeing the 322 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:59,040 Speaker 1: Carmen Gia prototype was to say that it was really pretty, 323 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:03,920 Speaker 1: but way too expensive, and Carmen then said, I haven't 324 00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:06,479 Speaker 1: even mentioned a price yet. How can you say it's 325 00:20:06,480 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 1: too expensive if you haven't heard what I think it 326 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:12,600 Speaker 1: will cost. So again, I have no clue if that 327 00:20:12,640 --> 00:20:14,760 Speaker 1: particular part of the story is actually true or not, 328 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:19,000 Speaker 1: but what is indisputable is that the various parties were 329 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:22,200 Speaker 1: able to come to an agreement, and thus the Volkswagen 330 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:25,399 Speaker 1: Carmen Gia was born. Like the Type one, it had 331 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:28,760 Speaker 1: a rear mounted air cooled engine, but it definitely looked 332 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:32,760 Speaker 1: more sleek than the Beatle. Over the lifetime of its production, 333 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:36,840 Speaker 1: which spanned from nineteen fifty five to nineteen seventy four, 334 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:40,080 Speaker 1: it would come with four different engine capacities, so at 335 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:43,000 Speaker 1: the low end you had twelve hundred c c twelve 336 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:46,200 Speaker 1: cubic centimeters or one point two leaders, and you got 337 00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:48,480 Speaker 1: all the way up to sixteen hundred cc or one 338 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 1: point six leaders. Now I'm not really a car guy, 339 00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:53,880 Speaker 1: but I do have to say there's a lot about 340 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:57,439 Speaker 1: the Carmen Gia that I find particularly appealing. It's just, 341 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:00,000 Speaker 1: like I said, cute. Plus the fact that it relied 342 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:02,479 Speaker 1: it on the same chassis and style of engine as 343 00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:05,639 Speaker 1: the Volkswagen Beetle meant that it was relatively easy to 344 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:09,440 Speaker 1: maintain and to work on, which is becoming pretty darn 345 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 1: rare these days with modern vehicles because they're incorporating more 346 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:16,600 Speaker 1: and more computer technology and proprietary bolts and stuff like that, 347 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:18,679 Speaker 1: it's harder for you to be able to work on 348 00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:22,720 Speaker 1: a car that you get for yourself. So this hearkens 349 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:25,120 Speaker 1: back to an age where people could actually do their 350 00:21:25,119 --> 00:21:27,359 Speaker 1: own maintenance on their vehicles if they had to know 351 00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:29,880 Speaker 1: how and the desire to do so. Oh and one 352 00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:32,439 Speaker 1: other thing. Uh. The name Carmen Gia would also be 353 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:35,520 Speaker 1: used by mel Brooks as the name for a supporting 354 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:38,960 Speaker 1: character in his film The Producers, though in that case 355 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,960 Speaker 1: the character's name was spelled as Carmen c A R 356 00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:46,119 Speaker 1: M E n UM. However, I love that movie, so 357 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:49,120 Speaker 1: I had to give that shout out. So by the 358 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:53,199 Speaker 1: mid nineteen fifties, Volkswagen had its workhorse Type one that 359 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:55,800 Speaker 1: was doing well throughout Europe and was starting to pick 360 00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:58,080 Speaker 1: up sales in the United States. It was starting to 361 00:21:58,119 --> 00:22:02,359 Speaker 1: get popular. The Type two past one million cars produced 362 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:05,480 Speaker 1: by nineteen fifty five, so it very quickly became a 363 00:22:05,520 --> 00:22:09,400 Speaker 1: pretty popular workhorse itself, and the karmen Gia switched things 364 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:13,119 Speaker 1: up by adding a sporty option. Volkswagen's motto around this 365 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:16,399 Speaker 1: time was it is a member of my family. No. 366 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:19,760 Speaker 1: I like that a lot more than the motto I 367 00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:22,840 Speaker 1: remember with Volkswagen, but that we'll have to say for 368 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:26,000 Speaker 1: the next episode. Anyway, the company appeared to be fulfilling 369 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:29,919 Speaker 1: the initial promise of being the people's car. In nineteen 370 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,920 Speaker 1: sixty one, Volkswagen began producing a two wheel drive convertible 371 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:38,200 Speaker 1: called the Type one eight one, that's what was called internally, 372 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:41,440 Speaker 1: and it was meant as a vehicle for the Army 373 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:44,439 Speaker 1: of West Germany, and it looked like a descendant of 374 00:22:44,480 --> 00:22:47,879 Speaker 1: the old Kubu Wagan that Volkswagen had been producing in 375 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:51,560 Speaker 1: World War Two. Under the surface of this angular and 376 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:54,840 Speaker 1: flat metal sheets that made up the body. The type 377 00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:58,280 Speaker 1: was really similar to the Type one and Type two 378 00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:02,720 Speaker 1: mechanical systems, so very similar chassis, very similar engine. It's sported, 379 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:06,160 Speaker 1: removable and interchangeable doors, so you can take the doors 380 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:07,760 Speaker 1: off the side of the thing if you wanted, kind 381 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:09,600 Speaker 1: of like a jeep, uh, and you didn't have to 382 00:23:09,640 --> 00:23:11,159 Speaker 1: worry about which ones where the front doors or the 383 00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:13,879 Speaker 1: back doors because they were all interchangeable. The windshield itself 384 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:16,399 Speaker 1: could also be folded down, so you could drive this 385 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:19,320 Speaker 1: thing with no windshield up if you wanted, and you 386 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:21,919 Speaker 1: didn't mind the taste of bugs. They would all go 387 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,480 Speaker 1: on the market for consumers as well as the military, 388 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:27,520 Speaker 1: and here in the United States we called it the 389 00:23:27,600 --> 00:23:32,320 Speaker 1: Volkswagen Thing the Thing. You should look that up on 390 00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:35,720 Speaker 1: Google Images if you haven't seen this before, because it's 391 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:39,080 Speaker 1: pretty funky looking to The company stopped producing them in 392 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:42,520 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three, so there hasn't been a new Volkswagen 393 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:46,160 Speaker 1: Thing for a few decades. Uh. They're still collectors who 394 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:49,080 Speaker 1: set by and sell the things. Um, they go for 395 00:23:49,119 --> 00:23:53,000 Speaker 1: around sixteen thousand thousand dollars. From what I've seen, it's 396 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:55,560 Speaker 1: pretty expensive for a car that's that old and is 397 00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:58,080 Speaker 1: not like a sports car, luxury car or anything like that. 398 00:23:58,119 --> 00:24:02,600 Speaker 1: It's more of a curiosity. Also in nineteen Volkswagen with 399 00:24:02,760 --> 00:24:07,320 Speaker 1: debut it's Type three vehicle. Now remember Type one were Beatles, 400 00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:10,120 Speaker 1: Type two were the Volkswagen busses. So what the heck 401 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:13,600 Speaker 1: was Type three. Well, it's a compact car that, while 402 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:17,359 Speaker 1: larger than the Beetle, still wasn't very big. It was 403 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:20,119 Speaker 1: still a pretty compact vehicle. It was meant to provide 404 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:22,720 Speaker 1: more space in the car for passengers and for luggage 405 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,080 Speaker 1: while maintaining many of the common features of the previous types. 406 00:24:26,320 --> 00:24:29,520 Speaker 1: That meant the engines in the cars were still uh 407 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:32,760 Speaker 1: air cooled, they were still rear mounted, but they were 408 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:35,119 Speaker 1: a little bit bigger, you know, had a larger engine 409 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:39,040 Speaker 1: volume than the Beatles typically did, and they were in 410 00:24:39,080 --> 00:24:42,280 Speaker 1: a slightly different configuration. You see, they were in what 411 00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:46,639 Speaker 1: some people call a pancake engine style, and that was 412 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:48,800 Speaker 1: because it was meant to take up less vertical space 413 00:24:48,920 --> 00:24:52,000 Speaker 1: it took. It was a flat sort of engine that 414 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:56,320 Speaker 1: could fit underneath the trunk space of the back of 415 00:24:56,359 --> 00:24:59,200 Speaker 1: the car. So this actually meant that the designers could 416 00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:01,680 Speaker 1: create trunk space both in the front and the back 417 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,800 Speaker 1: of the Type three vehicles. You could open up the 418 00:25:04,840 --> 00:25:06,640 Speaker 1: front and that was storage space, and you could open 419 00:25:06,680 --> 00:25:08,680 Speaker 1: up the back and there was more storage space underneath, 420 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:12,160 Speaker 1: which was a hinged panel, and if you lift up 421 00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:14,960 Speaker 1: the hinged panel, you would actually be looking at the engine. 422 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:17,720 Speaker 1: So it had a lot more storage space than your 423 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:21,720 Speaker 1: typical volkswagons did at the time. Uh there were three 424 00:25:21,800 --> 00:25:24,880 Speaker 1: main body styles that made up the Type three chassis. 425 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:28,000 Speaker 1: There was the fast back, the square back, and the 426 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:31,080 Speaker 1: notch back. Now in the United States, only the square 427 00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:35,640 Speaker 1: back and fastback versions were imported officially, and they became 428 00:25:35,680 --> 00:25:39,560 Speaker 1: popular cars among certain subcultures, particularly the surfing community. They 429 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:43,520 Speaker 1: became really popular with surfers. Now today they are sought 430 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:46,840 Speaker 1: after by collectors because they haven't been made in decades. 431 00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:50,680 Speaker 1: They they Volkswagen stopped making Type three cars in nineteen 432 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:53,800 Speaker 1: seventy three, so a lot of them just aren't in 433 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:56,879 Speaker 1: working order anymore. So to find one that still works 434 00:25:56,920 --> 00:26:00,239 Speaker 1: that's in good condition is considered a rarity, and the 435 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:03,560 Speaker 1: collectors eagerly pay lots of money to get hold of 436 00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:08,080 Speaker 1: these cars. In the mid nineteen sixties, Volkswagen leader Nordhoff 437 00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:11,840 Speaker 1: led the company to acquire Audi, which was previously owned 438 00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:16,159 Speaker 1: by Daimler Benz. Audi has its own rather complicated story. 439 00:26:16,359 --> 00:26:18,960 Speaker 1: It was founded in the early twentieth century by a 440 00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:23,600 Speaker 1: guy named August Horch, who founded a couple of different 441 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:27,719 Speaker 1: automobile companies, but Audi was the one that really succeeded. 442 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:31,200 Speaker 1: It produced its first car in nineteen ten, and over 443 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,720 Speaker 1: the following two decades it would merge with other automotive companies. 444 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:37,240 Speaker 1: I mean seriously. Tracing the history of some of these 445 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:40,280 Speaker 1: car companies is maddening because of the various mergers and 446 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:44,359 Speaker 1: acquisitions and changes in ownership. And complicating matters is that, 447 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:49,280 Speaker 1: like Volkswagen, Audi produced vehicles for the Access Powers during 448 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:53,159 Speaker 1: World War Two, but unlike Volkswagen, when Germany got split 449 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:57,720 Speaker 1: into two countries into East and West Germany, Aldi's headquarters 450 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:01,080 Speaker 1: happened to be in East Germany, which fell under the 451 00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:05,120 Speaker 1: control of the Soviet Union. So that meant that AUDI 452 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:08,960 Speaker 1: as a company essentially dissolved at that point, but the 453 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:12,760 Speaker 1: executives were determined to bring it back to launch it 454 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:16,400 Speaker 1: again in a less hostile environment. They established a new 455 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:19,480 Speaker 1: center of operations in Bavaria in West Germany, at a 456 00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:23,480 Speaker 1: manufacturing facility that had previously made spare parts for the company. 457 00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:26,359 Speaker 1: Now it was going to be the center of their operations. 458 00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:30,800 Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty nine, Daimler Benz purchased an eighty seven 459 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:34,040 Speaker 1: percent steak in Audi, but didn't really have a whole 460 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:37,560 Speaker 1: lot to do with their new purchase. Over time, Volkswagen 461 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:41,040 Speaker 1: acquired a steak which was up to a fifty percent stake. 462 00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:44,119 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty four, when Volkswagen made a move to 463 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:47,720 Speaker 1: buy the manufacturing facilities from Audi, the plan wasn't really 464 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:52,440 Speaker 1: to nurture Audi into a luxury car brand of its own. Instead, 465 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:57,639 Speaker 1: Volkswagen intended to turn Audi's manufacturing facilities to the purpose 466 00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:00,560 Speaker 1: of building yet more Volkswagen Beetle, you know, the good 467 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:03,960 Speaker 1: old type one. The Audi executives, who had worked so 468 00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:07,240 Speaker 1: hard to keep their company going even after losing their 469 00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 1: production facilities to East Germany, weren't going to give up 470 00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:15,760 Speaker 1: so easily, so they did something sneaky. They secretly developed 471 00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:19,840 Speaker 1: a prototype for what would become the first Audi one hundred. 472 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:22,879 Speaker 1: That was a full sized sedan, and it aimed at 473 00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:26,359 Speaker 1: a slightly higher level upscale market than the Beatle did 474 00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:28,600 Speaker 1: so for people who had a little bit more income 475 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:31,240 Speaker 1: and they wanted to have more space, you know, in 476 00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:36,000 Speaker 1: a larger vehicle. They pitched it to Volkswagen head Nordoff 477 00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:39,720 Speaker 1: once they had built the prototype, again doing it completely 478 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:43,440 Speaker 1: without authorization. Nordhoff was actually impressed, and he agreed to 479 00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:46,880 Speaker 1: add the vehicle to Volkswagen's production plans under the Audi 480 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:51,040 Speaker 1: brand name, and so Audi the Auto brand thus survived. 481 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:54,600 Speaker 1: By this time, there were people in and around Volkswagen 482 00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:59,160 Speaker 1: who were growing concerned about the company. Nordoff was frequently 483 00:28:59,200 --> 00:29:01,800 Speaker 1: targeted by critic They said that he was just being 484 00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: too conservative and he wasn't moving quickly enough to establish 485 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:09,360 Speaker 1: new Volkswagen models and and car types. There was a 486 00:29:09,360 --> 00:29:12,800 Speaker 1: worry that the company was far too dependent upon the 487 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:17,600 Speaker 1: aging Type one beatle that was quickly getting left behind 488 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:22,040 Speaker 1: by other car companies. Meanwhile, Nordoff was considering the head 489 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:25,040 Speaker 1: of Volkswagen of America, a guy named Dr. Carl Hahn, 490 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:29,440 Speaker 1: to become his successor. Nordoff was planning to retire. However, 491 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:32,200 Speaker 1: that wouldn't happen. Nordoff would have a heart attack in 492 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:35,080 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty seven, and he would pass away the following 493 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:38,240 Speaker 1: year in April of nineteen sixty eight. That was the 494 00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:40,480 Speaker 1: year he had actually intended to retire. He was going 495 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:42,840 Speaker 1: to retire at the end of sixty eight, and the 496 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:47,040 Speaker 1: company's board of directors had already chosen his successor, Kurt Lots, 497 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:51,160 Speaker 1: who was going to take over the company upon Nordoff's retirement, 498 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:54,400 Speaker 1: but obviously had to take on the job six months 499 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:58,640 Speaker 1: earlier than planned. During World War Two, Lots had served 500 00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:02,520 Speaker 1: as a general staff off serve for the Luftwaffe. After 501 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:05,320 Speaker 1: the war, he worked at the German subsidiary of a 502 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:08,800 Speaker 1: Swiss electrical company, eventually rising to the level of chairman, 503 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:12,600 Speaker 1: before differences between Lots and the leaders on the Swiss 504 00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:16,440 Speaker 1: parent company prompted Lots to leave the company. He was 505 00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:19,320 Speaker 1: brought into Volkswagen with the intent of replacing Nordof upon 506 00:30:19,400 --> 00:30:22,000 Speaker 1: Nordoff's retirement. As I mentioned, but he would take the 507 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:25,480 Speaker 1: job much earlier, and so here's a person from outside 508 00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:29,000 Speaker 1: the organization coming in to take over the reins. Lots 509 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:32,080 Speaker 1: of vision from Volkswagen was to make much larger steps 510 00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:35,080 Speaker 1: away from the company's dependence on the Type one Beatle, 511 00:30:35,680 --> 00:30:38,760 Speaker 1: and so he started to authorize lots of new car models, 512 00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:42,560 Speaker 1: both under Volkswagen and under the Audi brands. He wanted 513 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:46,440 Speaker 1: to consider other designs and aimed for different markets. Europe 514 00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:49,160 Speaker 1: was a much different place in the late nineteen sixties 515 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:51,800 Speaker 1: than it had been just after World War Two, and 516 00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:55,960 Speaker 1: Volkswagen's international markets were growing in importance. In fact, Volkswagen 517 00:30:56,000 --> 00:30:59,800 Speaker 1: had been building assembly plants in places like Australia, Brazil, 518 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:03,200 Speaker 1: Mexico in order to meet that demand, and the US 519 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:07,600 Speaker 1: market in particular was really growing pretty quickly. One interesting fact, 520 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,880 Speaker 1: just as Lats was looking to move away from that 521 00:31:10,960 --> 00:31:14,920 Speaker 1: Volkswagen Beetle, the car hit its peak popularity in the 522 00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:17,960 Speaker 1: United States. It would mark the year when the U 523 00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:22,480 Speaker 1: s would buy the most Volkswagen Beetles in the history 524 00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:26,720 Speaker 1: of the country, you know, having that availability. But Lawns 525 00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:28,880 Speaker 1: was right that sticking to the old type one was 526 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:30,920 Speaker 1: not going to be a sustainable business model for the 527 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:35,160 Speaker 1: long run. In nineteen sixty nine, Lots oversaw the acquisition 528 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 1: of another company called N s U Motor in Varka. 529 00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:44,640 Speaker 1: Like Carmen, this company didn't start out in the auto business. Instead, 530 00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:48,280 Speaker 1: a German businessman named Christianne Schmidt founded it back in 531 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:51,600 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy three, and it was initially a company that 532 00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:56,080 Speaker 1: made knitting machines, but over time the company would relocate, 533 00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:58,600 Speaker 1: it would grow, it would evolve, and it started to 534 00:31:58,840 --> 00:32:02,040 Speaker 1: change its manufacturing acesses to build other stuff because clearly 535 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:06,040 Speaker 1: knitting machines were not going to remain relevant forever, and 536 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:09,360 Speaker 1: so they started making stuff like bicycles, and then motorcycles 537 00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:12,400 Speaker 1: and then eventually cars. The company didn't have an entirely 538 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:16,640 Speaker 1: smooth history. In the nineteen thirties, facing financial crisis, NSU 539 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:20,000 Speaker 1: was forced to sell its auto manufacturing facility in uh 540 00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:24,520 Speaker 1: Heilbraun to Fiat, for example, and so Fiat and NSU 541 00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:29,000 Speaker 1: worked together on several vehicles. Like all manufacturing facilities in Europe, 542 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:31,880 Speaker 1: it changed over to produce supplies for the armed forces 543 00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:34,560 Speaker 1: during World War Two, and after the war it went 544 00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:38,240 Speaker 1: back into manufacturing vehicles for civilians, including motorcycles and cars. 545 00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:40,920 Speaker 1: The company wasn't a rough patch in the late nineteen 546 00:32:41,000 --> 00:32:44,160 Speaker 1: sixties when Volkswagen acquired it, merging it with the Audi 547 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:47,360 Speaker 1: division to create Audi n s U. The NSU brand 548 00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:49,760 Speaker 1: would only stick around a few more years before being 549 00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:54,320 Speaker 1: discontinued completely in nineteen seventy seven. All Right, I've got 550 00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:57,640 Speaker 1: a little more to say about Volkswagen's transition during the seventies. 551 00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:08,360 Speaker 1: After we come Back in nineteen one, Curt Lots, who 552 00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:12,080 Speaker 1: had only led the company since nineteen eight when Heinrich 553 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:16,640 Speaker 1: Nordoff had passed away, stepped down as the head of Volkswagen. 554 00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:20,080 Speaker 1: Lots had come into conflict with the powerful trade unions 555 00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:23,600 Speaker 1: that still owned a stake in the company, and those 556 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:28,800 Speaker 1: differences were insurmountable. Lots Is politics and the union politics 557 00:33:28,880 --> 00:33:32,240 Speaker 1: were pretty much in opposition with one another, and Lots 558 00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:35,600 Speaker 1: just didn't have the ability to override the trade unions. 559 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:38,720 Speaker 1: They just they held too much ownership of the company, 560 00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:41,360 Speaker 1: so he couldn't really do what he wanted to do, 561 00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:44,440 Speaker 1: and he was more or less forced to resign. His 562 00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:49,440 Speaker 1: replacement was Rudolph Lightning, and unlike Lots, Lighting had been 563 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:52,520 Speaker 1: with the company for nearly thirty years. He had started 564 00:33:52,560 --> 00:33:55,240 Speaker 1: his career at Volkswagen in the nineteen forties and had 565 00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:58,440 Speaker 1: been in charge of establishing an assembly line process when 566 00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:01,520 Speaker 1: Volkswagen was emerging from the wreckage of World War Two. 567 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:04,440 Speaker 1: He was known to be a tough boss, which is 568 00:34:04,480 --> 00:34:08,480 Speaker 1: putting it lightly. He was a guy who would monitor 569 00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:11,160 Speaker 1: employees coming in at the morning and making sure he 570 00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:14,560 Speaker 1: made note of anyone who showed up late to work. 571 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:18,160 Speaker 1: He had a reputation for holding people accountable for their deliverables, 572 00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:20,920 Speaker 1: which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the stories of 573 00:34:21,000 --> 00:34:24,040 Speaker 1: Red made it sound like he wasn't exactly approachable. His 574 00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:26,359 Speaker 1: goal was to have a smooth running operation, and he 575 00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:29,640 Speaker 1: wasn't shy about addressing issues he saw as an impediment 576 00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:32,160 Speaker 1: to that goal. So, in other words, he was a 577 00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:36,120 Speaker 1: tough customer, you a tough cookie. Lighting concluded that the 578 00:34:36,120 --> 00:34:39,000 Speaker 1: company had perhaps aired too far in an attempt to 579 00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:42,400 Speaker 1: get away from the Volkswagen Beetle dependency. He did agree 580 00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:45,080 Speaker 1: that it didn't make sense to stay dependent upon the 581 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:48,640 Speaker 1: Type one, but he judged that Volkswagen and its subsidiaries 582 00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:52,919 Speaker 1: had developed and launched cars at great expense, and those 583 00:34:52,960 --> 00:34:55,760 Speaker 1: cars had limited value on the market. So, in other words, 584 00:34:55,880 --> 00:34:59,520 Speaker 1: the company was backing too many ideas without really testing 585 00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:02,640 Speaker 1: whether or not those ideas had any merit. So he 586 00:35:02,680 --> 00:35:05,600 Speaker 1: dedicated the company to a more focused approach when it 587 00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:09,560 Speaker 1: came to developing plans for cars. Lighting also wanted to 588 00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:13,839 Speaker 1: maximize efficiency by using the same basic components for all 589 00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:18,200 Speaker 1: vehicles produced by Volkswagen. Doing so would cut back drastically 590 00:35:18,400 --> 00:35:21,920 Speaker 1: on costs. There would be differences from model to model. 591 00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:25,799 Speaker 1: You know, things would look very different, but underneath they 592 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:29,840 Speaker 1: would share much of the same bones right, the same structure. 593 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:33,160 Speaker 1: This is pretty much the same strategy Volkswagen had employed 594 00:35:33,200 --> 00:35:37,360 Speaker 1: would introduced the Volkswagen Bus decades earlier. It was in 595 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:40,680 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two that Volkswagen announced it had produced more 596 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:44,399 Speaker 1: Type one vehicles the Volkswagen Beetle, than Ford had made 597 00:35:44,560 --> 00:35:47,799 Speaker 1: of Model T cars, which meant that the Volkswagen Beetle 598 00:35:47,840 --> 00:35:51,640 Speaker 1: would become the most popular or most produced car in 599 00:35:51,800 --> 00:35:55,640 Speaker 1: history at that time anyway, And the following year, in 600 00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:59,360 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three, Volkswagen would introduce a new car that 601 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:01,719 Speaker 1: was a bigger departure for the company, and this would 602 00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:05,720 Speaker 1: be the Volkswagen Pasade. Now nineteen seventy three in nineteen 603 00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:09,480 Speaker 1: seventy four would be really tough years for Europe in 604 00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:13,320 Speaker 1: general and Volkswagen in particular. There was an economic recession 605 00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:16,040 Speaker 1: that was hitting Europe pretty hard and auto sales were 606 00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:18,200 Speaker 1: down as a result, and part of the cause for 607 00:36:18,239 --> 00:36:22,400 Speaker 1: this was the oil crisis of the early nineteen seventies. 608 00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:25,839 Speaker 1: So while Volkswagen was introducing a new type of car, 609 00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:28,680 Speaker 1: it was also dealing with disappointing sales figures, and it 610 00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:32,480 Speaker 1: was pretty rough. The Passade, as I mentioned, marked a 611 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:36,880 Speaker 1: departure for Volkswagen. Now, beneath the exterior, the Pasade was 612 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:40,480 Speaker 1: essentially the same as an Audi eighty sedan, and remember 613 00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:44,120 Speaker 1: Audi was now part of the Volkswagen group, but the 614 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:48,239 Speaker 1: style was different from all other Volkswagen vehicles. All of 615 00:36:48,280 --> 00:36:52,280 Speaker 1: the previous Volkswagen vehicles had been rear engine, rear wheel 616 00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:56,279 Speaker 1: drive vehicles. The Pasade was and is to this day, 617 00:36:56,480 --> 00:37:00,160 Speaker 1: a front engine, front wheel drive vehicle, and it was 618 00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:03,279 Speaker 1: much larger. Is a much bigger car than what Volkswagen 619 00:37:03,360 --> 00:37:07,520 Speaker 1: was typically used to producing, and considered to be a 620 00:37:07,640 --> 00:37:12,239 Speaker 1: large family vehicle rather than a compact car. So in 621 00:37:12,280 --> 00:37:15,840 Speaker 1: North America, the original Passade would be called the Volkswagen Dasher. 622 00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:19,520 Speaker 1: Now this type of vehicle wasn't that different from the 623 00:37:20,040 --> 00:37:22,880 Speaker 1: cars that Audi was producing, but that was under the 624 00:37:22,920 --> 00:37:26,040 Speaker 1: Audi brand, not the Volkswagen brand, so that's why it 625 00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:30,120 Speaker 1: was a pretty big change for Volkswagen. The Pasade didn't 626 00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:33,560 Speaker 1: immediately save the company, however. The financial crisis was hitting 627 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:36,440 Speaker 1: it hard and the company posted a loss in nineteen 628 00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:39,200 Speaker 1: seventy four that was equivalent to three hundred thirty six 629 00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:43,360 Speaker 1: million dollars. Now, in nineteen seventy four, I mean even today, 630 00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:45,799 Speaker 1: that's a princely some the nineteen seventy four that was 631 00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:49,560 Speaker 1: a pretty huge amount. And to make matters worse, it 632 00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:53,799 Speaker 1: marked the first time Volkswagen had ever experienced a loss. Ever, 633 00:37:54,280 --> 00:37:58,000 Speaker 1: so it's first loss was a considerable one. Lighting would 634 00:37:58,040 --> 00:37:59,880 Speaker 1: end up getting a lot of pressure and would end 635 00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:02,719 Speaker 1: stepping down as the managing director of the company in 636 00:38:02,800 --> 00:38:07,080 Speaker 1: early nineteen He was replaced by another guy named Tony Schmucker, 637 00:38:07,520 --> 00:38:10,920 Speaker 1: who had previously worked for Ford's operations in Germany. So 638 00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:14,799 Speaker 1: again Schmucker came in from outside of Volkswagen. He was 639 00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:17,000 Speaker 1: not someone who had been working at the company for 640 00:38:17,040 --> 00:38:21,400 Speaker 1: a while. Before his departure, Lighting had overseen the development 641 00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:25,080 Speaker 1: of the Volkswagen Golf, also known as the Volkswagen Rabbit 642 00:38:25,239 --> 00:38:29,040 Speaker 1: in America. This car, which still has models that come 643 00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:33,040 Speaker 1: out today, was meant as a replacement for the Volkswagen Beetles. 644 00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:35,840 Speaker 1: So this was another compact car that was meant to 645 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:37,960 Speaker 1: take the same place in the market as the Beatle. 646 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:39,920 Speaker 1: It looks very different from the Beatle, but it was 647 00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:43,160 Speaker 1: meant to aim at that same sort of driver, like 648 00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:46,080 Speaker 1: the Pasade as a front engine and front wheel drive. 649 00:38:46,560 --> 00:38:49,839 Speaker 1: It's smaller than the Pasade, but it would ultimately become 650 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:54,120 Speaker 1: Volkswagen's best selling model. At the time, no one knew 651 00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:56,920 Speaker 1: if it was going to be successful or not, And 652 00:38:56,960 --> 00:38:59,560 Speaker 1: based on my research, I'd say much of the losses 653 00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:04,640 Speaker 1: that Lkswagen experienced were really outside of Rudolph Lighting's control, 654 00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:08,160 Speaker 1: whereas the decisions he made would end up leading to 655 00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:11,560 Speaker 1: some of the company's biggest gains later on. So while 656 00:39:11,719 --> 00:39:14,319 Speaker 1: he his tenure was short, and while he took a 657 00:39:14,360 --> 00:39:17,919 Speaker 1: lot of blame for the losses that the company experienced, uh, 658 00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:22,160 Speaker 1: it may be more honest to say that he helped 659 00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:25,560 Speaker 1: save the company. He just wasn't around long enough to 660 00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:30,319 Speaker 1: see the results of that work payoff. Schmooker would end 661 00:39:30,360 --> 00:39:34,359 Speaker 1: up laying off twenty five thousand employees. In nineteen seventy five, 662 00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:38,080 Speaker 1: he shut down an assembly plant in Australia. He almost 663 00:39:38,160 --> 00:39:41,560 Speaker 1: did the same to the manufacturing facilities in Mexico and Brazil, 664 00:39:41,640 --> 00:39:45,000 Speaker 1: but instead decided to reorganize and restructure them and make 665 00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:49,560 Speaker 1: them more efficient. In ninety eight, he actually would do 666 00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:52,680 Speaker 1: the reverse because now the company's fortunes were on the 667 00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:55,960 Speaker 1: rise again, so he oversaw the opening of a manufacturing 668 00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:59,520 Speaker 1: facility in Pennsylvania as in the United States of America. 669 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:02,880 Speaker 1: This would make Volkswagen the first foreign car company to 670 00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:05,960 Speaker 1: open up an assembly plant in the US in nearly 671 00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:08,960 Speaker 1: fifty years. The reason they did this is because again, 672 00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:13,400 Speaker 1: the United States was becoming an enormous customer for Volkswagen, 673 00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:17,080 Speaker 1: like a huge market. They had seen incredible success with 674 00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:19,319 Speaker 1: the Beatle and the Golf was starting to take off 675 00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:22,480 Speaker 1: as well, so they wanted to build a facility in 676 00:40:22,520 --> 00:40:25,240 Speaker 1: the same country where they were having a lot of customers, 677 00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:28,960 Speaker 1: So that's why they did that. Now, between Lighting's decisions 678 00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:31,840 Speaker 1: to invest in the Gulf and Schmooker's cost cutting measures, 679 00:40:32,040 --> 00:40:34,719 Speaker 1: the company returned to being profitable in short order. They 680 00:40:34,719 --> 00:40:37,560 Speaker 1: were making a profit again by nineteen seventy five, so 681 00:40:37,600 --> 00:40:39,920 Speaker 1: they were able to recover from the massive crisis of 682 00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:43,040 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy three and nineteen seventy four. The Golf was 683 00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:45,279 Speaker 1: poised to take up the mantle that had previously been 684 00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:48,000 Speaker 1: worn by the Beetle, and Volkswagen still had a lot 685 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:52,000 Speaker 1: of obstacles to overcome. One big one was that Japanese 686 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:55,520 Speaker 1: automakers were starting to make some serious progress in markets 687 00:40:55,560 --> 00:40:59,840 Speaker 1: outside of Japan itself. Japanese cars were starting to become popular. 688 00:40:59,840 --> 00:41:03,520 Speaker 1: They were known for being inexpensive and reliable, and so 689 00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:08,000 Speaker 1: this was a serious threat to Volkswagen. Uh So that 690 00:41:08,040 --> 00:41:11,279 Speaker 1: became a new source of competition for the company. Schmucker 691 00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:14,680 Speaker 1: would remain the head of Volkswagen until nineteen eighty two, 692 00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:17,759 Speaker 1: at which point he was forced to resign due to 693 00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:22,520 Speaker 1: declining health. His successor was the man whom Heinrich Nordhoff 694 00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:25,359 Speaker 1: had wanted to lead the company all the way back 695 00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:29,279 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty seven, this being Dr Carl Hahn, the 696 00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:33,080 Speaker 1: previous head of Volkswagen of America. He had been away 697 00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:36,640 Speaker 1: from Volkswagen for several years prior to nineteen eighty two, 698 00:41:36,640 --> 00:41:38,440 Speaker 1: but he did come back to assume the role of 699 00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:42,920 Speaker 1: chairman of the board. Also around that time, the company 700 00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:47,560 Speaker 1: signed a cooperation agreement with a Spanish carmaker called Seat. 701 00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:51,000 Speaker 1: That cooperation would blossom over the years, with the Volkswagen 702 00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:54,160 Speaker 1: taking a majority steak in Seat in nineteen eighty six 703 00:41:54,480 --> 00:41:58,960 Speaker 1: before acquiring the company entirely in nineteen nine. All Right, 704 00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:02,200 Speaker 1: so I'm going to kind of wrap up this episode 705 00:42:02,320 --> 00:42:05,040 Speaker 1: at this point because we still have more to talk about, 706 00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:07,200 Speaker 1: and I want to make sure that I cover all 707 00:42:07,239 --> 00:42:09,000 Speaker 1: of it, so we're going to have a part three 708 00:42:09,200 --> 00:42:12,680 Speaker 1: to this series, so we'll talk about other cars that 709 00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:16,919 Speaker 1: Volkswagen produced after this time, stuff like the Jetta, which 710 00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:19,240 Speaker 1: I know my producer Tari wants me to talk about 711 00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:21,839 Speaker 1: because she used to drive one. And we'll talk about 712 00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:25,560 Speaker 1: the new Beatle, the the resurgence of the Volkswagen Beetle 713 00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:28,600 Speaker 1: when it came back in the nineteen nineties under a 714 00:42:28,640 --> 00:42:32,400 Speaker 1: new style. And we'll talk about Volkswagen's plans for the 715 00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:36,960 Speaker 1: future with it's it's uh, you know, it's it's experimental 716 00:42:37,080 --> 00:42:41,560 Speaker 1: steps into electric car territory, as well as of course 717 00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:47,040 Speaker 1: the controversy around the diesel emissions testing scandal. So we 718 00:42:47,080 --> 00:42:48,839 Speaker 1: have all of that to look forward to in the 719 00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:52,319 Speaker 1: next episode. But if you have any requests or suggestions 720 00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:54,640 Speaker 1: for future episodes, you can get in touch with me 721 00:42:54,680 --> 00:42:56,759 Speaker 1: and let me know what those are. The best way 722 00:42:56,800 --> 00:42:59,799 Speaker 1: to do it is on social media over on Facebook 723 00:42:59,840 --> 00:43:03,400 Speaker 1: and Twitter, we are tech Stuff h s W. So 724 00:43:03,520 --> 00:43:06,040 Speaker 1: just let us know over there and I'll talk to 725 00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:13,520 Speaker 1: you again really soon. Y. Tech Stuff is a production 726 00:43:13,520 --> 00:43:16,520 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more podcasts 727 00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:19,320 Speaker 1: from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, 728 00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:22,600 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.