Can you dig it?
Maybe Obama will design the cars, like Hitler designed the Volkswagon? Or is that just an urban legend?
True. Wasn’t him directly but he commissioned the car from Porsche to put it into the public hands...thus the “People’s Car” Volkswagen
I think Nazi Pelosi is going to be designing the new cars. Barney will be taking care of the parking tickets...(eye roll)
” Hitler designed the Volkswagon”
Porshe designed it for Hitler
Well, not exactly invent, but Adolf Hitler was indeed the driving force behind the car. In the 1930s, cars cost more than most people earned in a year. When Hitler became the chancellor of Germany in 1933, he promoted the idea of a car affordable enough for the average working person. The Volkswagen, which means “people’s car” in German, was essentially a political promise to win the public’s goodwill.
Hitler met with automotive designer Ferdinand Porsche in 1933 and charged Porsche with creating the new car. The chancellor required that the Volkswagen carry two adults and three children, go up to 60 miles per hour, get at least 33 miles per gallon, and cost only 1,000 reichsmarks. Hitler may also have named the car the Beetle.
In 1938, Hitler had the KdF Wagen factory built to produce the cars designed by Porsche. But by the time the factory was complete, Hitler had invaded Czechoslovakia and Poland. The factory was dedicated to building military vehicles, and the people’s car fell by the wayside during World War II.
After the war, the factory ended up in the British section of occupied Germany. The British military re-opened the factory, named it Volkswagen, and finally gave control of the company to the German government.
After 1948, Volkswagen introduced new models across Europe. By 1955, over 1 million cars had been built. The VW beetle started selling in the U.S., and in 1972 the people’s car overtook the Ford Model T to become the most popular car ever made.
I don’t know if Hitler designed the car, but Adam Tooze, in his book, “Wages of Destruction,” details how the Volkswagen was meant to be sold for credits that the worker built up. But no one could afford it. It was, at best, wildly expensive and far outside the “average” German’s reach. ALL were reserved for Party officials, and not one pre-WW II Volkswagen went to a “middle class” person.
Hitler commissioned Dr. Ferdinand Porsche Sr to produce a "people's car" much like Henry Ford's "Model T", specifying that the car was to be affordable by the average working man. Dr. Porsche and a team of engineers (including his son Ferry Porsche) fulfilled that commission, working together to fulfill Germany's National Socialist requirements. They met Adolf Hitler at many business events but Hitler was not involved with the actual design of the automobile.
Ferdinand Porsche designed the Volkswagen.
Pretty interesting history of the vehicle here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen
Volkswagen plans a new plant near Chattanooga, Tenn.
It should be coming increasingly clear that the management of the US Big Three are incompetent.
As a taxpayer, I don’t want to own shares of the Big Three. They will likely be worthless in a few weeks once the cash is burned through.
Buy shares of Toyota, BMW, Honda and Porsche/VW—well managed profitable companies.
Hint. Hint. BMW sits on a pile of cash—to carry through bad times, and to make strategic investments. They have passed on the “opportunity” to buy into any of the Big Three.
Mercedes took a bite into Chrysler. Chewed, gagged, and barely managed to spit it out.
I do not want to own shares in these companies. They are horribly managed. Some of their vehicles are good. But the companies are managed badly.
If leading companies in the industry are NOT interested in owning them, why should I be?
What was the name of those terrible Russian andEast german cars?
I can just imagine Bawney rolling out a fleet of those and requiring every American to buy one!