Figure 1.-- Here we see a German car, probably in the kate-1920s. It was a wellmade car with chtom trim and accents. Quite a bit different from Ford's Tin Lizzy. We do not know yet who the manufacturer was. Hopefully a reader will be avle to identify it.

The German automobile industry developed slowly after the War, much more sloely than in Britasin and France, let alone America (1920s). A mass market never developed. German workers earmed less than in Britsin and France and ionly a fraction of American wages. This meant thast they didn't have the money to buy cars, even the Model-T for which Ford had cut production costs to the bone. This would be a major ikmpediment to industrial expansion after the War. And German automotive companies do not appear to have had any desire to create a low-end car like the American Model-T Ford. Rather the dominant focus was on vreating a beatuifully engineered, quaslity, high performsnce car. The market was highly competive, consisting of a large number of small companies. Daimler and Benz formed (1926). They began producing Mercedes-Benz cars. The slow development of the German industry opened the way to the Ameicans. Amrrican companies entered the German auomotive comany after World War I. To partially fill this vacuum, American General Motors purchased Opel (1929). Ford Motor Company began operating Ford-Werke (1925). 【Reich, p. 25.】 The New York Stock Market crash (1929) and Government mismanagement led to the Great Depression and Germany with an export dependent economy was severely impacted. Resulting in many German automotive countries were forced to close. In America, the automobile industry also suffered badly. Germany had some 86 automobile companies in gthe 1920s, most making only small numbers of cars. Very few survived the Depression--about 12 companies, including Daimler-Benz, Opel and Ford in Cologne. The American companies inttoduced the assembly line, but on a smaller scale because of the limited runs. Unlike Britain and France, mass production techniquws wre not widely adopted by Gernman industry. This would have profond inopact on Wirkd War II. Four of the major car manufacturers (Horch, Dampf Kraft Wagen (DKW), Wanderer, and Audi) combined to form Auto Union (1932).

Sources

Reich, Simon. "Volkswagen and the State,.The Fruits of Fascism: Postwar Prosperity in Historical Perspective (New York: Cornell University, 1990).

Created: 2:43 AM 5/2/2023
Last updated: 2:43 AM 5/2/2023