Is it true that Adolf Hitler was considered the 'father of the automobile industry' and the first Volkswagen prototype was pioneered by him?
by 
Soccergirl
ANSWERS: 8
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Never heard that, but the autobahn for sure.
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Yes. The groups he formed to make the workers happy had reward schemes for hard work, one of them was the Volkswagen (People's car). However, when the war started, all automobile factories switched to producing military equipment so nobody actually recieved one.
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http://www.hitler.org/artifacts/volkswagen/ My grandfather told me this 35 years ago, and I didn't believe him. That was when it was popular to disrespect your elders and to distrust anyone with more money than you had. I wish I could apologize to him now, but he is long dead. I don't know why I didn't believe him, he was a car salesman, proud of it and kept up with all aspects of the industry.
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The very name 'Volkswagen', 'People's Car' comes straight out of the Third Reich's instruction manual. To be fair, the term 'Volkswagen' originated in 1931, while the National Socialists only achieved power in 1933. However, the facts are these (taken from wiki) - In 1933, Adolf Hitler gave the order to Ferdinand Porsche to develop a "Volks-Wagen", a basic vehicle that should be capable of transporting two adults and three children at a speed of 100 km/h (62 mph). The People's Car would be made available to citizens of the Third Reich through a savings scheme at 990 Reichsmark, about the price of a small motorcycle at the time (an average income being around 32RM/week). So I suppose the answer to your question is 'yes'.
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No, autos were being produced long before Hitler, in many countries. The Model T was in mass production in 1908. Volkswagen began production in the late 30s.
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And what about Henry Ford? I think he was out there ahead of Hitler.
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With all due respect, that statement is laughable. The automobile industry is an amalgamation of many, many design, manufacturing, engineering and supply chain techniques from too many people over too many years. Just to name a few, Whitney(yes, that's Eli Whitney), Chevrolet, Olds, Benz, Ford, Singer, Edison... These people and many others probably forgot more about assemblies, sub and upper level-assemblies, supply chain, engineering and all of the management phases associated with them. Sketching a car doesn't make him the father of the automobile industry any mor than sketching a rocket ship at age 12 makes me the father of the aerospace industry. Consider also his propagandists. This is where we can learn from Hitler. If he had done info-mercials he could have sold ice to eskimos. His propaganda appears to have been so powerful that it is working in his favor today, on answerbag, almost 55 years after his death.
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Yes, the first Volkswagen was developed during Hitler's regime. Something VW tend to keep a bit quiet about. :)
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