Ferdinand Porsche was the founder of Volkswagen.
It is said that he was indeed a genius and was employed by a great number of car companies eg Austro-Daimler, Mercedes, Daimler-Benz to name but a few.
In 1930 he decided to open his own design bureau. In 1931 he asked his team of staff to start designing a car with a water cooled three cylinder engine. This should also have independent suspension and be capable of accommodating four adults. The main aim was to keep the costs as small as possible to make it affordable to the masses.
In 1932 he made Zundapp a partner. Originally there were three prototypes were produced using his original design which was equipped with a new engine. Unfortunately however the engine had a severe overheating problem and melted after ten minutes of running. Zundapp decided to leave the project.
NSU a motor cycle manufacturer decided to join forces and a new cooled 4 cylinder engine was built. The engine was placed in the rear to avoid the traditional transmission with a separate gear box, drive shaft & rear axle. Unfortunately due to the economical climate in Germany at the time NSU decided to withdraw and Porche was once again by himself.
In 1933 at the Berlin Motor Show Hitler announced his plan to produce a small car for the people of Germany. Porche and Hitler joined forces and a contract was signed in 1934. The prototypes were to be built by the RDA, which was the German Auto Manufacturers Association. RDA were soon to understand that this project had a chance to be successful and this they did not want. They deliberately delayed the project which made Porsche miss the deadline and therefore lose his contract. However Hitler realised this and placed the entire project under government supervision. The 3 prototypes were delivered in October 1936.
To this day the VW has remained almost the same in design. It has a reputation for being a highly reliable car and indeed Volkswagen van leasing is a very popular choice as they have such a solid history behind them.
Tags: van lease, van leasing, volkswagen van lease, volkswagen van leasing, vw van lease, vw van leasing