The Four Big Car Manufacturers in Germany
There are eight big car manufacturers in Germany. The four biggest are Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Porsche, and they are also the most popular cars in America. So, these are the ones I will tell you about.
Audi
Audi is one of the big German car companies. It was created by August Horch in Cologne on November 14, 1899. The first car was built in 1901. In 1921 Audi became the first car company in Germany to have left hand drive. In 1980 at the Geneva Motor Show, Audi became truly the first good car to have all wheel drive with the Audi Quattro. The 90’s brought two great sports cars called the Audi Quattro Spyder and the Audi Avus Quattro.
BMW
BMW is probably the biggest German car company. In 1913 Karl Rapp made a business to manufacture aero engines. However the company got really popular and Rapp left the company because of various problems, and Franz Josef Popp took the company over. Popp later made a deal with the Dixi company, and its manufacturing licenses became BMW. The first car VMW actually built was the 303. It has the signature BMW double-kidney grille, so that’s is how people know. During the 1930’s there were some cars that the public really like. This made the quality of BMW raise. There have been many of models released and still BMW has remained one of the top car manufacturers in Germany.
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is one of the most luxurious German cars. Gottlieb Daimler made a car business calledDaimler-Motoren-Gesellschat, and Carl Benz had a car business called Benz. They competed in races, and during world war 2 they merged creating Mercedes-Benz. The Mercedes part is from a car that was specially made. The 2 companies merged in 1926, but it wasn’t completely valid until 2000. Some new Mercedes cars are the 2007 CLS-Class and the 2007 S-Class; both of these cars are extremely luxurious and high-quality.
Porsche
Porsche is probably the most stylish German car, but they are the most expensive too. It was created by Ferry Porsche in 1948. The first car was the 356 that came out June 8, 1948. Ferry Porsche thought he was going to sell less than 500 cars, but by 1954 he had already sold 5,000. The famous Porsche badge logo was made in 1953, and therefore five years of the 356 were not created with the badge. In 1959 Porsche started making its next model, the 901. However that name was already taken, so Porsche had to name it 911, and it came out in early 1965. For a while in the mid-90’s the public thought Porsche was going to merge with Daimler-Benz (now Mercedes-Benz), but Porsche fought back with the 993 and the Boxster. If these cars weren’t made there, would probably be no Porsche now. However, they were made, and Porsche after only 60 years is a very well of company.
August Horch
August Horch was the person that founded Audi. Before founding Audi he worked for Carl Benz for three years as the as the head of Automobile production. Before he started Audi, he had a shared company called A. Horch & Cie in Cologne, Germany. The cars were good enough to move to a larger company in Zwickau. However, in 1909 August Horch had an argument with the other owners of the company, and withdrew from the company to start Audi. In 1921 Audi became the first car company in Germany to have left hand drive. In June 1932 4 auto companies Audi, DWK, Horch, and Wanderer joined to make Auto Union AG, and Auto Union AG, which developed the 4 rings in today’s Audi logo. Eventually that broke up and Audi became what it is now.
Cologne, Germany
Cologne was the place A. Horch & Cie was founded then. Then A. Horch & Cie was moved to Zwickau, and August Horch withdrew from the company. August Horch then went back to Cologne, and started Audi. So, Cologne was the place both Audi and A. Horch & Cie were created.
The Porsche 356
The Porsche 356 was the first production car made by Porsche. It came out to the public on June 8, 1948 and it was a huge success. The 356 can come in hard top or convertible. A Porsche employee designed the body, but it had a lot of Volkswagen mechanics. So, soon Porsche figured that out and by the late 1950’s basically all of the 356’s parts were Porsche’s. In 1965 Porsche discontinued making the 356, and by that point about 76,000 had been made.