It was Ferdinand Porsche who was the founder of Volkswagen.

It is said that he was indeed a technical genius and was employed by a large number of car companies eg Austro-Daimler, Mercedes, Daimler-Benz to name but a few.

In 1930 he opened 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 able to accommodate 4 adults. The main purpose was to keep the costs as low as possible to make it affordable to the masses.

In 1932 he found a partner in Zundapp. Originally 3 prototypes were produced using his original design which was equipped with a new engine. Unfortunately however the engine turned out to have a severe cooling problem and melted after ten minutes of running. Zundapp decided to discontinue 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 of the car to avoid the traditional transmission with a separate gear box, drive shaft and 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 Adolf Hitler announced his plan to produce a smaller 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 RDA, which was the German Auto Manufacturers Association. RDA were soon to realise that this had a chance to be successful and this they did not want. They deliberately delayed the project which made Porsche miss his deadline and thus made him lose his contract. However Hitler knew this and placed the entire project under government supervision. The 3 prototypes were delivered in October 1936.

To this day the volkswagen has remained just about identical 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.

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