Figure 1.-- This photograph was taken in Austria during the 1930s. A young wealthy woman is nsitting with a pet in her car, a German Opel Blitz. She has stopped in a village. Cars werestillmid not rare, not cimmon and they attracted attention, especially from the children. The children are intruigued by both the car and the tiny dog. (Toy dogs werevnot ciommon in the villages.) At the time in Europe only wealthy or upper middle class people could aford to buy a car. Not only were European wages lower than in America, but European manufcturers focused on more expesive and thus more profitable models. This limited the size of the European motor vehicle industry. Surely the families of these children didn't own a car. Germny at Hitler's bequest lunched the Volkswagen projedct, lthough no sctul crs were produced. Volkwagen meant People's Car, it was intended to be an inexpensive car that workers could aford. Before manufacturing began, Hitler and Stalin launched World War II. Contrast this with who in America had cars.

At the time of World War II, most of the cars and trucks not built in in America, were built in Europe, but even all of European production was a fraction of American production. The European motor vehicle industry was expanding moving in the same directions as the American industry, toward a mass market for motor vehicles and more efficent assembly line peoduction. Progress was, however, much slower. Arange of problems slowed European progress. They included lower wage levels limiting purchasing power, small national markets, and restructive tax and tariff policies. Industrial policy was a pwer. Industrialists were oriented toweard producung high quality, high end products with high maergins. Producing large numbers of products with low margins did not sppeal to European industrialists. Germany was by far, the laeding indusdtrial nation in Euroope. It had the largest steel industry which was the basis for most arms manufacturing. Despite this advantage in heavy industry, Germany did not have the largest motor vehicle industry in Europe. German generals invented Blitzkrieg. The only problen was Germanmy did not have an industrial economy well suited to providing the tanks and trucks the generals needed to wage the Blitzkrieg campignbs theyinvented. The Grrmany motor vehicle indutry was not even the largest in Europe and certainly not the most efficent. Production was essentaully craft shops prtoducing high-quality cars for well-to-do consumers. High-quality may sound like an assett in an industrial war, but for vehickes with life spans often measured in weeks or even days, it was a war-losing inmdustrial policy. It involved the highly inefficent use of resources--scarce resources in a notoriously resource poor country. This was a factor in Germmany losing World War I and would again be a factor in World War II. German workers had to use bicycles. Few Germans could aford to buy German-produced cars abd thus runs were realatively small. The Deutsche Wehrmacht throughout the War was primarily unmotirized infantry using horse-drawn carts, but led by a powrrful armored spearhead. This proved adequate for short wars with its neighbors, but not for the Osrkrieg Hitler dreamed about. Europe's largest motor veicvke industry wa the British, although a fraction of the size of the American motor vehicle industry. Even so, Britain was the only country to enter World War II with a fully mechanized army. France also had a substantial motor vehicle industry. They produced some excellent early tanks, but lacked the battle doctrine to use them. Germany failed to take advantage of Ftench indusdtry during the occuoation (1940-44), although Renault until bombed by the Allies (1942) did produce truck for them. It would be in the East that Germany's real challengev would come and the War decuded. The Sovuiet Union as a result of Stalin's Five Year Plans and technichal; assitance from American companies had constructed a sizeable motor vehicle induatry. The German steel industry was much larger that the Soviet steel industry, but the motor vehicles insustries were more compaparable. And unlike the Geramns, the Soviets thanks to the Americans had adopted efficient assembly-linmed mass production techniques. And like the Americans settled on a few excellent designs and produced them in quantity.

Britain

Mostb if the Brutish autiomobile industry bwas lkoacted in Engkand. The English weere not active in the earliest developmental stage of the automobile. The British relied on work being carried out in France and Germany (late-19th century). Humber began manufacturing in Coverntry (1890). The first all-British motorize four-wheel vehicle was designed and built by Herbert Austin (1900). He was the manager of The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company. The next year, Austin revived support the Vickers brother (Vickers Limited), 'Colonel Tom' and Albert Vickers (1901). Austin launched what would become Wolseley Motors in Birmingham (1901). It would be Britain's largest automobile manufacturer until Ford Motors entered the picture (1913). [Church] Sunbeam also began producing cars (1901) followed by Standard in Coventry (1903), Vauxhal (1903), Rover in Coventry (1904), Austin in Birmingham (1905), Morris in Oxford (1910), and Riley in Coventry (founded in 1890 but only began making cars in 1913). A large number of other groups attempted to build cars. Many came out of the bicycle industry. This of course was the origin of the first heavier than airplane in America --the Wright Flyer. This was simply because the bicycle sector was such an important industry at the time. Some 200 groups tried to build automobiles that first decade. Half failed. British manufacturers built 14,000 vehicles, mostly cars (1910). Ford only a few years after launching the Model-T, opened up a factory in Manchester and became the leading British automobile manufacturer, producing 7,310 cars, a small fraction of Ford's American production. We are at this time unsure how Ford affected British manufacturing, especially mass production techniques. We do not fully understand what Ford was doing in Britain. The number of cars produced seem so small compared to its American production that it seems hardly worth the effort. Wolseley built 3,000 cars, Humber (2,500), Rover (1,800 and Sunbeam (1,700). A large number of smaller manufacturers brought the pre-World War I total to some 16,000 vehicles (1913). [King] Automobile manufacturing came to an abrupt halt and virtually no cars were built during the war years (1914-18). The War drove British manufacturing in the direction of the mass production techniques that had been adopted in America. The companies involved did not close, but got a variety of other contracts. The number of motor companies actually increased. One report claims that there were 183 motor companies (1922). The numbers were gradually winnowed out by competitive forces. Only 58 companies remained (1929). [Baldwin] The sector was , however dominated by Morris and Austin which produce some 60 percent of British cars. Singer was in third place with 15 percent. [King] The industry had expanded significantly during the 1920s. The Depression adversely affected the automotive sector, bur Britain finally exceeded French production (1932). This is a little surprising because British per capita income was the highest in Europe, you would have though that British production would have been the hugest from an earlier period. British manufacturers produced 379,310 cars and and 113,946 commercial vehicles (1937). [Vanderveen] Two companies dominated British production. The leading manufacturer was Morris. William Morris to honor his industrial achievements was granted a peerage--Vicount Nuffield. He reorganized his motor vehicle holdings into the Nuffield Organization. They included Morris Motors and MG along with Wolseley and Riley. Morris produced 27 percent, Austin (24 percent), Ford (15 percent), Standard (13 percent), Rootes that had merged with Humber and Sunbeam (11 percent), Vauxhall/GM (10-percent). [King] The advent of World War II, automobile manufacturers shifted production to commercial and military vehicles (trucks and tanks) Some plants as in America were converted to aircraft and aircraft engine production. This was important because a huge part of the Brutish war effort was devoted to the air war.

France

France along with Germany was an automotive pioneer. Some automobile historians say that French invented the automobile. French engineer Nicolas Joseph Cugnot invented the first self-propelled vehicle, a steam-powered military tractor (1769). But as not much came of that, the honor is normally given to Karl Benz in Germany who adopted an internal combustion engine. French inventors experimented with various power systems in the 19th century. At first, steam was the preferred propulsion system. 1859 - Jean Joseph Étienne Lenoir constructed an internal combustion engine (1859). Edouard Delamare-Deboutteville built the first gasoline-powered automobile (1884). René Panhard and Émile Levassor founded Panhard et Levassor a car manufacturing company (1887). The first car was produced (1891). Armand Peugeot built a four-wheeled car powered by a Daimler gasoline fueled internal combustion engine (1890). Darracq was founded (1896). At the turm of the 20th century, Europe led America in automonile production. France was a smaller industrial power than Germany, but it developed a larger motor vehicle industry. France produced over 30,000 cars, alost half of world production (1903). America at the time produced only some 11,000 cars. [Bellu, p. 18.] Hotchkiss et Cie was founded (1903). It wsas bought by Peugeot after World War II in 1950. Louis Delage founded Delage (1905). It was founded by Delahaye in 1935 Herenr Ford introduced the Model-T Ford and mass poroduction, beginning the meteroric rise of the American automobile industry. Ettore Bugatti started up the Bugatti company in Molsheim which before Wiorkd War I was part of Germany. he French branch of Hispano-Suiza was fojunded (1911). They ended csar production just before the War (1938). Paris became famous for its taxis. Those taxis helped deliver French force to an attck on the flank of the German First Army as they veered in their advnce toward Paris, bringing about the Mircle on the Marne (September 1914). During the War, trucks were a major American indusdtrial contriubution. Several new automobile componies were founded after the War. Gabriel Voisin founded Avions Voisin (1919). Production ceased in 1939. Andre Citroën founded Citroën (1919). Darracq merged with with Sunbeam and Talbot (1920). Amilcar was is founded 1921). The company merged with Hotchkiss et Cie in 1937 and ceases production in 1939. Salmson begins auto production began (1921). French annual automobile production peaked at 253,000 passenger cars (1929). This was the record high until after World War II. The industry then declined because of the Deoression. Production plummeted to 141,000 casrs. As a result, France dropped to second place in European car production. Britain produced 220,775. The French still had the largest number of registered vehicles (1.5 milliom) compared to Britain's (1.2 million). Germany's 0.5 million cars show how fr behind the country's motor vegile industry was. Henri Pigozzi st up the Simca divuision to build Fiat cars (1934). Citroën in the same year introduced the Traction Avant, featuring front wheel drive and unitary construction. Citroën goes bankrupt and was taken over by the Michelin Tire Company. Matford begins building Ford cars (1934), but ceased production (1939). After the War, the company is reorganized as Ford SAF and sells cars under the Ford name. As a result the economy dfid nit prosper. The decdec was notale for destructive strikes and economic paralysis during the decade. A coaition of left-wing parties won the general election, bringing Léon Blum Popular Front Goverment to power. Major social reforms were enacted. No consuderation was given to the profiitability of corporatuion, inncluding the motoir vehicle sector. The result was there were no investments in the industry. The situation couild not hve been more different in Germany. Hitler supressed the free tradevunion movement ns strikes seere not permitted. Hitler and the NAZIs seized power. Hitler who loved cars, espcully big powerful Merccedes, assigned the automobile indusdtry a central role in his radical economic strategy of fiscal stimulus and massive military spending. As a result, France declined from second to third place in European motor vehicle production. One source reports French production at 204,000 cars [Anonymous 2, while Germany's production was slightly higher -- over 213,000 cars. [Oswald, p. 531.] (These numberswere a small fraction of American production of 4.4 million cars.) We are not entirely sure if the French and German figures deal with passenger cars or motor vehicles in general. While German motor vehicle production expanded, it did not significntlh modernize. In fact NAZI subsidies allowed the German compnanies to maintain many inefficent craft-style production. The French industry, while not expanding was more efficent with mass production opwearions. The French motor vehicle industry was the most modern in Europe, although smaller thsn the British industry. The French had gone far further toward mass production than the Germans. The most imprtant companies were Citroen, Peugeot, and Renault. The Germans after the fall of France (1940) attempted to use the French motor vehicle to produce trucks and aircraft parts. Incorporating the French motor vehicle industry into the German wae economy would hve basically doubled Germn motovehicle production. Although the French factiries were not damaged in the German invsion, this did not occur, The Gemzns were bever able to get substantial production out of France. Renault was especially important in truck construction, but production plummeted. YThere are reports thst quality also declined, because of sabotage, but we are not sure how to confirm tius. Puegeot made parts for the V-1, believing thhy were aircraft parts. This attracted British RAF and American Eighth Air Force attention. Unlike the Reich, German fighter defenses in France were rapidly weakening as the NAZIs doicused on defending German cities.

Germany

Some of earliest work on the automobile occurred in Germany. Hitler loved cars--especially impressive Mercedes convertibles. And there is nothing he enjoyd much more than tooling around the Reich in big, powerful Mercedes sieg heiling adoring crowds. And while the Germans invented the automobile and were highly industrialized, Germany had a rather small automobile industry. German automobile companies made high-end beautifully crafted cars that most German workers could not even dream of owning. The automobile was invented by Karl Benz who had trouble getting anyone interested in it, his wife Betha helped him get it off the ground. Nicolaus Otto developed a four-stroke internal combustion engine (late 1870s). Benz used it to power a coach (1887). This was the first automobile. Germany was producing about 900 cars a year by the turn of the 20th century). Gottlieb Daimler was a major participant in the industry. The German Army was not as motorized as the Allies during World War. American trucks made a huge difference. It is one reason besides limited supplies of oil that the Germans built only a handful of tanks. After the War, Daimler-Benz was formed (1926). They began producing Mercedes-Benz cats. BMW was founded during the War, but didn't begin producing cars until (1928). . The German automobile industry developed slowly after the War (1920s). a mass market never developed. German workers didn't have the money to buy cars and the companies involved did not want to build a low end car like the American Model-T Ford. Amrican companies entered the German auomotive comany after World War I Even so, modern mass production techniques did not tke hold. Here cultural factors were involved that would adversely affect the German War Economy during World War II. 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. s in America, the automobile industry suffered badly. Germany had some 86 automobile companies, most making only small numbers of cars. Very few survived about 12, including Daimler-Benz, Opel and Ford in Cologne. Four of major car manufacturers (Horch, Dampf Kraft Wagen (DKW), Wanderer, and Audi) combined to form Auto Union (1932). New life was breathed into the industry after Hitler and the NAZIs seized power (1933). It is not entire clear just why Hitler placed an emphasis on cars. But he introduced Motorisierung "motorization), a transport policy giving emphasis on motor vehicle construction. Some believe it was an effort to legitimize the NAZI Party by raising the German standard of living. That my have been a long term goal, it was not a short term goal. Very few additional Germans were able to purchase cars. The automobile companies, however, began to get military contrasts. Nor did Hitler want a lot of consumers increasing domestic consumption of oil that the military desperately needed. He pursued public relations gimmicks. The first Autobahn began before the NAZIs seized power was completed with great fanfare (1935). Notice that in all the propaganda, there are virtually no cars and trucks on the new Autobahn. The Volkswagen project was launched (1937), but again not one Beetle was actually delivered. Hitler's interest was more an innate love of powerful cars and a recognition that the automobile industry was a powerful component for any country preparing to use war and military conquest as a major effort. In this case, Hitler failed in two major regards. First, he failed to significantly expand the motor vehicle industry. Second, he failed to obtain the oil he would need to win the war that he was preparing to launch.

Italy

The Italian automobile sector was very small. Few Italian wsorkers could affird a car. The industry began in the late 19th century. Enrico Bernardi built a gasoline-fueled tricycle (1884). Stefanini-Martina was the first manufacturer (late-1880s). Giovanni Battista Ceirano started building Welleyes bicycles (1888). He decided an English name provided an up-scale image. Ceirano formed a joint venture with his brothers Matteo, and Ernesto to build the Welleyes motor car -- Ceirano GB & C (1898). The brothers quickly encountered financial problems. A consortium of well-heeled local nobility and businessmen led by Giovanni Agnelli purchased the Welleyes operation including the designs and patents (1899). The consortium was FIAT. The Welleyes/FIAT 4 HP had a 679 cc engine and was capable of 22 mph. Isotta Fraschini opened a plant (1900). They produced the first Renault. Other plants soon followed, including, Aquila Italiana, Fratelli Ceirano, Societé Anonima Italiana Darracq - Darracq, Diatto, Itala, Junior, Lancia, Societé Ceirano Automobili Torino, S.T.A.R. Rapid, SPA, and Zust. These were all small operations essentially craft shops producing small numbers of high-priced for wealthy individuals. No one was trying to produce low-cost cars for the public. Of course a factor here was that Italian eorkers were not as well paid as Americans and could not afford to buy cars. They competed in races to establish their technological cometence. Over time many of these concerns went out of business or were purchased by FIAT. The Iltalians after World War I produced about 35,000 motor vehicles (1924). The industry peaked af some 55,000 vdehivkes (1928), but during the Depression and lead up to World War II, production declined to only about 44,000 vehicles (1935). These numbers are a fractioin of 1 percent of American production. In an industrial war of movement, these numbers show that Italy despite Mussolini's blustering was not in a position to fight a modern war. Invading Ethioipia and Albania was one thing, figting a modern army was a very different matter. The Italian soldier is often derided. A large part of the responsibility for the failure of Italian arms was poor leadershipo and lack of modern equipment. The Iltalians did build some tanks, but they were not up to World War II standards. Again, they worked in Ethiopia, but against the British in the Western Desert were hopeless.

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union was a case by itself. Ordinary people in the Soviet worker's paradise could not afford cars. It is interesting that when the American movie 'Grapes of Wrath' (1940) was shown in the Soviet Union to show how working people were abused, the major take away of the viewers was utter amazement that working people, and destitute farmers no less, could afford to own cars. But that does not mean that the Soviet Union did not have an automotive industry. Tsarist Russia lagged Western Europe in industrial development, but had the most rpaidly growing economy at the time of World War I. There were a few small shops producing automibles, basically assembling imported foreign parts. The major companies were Russo-Balt, Puzyryov, Freze, Lessner, and others. Russo-Balt was the most important. fter the 1917 October Revolution, the new Bolshevick-controlled state took over the automobile plants. Production was affected by the Civil War. So at the time the Bolsheviks seized control of Russia, the country did not have an automotive industry of any size (1917). [Kelly] The Russians had fought World War I without any motor vehicles and only a handful of aircraft. The Army was almost entirely dependent on rail transport and horse power in the field. The Russians did not have trucks. The Bolsheviks nationalized Russo-Balt (1918). It was renamed Prombron. It continued to assemble Russo-Balt cars and came out with a new model (1922). AMO built FIAT 15 Ter trucks under license and released a more modern truck based in FIAT designs with modifications developed by an AMO team--the AMO-F-15. About were built 6,000 (1924-1931). These of course were incredibly small numbers for a country the size of the Soviet Union. Trucks at the time were only used in the cities. There were no developed roads between even major cities. Commerce was moved by rail. This was a problem American relief workers encountered when they attempted to feed starving Russians after World War I. The Bolsheviks allowed a French Citroen plant built before the war to operate as a private business for a few years, but nationalized it (1921). [Sutton, pp. 244-49.] Motor vehicle manufacturing primarily occurred in and around Moscow and Gorky. Gorky was the renamed medieval city of Nizhny Novgiros. The Soviets made it a closed city and developed it as the Soviet Detroit. The first entirely Soviet-manufactured vehicles were produced at the AMO plant in Moscow (1924). We believe that they were trucks. The Scientific Automobile & Motor Institute (NAMI) designed the first actual Soviet car -- the MANI-I (1927). [Kelly, pp. 78-79.] It was manufactured in small numbers by the Spartak State Automobile Factory in Moscow (1927-31). There was no real need for cars in the Soviet Union as ordinary people could not afford them, but a few were needed for important officials to get around town. Tricks and tractors were a different matter. Stalin's First Five Year Plan (1928-31) was a massive industrialization effort. One part of it was the creation of massive factories manufacturing large numbers of highly standard motor vehicles, primarily trucks and tractors. Tractors were needed for Stalin's collectivization program which proved a disaster because it involved the NKVD murdering most of the country's best farmers--the demonized Kulaks. Changes to models were few and far between--important for mass production. This is why Henry- ford opposed changes to the Model-T giving competitors and entry point. (And it was something the Germans had to their determent still not learned at the time of World War II.) Stalin turned to Western, mostly American companies) for the needed technology--especially assembly line mass production. Due to growing demand for motor vehicles as the Soviet Union industrialized and in cooperation with the Ford Motor Company, Soviet authorities established GAZ (1929). [] An automobile plant was founded in Moscow (1930). It would become important, but only after World War II as Moskvitch. Cars were not important in the Soviet Union at the time. The Moscow (ZIL), Gorky, and Yaroslavl' plants were partly or totally built based on Western, capitalist specifications. As a result, Soviet production increased from a few thousand vehicles (1928) to 200,000 vehicles (1937). This was a development Hitler and the German generals completely missed. Most of Soviet production was trucks along with substantial numbers of tractors. The Soviet motor vehicle industry would become a major part of the country's war industry. This included both the era where the Soviets as a NAZI ally invaded neighboring countries (1939-41) and the era the Soviets fought the Germans after the NAZI invasion (1941-45). There is another important aspect of Soviet motor vehicle production. As a result of the country's Socialist economic system, Soviet industry was incredibly inefficient. (This is why Russian companies were noncompetitive on the world market and went bankrupt after the fall of Communism.) They could produce huge numbers of vehicles, but as result of the inefficiencies, they could not afford to pay auto and other industrial workers decent salaries. This of course was not important during the war emergency, but was not sustainable after the War. As a result ,Soviet workers could not afford to buy the cars and other motor vehicles they built. That would have major consequences in the Cold War following World War II.

Sources

Anonymous 1. "Soviet Fordism in Practice: Building and operating the Soviet River Rouge, 1927-1945" (Yale University: Undated].

Anonymous 2. ""Automobilia: Toutes les voitures françaises 1937," Salon ([October 1936). Nr. 3. Vol 8.

Baldwin, N. A-Z of Cars of the 1920s . Devon, UK: Bay View Books, 1994).

Bellu, Serge. Histoire mondiale de l'automobile (Flammarion: 1998).

Church, Roy. The Rise and Decline of the British Motor Industry (Cambridge University Press: 1995).

Kelly, M. A. Russian Motor Vehicles: The Czarist Period 1784 to 1917 (Veloce Publishing Ltd. 2009)

King, Peter (1989). The Motor Men (Quiller Press: 1989).

Oswald, Werner. Deutsche Autos 1920-1945 Vol. 2 (Motorbuch Verlag: 2001).

Sutton, Antony C. (1968). Western Technology and Soviet Economic Development, 1917 to 1930 (Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace: 1968).

Vanderveen, Bart H. (1973). British Cars of the Late Thirties 1935 – 1939 . (London and New York: Frederick Warne, 1973)

Created: 3:36 AM 2/16/2022
Last updated: 7:18 PM 4/23/2022