The Citroën DS first appeared in 1955 and remained in production until 1975. Some people, me included, think they should still be making them. When we look at the cars that were being made in 1955,…
The Volkswagen, Part 5
How do you sell a car that is smaller and less powerful than pretty much all of its competitors? How do you sell a car that always looks the same? How do you sell a car…
The Volkswagen, Part 4
I wonder how it would be for someone in North Korea to openly refuse to do what the “Dear Leader” Kim Jong Un wanted them to do? When we live in a reasonably free country we…
The Volkswagen, Part 3
The curious thing about the creation of the Volkswagen is that it was not just the brainchild of one man. Most creations are not the result of one person having a “eureka” moment. Typically they are…
The Volkswagen, Part 2
Dr. Ferdinand Porsche’s design for the Volkswagen, Hitler’s “People’s Car” was imaginative, in fact it was brilliant. He incorporated what he knew about creating a performance car into designing a car that was intended to be…
The Volkswagen, Part 1
The Volkswagen was not created simply as a commercial product. It was created for consumers, but it was created because of a political and social vision, not just a commercial one, and its that political and…