Re: How much money did GM have during the Great Depression?

Posted by Dave Kenney On 2007/12/21 11:55:45

Owen, I found this on the net. It appears that nobody wanted the factory but for some good reasons.

Post-war period

After the end of the Second World War the competence for the Volkswagenwerk in the middle of June 1945 turns into on the British military government. In the first years after the Second World War the future of the work as well as the "beetle" was uncertain. Only starting from this time the enterprise kept and its products official the designation "Volkswagen". Both a disassembly of the work and a continuation of beetle production in other countries were possible options. Among other things the British company Humber as well as Fords were first interested in the Volkswagen work. Due to partial the bad condition of the work, the proximity for the Soviet zone of occupation as well as a destroying technical evaluation VOLKSWAGEN of the beetle by a British investigation report lost all prospective customers however any interest in the Volkswagen work. In mentioned investigation report the beetle was judged as a not imitation-worthy construction, which did not meet allegedly the demands, which one had to make to time at that time at small cars. From today's view this judgement is not comprehensible, since by the VOLKSWAGEN beetles were manufactured more than 21 million copies, which corresponded all in their basic concept to the pre-war-concept.



The KdF Wagen factory was a prime target for allied forces during the war, and before long, it was partially destroyed. After the war was over, the British Army took over the factory. The British were interested in the factory, because they needed light transportation: what else could they do? The factory was brought back up (it was still damaged, however) with leadership provided by Major Ivan Hirst of the British Army, and by the end of 1945, had produced more than 2000 cars. Most of them were produced from spare parts that were left in the factory. Within a year, the factory had produced over 10,000 cars, all thanks to assistance from the British government. Sometime after 1945, the company was named Volkswagen by the British, who also renamed the town at the factory "Wolfsburg", which was the name of a local castle. The British sought to give control of the company to able hands: the Ford company turned the offer down because it thought it would be a waste of money, the French government refused; nobody seemed to want the company. In 1949, the British government was finally able to relinquish control of the company to the German government. Heinrich Nordhoff was appointed as the senior executive of Volkswagen, a move which proved to be a very good one.