
What if the VW Beetle had never existed? - tomcam
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20171025-what-if-the-vw-beetle-had-never-existed
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sgt
This is a bit of an understatement:

"The Nazi leader’s interest in the vehicle was such that he even contributed
his own sketch of what he felt the vehicle should look like, although it only
has a passing resemblance to the final designs."

I think they should go back to Hitler's original sketch and look again. In my
opinion, Hitler came up with the fundamental look of the Beetle. This goes
beyond "only a passing resemblance" to what we know as the Beetle today.

Reference: [http://www.brandpowder.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/07/small-...](http://www.brandpowder.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/07/small-volkswagen00.jpg)

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AmVess
Hitler was influenced by Tatra, a Czech automobile company. If you look at
that sketch, it is solidly Tatra. Porsche himself was deeply influenced by
that company. Many of the basic ideas of the Beetle had been done before by
Tatra, including the rear engine layout.

The bones of the first Porsches have as much Czech in them as Austrian.

None of this is speculation, but history.

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oblio
What happened to Tatra, and in general the Czech industry, since 1938, is a
real tragedy.

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Scea91
Tatra was fine during the war. It's decline started with the ascent of
communism and it's planned economy.

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lloeki
This is barely touched in the article but while it killed some competitors,
were it not for the Beetle we may not have gotten the iconic Porsche 356, and
thus none of the subsequent 911 lineage.

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elsurudo
Yeah, this is a much-better comparison than the rather ham-fisted one with
Apple squeezed in at the end of the article.

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Supernaut
I'm rather appalled to note that an article published by the BBC contains two
instances of the greengrocer's apostrophe. All that licence money, and none to
spare to hire a sub-editor?

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DanBC
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