A new Auto Union

Germany’s Manager Magazin asserts that VW might buy Fiat-Chrysler. Ferdinand Piëch wants to re-create Auto Union and combine the VW brands Audi, SEAT and Skoda with classics like Alfa Romeo, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Maserati, and Porsche. Along with Fiat and Chrysler it could make over 14 million cars a year, consigning Toyota and General Motors with about 10 million into second place.

In the 1930s four rings signified the creation of the first Auto Union, the amalgamation of the motor industry in Saxony. DKW, Horch, Wanderer and Audi joined up to weather financial storms following the Great Depression and face intervention from the emerging Third Reich. The State Bank of Saxony, the Allgemeine Deutsche Credit Anstalt (ADCA) and the Commerzbank of Berlin were midwives at the birth of the Auto Union.

Wanderer was the oldest, established in 1885 at Chemnitz. In 1899 August Horch set up at Cologne-Ehrenfeld, moved in 1902 to Plauen in the Vogtland, then in 1904 as a public company eastwards to Zwickau in Saxony. Third ring DKW also had roots in Chemnitz from 1904 when Danish entrepreneur, Jörgen Skafte Rasmussen established Rasmussen & Ernst GmbH in an empty textile works at Zschopau in the Erzgebirge. In 1914, as the Zschopauer Maschinenfabrik J S Rasmussen, it did military work, experimenting with a large, and as it turned out unwieldy, steam vehicle the Dampf Kraft Wagen (DKW - Steam-Power-Vehicle).

DKW persevered with motorcycles, making a primitive car in 1928, then at the 1931 Berlin motor show made a breakthrough with the first front wheel drive production car three years ahead of Citroën. FWD was novel, it was cheap, and DKW was good at it. Innovation did not bring prosperity however, and DKW was obliged to take a shareholding in Audi, making Rasmussen chairman. But by 1932 car sales in Germany had halved and DKW suffered from Rasmussen's expansionism. To make things worse, the Hitler regime planned a state-sponsored car to go on sale to the German Volk at a seemingly impossible price to savers of political tokens.

Amalgamation was complicated and it took nine months to agree terms and acquire funds. Headquarters were at Chemnitz, the Zschopauer Motorenwerke raised its share capital from 4.5 million Reichsmarks to 14.5 million and the new Auto Union AG bought the fourth ring, Wanderer, leasing its factories.

DKW's contribution of share capital was Rm10 million, Horch brought Rm500,000, Audi Rm2,500,000, and Wanderer Rm15,730,000. The new combine had a staff of 4,500 and factories at Zschopau making motorcycles and 2-stroke engines, Zwickau (cars), Berlin-Spandau (wooden body frames) and Siegmar (cars and steel bodies). Auto Union was a major player in the German motor industry alongside Adler, BMW, Opel, Daimler-Benz, and Ford. Meanwhile the cause of all the angst, the Volkswagen, was slow making its appearance.

Ferdinand Porsche’s consultancy made a submission to the Ministry of Traffic in Berlin for a car selling for Rm1500, with a fuel consumption of 8l/100 kms (35 mpg), a top speed of 100 kph (62 mph) and a weight of 650 kg (1433 lbs). Hitler and Porsche met in April 1934, at the Kaiserhof Hotel in Berlin, together with Jakob Werlin, Mercedes-Benz dealer in Munich and an early member of the Nazi Party. Werlin carried weight, joined the Mercedes-Benz supervisory board, and went on to be inspector-general of the industry.

Hitler sanctioned the VW provided it could cruise the new autobahns at 100kph, obtain a fuel consumption of 7l/100 kms (40 mpg) and sell for Rm990. A contract was drawn up under which Rm200,000 was set aside for a prototype and a production run of 50,000. The effect on the established Saxony car makers was profound but in 1935 Volkswagen was inaugurated. State intervention had been inevitable and the Auto Union’s marques Horch, Audi, Wanderer and DKW were broadly complementary. Horch made premium big saloons and tourers, Audi was distinctly middle-class. Wanderer had a solid array of good family cars and DKW lively cheap two-stroke economy models.

An urgent task was to forge the group’s identity and it took up a German state subsidy to build a 16-cylinder car designed by Professor Porsche, inaugurating a momentous period of grand prix motor racing. Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union overwhelmed all opposition in a demonstration of German technical pre-eminence, a triumph for the Reich’s propaganda machine under Dr Joseph Goebbels.

Now Automotive News Europe reports: "The simple deal logic is straightforward," London-based analyst Arndt Ellinghorst of ISI Group wrote in a note to investors. "Chrysler - better Jeep and Dodge - could fix VW's US problems; Alfa could replace the ailing Seat brand; Fiat Europe is basically the 500 product family plus LCVs. Latin America could be sold, potentially to a Chinese buyer."

Both Piëch and Martin Winterkorn, VW chief executive, are on record as showing interest in Alfa Romeo. VW had $24 billion in cash to play with at the end of March, so a takeover would be manageable. Everybody denies any such thing but Piëch, the obsessive and brilliantly successful 77 year old grandson of Ferdinand Porsche gets his way more often than he doesn’t. If VW bought the 150-strong Agnelli-Elkann dynasty's 30 percent controlling stake in Fiat-Chrysler it could be $5 billion or $6 billion richer and even keep Ferrari to bring a regular $475 million pocket money every year.

Top: Mid-engined masterpieces, Auto Union racing cars by Dr Porsche.

Audi adopted Auto Union’s four rings.

Number 1 surmounts the bonnet of an Audi Front.

Horch made some spectacular cars

DKW Sonderklasse. Front wheel drive, 2-stroke and one of my first ever test cars, borrowed from the factory in Düsseldorf in 1956. My first drive at the Nürburgring.

Workaday Wanderer W24 with Auto Union rings

Porsche 924

Porsche would like to forget the 924. It had a van engine, was a quarter the price of a 911 so it sat uneasily in the Porsche pantheon of profligacy. Yet it was precise and well-made. Swift enough for the 1970s, indeed swift enough now, it represented an about-turn for the great automotive dynasty, cobbled-up from VW parts bins much like Cecil Kimber made up MGs from Morrises in the 1930s, described in The Classic MG File.
Proper James Dean dangerous Porsches had air-cooled engines in the back, so putting a water-cooled one at the front was not so much radical as revolutionary. Making it almost upright and in line was not Porsche’s way at all. Furthermore the 924 was a mere design commission in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis. Volkswagen AG wanted an Audi Coupe.
Porsche Design was already working on the large, expensive and thirsty 928, but nobody knew in 1974 if the sports car was going to survive, so it was instructed to design a replacement for the VW Porsche 914, a relatively low-grade although quite popular mid-engined sports car made in Osnabrück between 1969 and 1975. The brief was to use VW and Audi components for something a lot smaller than the 928.

Technicians were told to take an inoffensive 2.0litre single overhead camshaft engine intended for the 1977 Audi 100 and VW LT van. Porsche added Bosch K Jetronic fuel injection to increase power to 92kW (125bhp), and kept weight distribution about even. The 928’s principles were re-employed, with a drive shaft in a tube to a 4-speed gearbox in the rear. This was really a back-to-front Audi 100 front wheel drive unit, although a 5 speed became available later. A few 924s were even sold with a 3 speed automatic. Front suspension was by VW Beetle 1302 MacPherson struts, the rear had semi trailing arms and transverse torsion bars.
Notwithstanding its potential for speed, the light weight 924 used a mundane mix of K70 disc brakes at the front and drums at the rear. The same could be said of the tyres, which were rather ordinary 185/70SR14, although wider section, 60 profile covers came subsequently as an option. The body shape was notable for careful aerodynamics, and a late decision to make it hot-dip galvanised provided a 6-year anti-corrosion warranty from the start.
It was still to be an Audi Coupe until, late in the 924’s development, Volkswagen decided it did not meet its marketing plans. So, with Porsche sales still flagging in the shadow of the oil shock, it became a Porsche in its own right. It was perfectly fitting. After all it came from the consultancy proclaimed in the Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen Commercial Register of 25th April 1931 as “Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH, Konstruktionen und Beratung für Motoren und Fahrzeuge” (design engineering and consultation for engines and vehicles).

Left: Professor Ferdinand Porsche and son Ferry.
As soon as it took full control of the project, Porsche AG gave it better-class trim and seats, plus a revised facia. However there was no space in the Porsche factory at Zuffenhausen, so Audi found room to build it in the former NSU factory at Neckarsulm. Porsche kept a keen eye on quality and over 122,000 were made between 1976 and 1985, 300,000 including derivative 924 Turbo, 944 and 968 (below)variants carried on until 1995. Their merit was beyond reproach and Audi gained an industry lead in how to make rust-resistant galvanised steel bodies. Porsche was rescued from a financial fissure that its regular premium-pricey products were struggling to fill.

924 spec: BODY 2 door coupe; 2+2 seats; weight 1130kg/2486lb
ENGINE 4 cylinders; in line; front; 86.5mm x 84.4mm, 1984cc; 92kW/125bhp @ 5800rpm; 46.4kW (63.0bhp)/l; 165Nm (121.7lbft) @ 3500rpm
ENGINE STRUCTURE ohv; 2 valves per cylinders; 1 belt driven ohc; aluminium head; cast iron block; 5 bearing crankshaft; Bosch K Jetronic injection.
TRANSMISSION 2 wheel drive; 4 speed gearbox; hypoid bevel final drive, 3.9:1. 3 speed automatic option.
CHASSIS DETAILS Steel unitary construction; independent front suspension, struts, coil springs; independent rear suspension, semi trailing arms, transverse torsion bars; telescopic dampers, disc front, drum rear brakes; dual braking circuits; vacuum servo; no ABS; rack and pinion steering; 66l (14.5gal) fuel tank; 185/70HR14 tyres; 6in rims.
DIMENSIONS Wheelbase 240cm (94.5in), front track 142cm, (55.9in), rear track 137cm (53.9in), ground clearance 12.5cm (4.9in), turning circle 12.5m (33.3ft), length 421cm (165.7in), width 168.5cm (66.3in), height 127cm (50in).
PERFORMANCE Maximum speed 204kph (126mph); 21.4mph (34.4kph) @1000rpm; acceleration 0 100kph (62mph) 9.6sec; 12.3kg/kW (9.0kg/bhp); average fuel consumption. 30.8mpg (8.7l/100km) Euromix.

Porsche 924

You feel Porsche prefers to forget the 924. It had the engine of a van and was a quarter the price of a 911. It never sat easily in the Porsche pantheon of profligacy.
Yet it was precise, swift and well-made. It had warmth and as much speed as can usually be employed on the road, but in 1975 it was radical. Porsche had always hung air-cooled engines behind the rear axle so making one water-cooled and putting it at the front was dramatic enough. Putting it fairly upright and in line was really not Porsche’s way any more than how the 924 started. It was a design commissioned in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis by Volkswagen for an Audi Coupe.
Porsche Design was already working on the large and expensive 928, now it had been instructed to work on a replacement for the VW Porsche 914, a relatively low-grade although quite popular mid-engined sports car made in Osnabrück between 1969 and 1975. The new brief was to use VW and Audi components already in production for something a lot smaller than the 928.
They technicians were told to use an inoffensive 2.0litre single overhead camshaft engine that had been intended for the 1977 Audi 100 and VW LT van. Porsche added Bosch K Jetronic fuel injection to increase power to 92kW (125bhp), and to keep weight distribution about even, the 928’s formula was re-employed with a drive shaft in a tube to a 4-speed gearbox in the rear axle. This was a back-to-front Audi 100 front wheel drive unit although later a 5 speed became standard. A few 924s were even sold with a 3 speed automatic. Front suspension was by VW Beetle 1302 MacPherson struts, while at the rear there were semi trailing arms and transverse torsion bars.
Notwithstanding its potential for speed, the light weight 924 used a mundane mix of K70 disc brakes at the front and drums at the rear. The same could be said of the tyres, which were rather ordinary 185/70SR14, although wider section, 60 profile covers came later as an option. The body shape was notable for Porsche’s careful attention to aerodynamics and a late decision to make it hot-dip galvanised provided a 6-year anti-corrosion warranty from the start.
Late in the 924’s development Volkswagen decided it did not meet the company’s marketing plans. Instead, with Porsche sales still flagging in the shadow of the oil shock, it became a proper Porsche in its own right. It was perfectly fitting for it to come from a consultancy proclaimed in the Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen Commercial Register on 25th April 1931 as “Dr. Ing. h. c. F. Porsche GmbH, Konstruktionen und Beratung für Motoren und Fahrzeuge” (design engineering and consultation for engines and vehicles).
As soon as it took full control of the project, Porsche AG gave it better-class trim and seats, plus a revised facia. However there was no space in the Porsche factory at Zuffenhausen to build it, so it was handed out to Audi, which found room at the former NSU factory at Neckarsulm and became responsible. Porsche kept a close eye on quality and over 122,000 were made between 1976 and 1985, 300,000 including derivative 924 Turbo and 944 variants that went on until the 1990s. Their merit was beyond reproach and while Audi gained an industry lead in how to make rust-resistant galvanised steel bodies, Porsche was rescued from a financial fissure that its regular premium-pricey products were failing to fill.

BODY 2 door coupe; 2+2 seats; weight 1130kg/2486lb
ENGINE 4 cylinders; in line; front; 86.5mm x 84.4mm, 1984cc; 92kW/125bhp @ 5800rpm; 46.4kW (63.0bhp)/l; 165Nm (121.7lbft) @ 3500rpm
ENGINE STRUCTURE ohv; 2 valves per cylinders; 1 belt driven ohc; aluminium head; cast iron block; 5 bearing crankshaft; Bosch K Jetronic injection.
TRANSMISSION 2 wheel drive; 4 speed gearbox; hypoid bevel final drive, 3.9:1. 3 speed automatic option.
CHASSIS DETAILS Steel unitary construction; independent front suspension, struts, coil springs; independent rear suspension, semi trailing arms, transverse torsion bars; telescopic dampers, disc front, drum rear brakes; dual braking circuits; vacuum servo; no ABS; rack and pinion steering; 66l (14.5gal) fuel tank; 185/70HR14 tyres; 6in rims.
DIMENSIONS Wheelbase 240cm (94.5in), front track 142cm, (55.9in), rear track 137cm (53.9in), ground clearance 12.5cm (4.9in), turning circle 12.5m (33.3ft), length 421cm (165.7in), width 168.5cm (66.3in), height 127cm (50in).
PERFORMANCE Maximum speed 204kph (126mph); 21.4mph (34.4kph) @1000rpm; acceleration 0 100kph (62mph) 9.6sec; 12.3kg/kW (9.0kg/bhp); average fuel consumption. 30.8mpg (8.7l/100km) Euromix.

These 968s were test cars, the top one at Bellanoch on the Crinan Canal, the bottom one a convertible in the garden at Sutton Veny with Lewis as a puppy on the left and lovely Harris on the grass. The 968 looked similar to the 924, but was wider at the wheels.

Passing fancy

Last Lexus LFA, Jaguar won’t make the C-X75. What’s happening? It’s the end of dreamland for supercars, that’s what. Let’s see how many Ferrari Enzos, McLaren P1s and Porsche 918s they sell if these go ahead. There’s nothing wrong with the cars and there are still people with half a million quid or so to buy them. We’ve seen it all before in difficult times, like the fuel crises of the 1970s when driving luxury gas guzzlers was embarrassing. It’s like managing directors turning up in limos to make half the workforce redundant. It’s a phase. The stupid 200mph things will come back.

Jaguar said it would not build the C-X75 supercar (right) because of, “global economic pressures.” And now Lexus has made the final 4.9litre V10 (below). Last week a white LFA with what was known as a Nürburgring Package left Motomachi, marking the end of production. Chief engineer, Haruhiko Tanahashi lamented, “I’ve lived and breathed supercars for the past decade, specifically the LFA. Very few people have the opportunity we had, to create a world-class supercar from a blank sheet of paper.” Some 170 hand-picked workers made about one car per working day for two years.

Jaguar said it would build 250 C-X75s, selling at £900,000 each, but, "After a thorough re-assessment of near-term market conditions, the company's view is that the global economic landscape does not currently support the introduction of a supercar.” Common sense really. Jaguar thought it might get away with it by adding a bit of greenery. Announced as a concept at the 2010 Paris auto show with four electric in-wheel motors, it had two micro turbine engines. The turbines were dropped and the car converted to being a plug-in hybrid, with a 1.6litre petrol engine. It still claimed over 200mph with a low fuel consumption and CO2 emissions below 99g/km. Maybe not all at the same time. Jaguar formed a partnership with Williams Formula 1 to develop a carbon fibre chassis, hybrid technology and aerodynamics to keep it from flying off.

Realism will out. Lexus says, “Learning from LFA engineering will directly influence new Lexus products. Production knowledge of carbon fibre components will be applied to future Lexus vehicles.” Adrian Hallmark of Jaguar said the technology showcased in the C-X75 wouldn't be dropped. "We have achieved an incredible amount and will continue to test and develop these technologies, which are highly relevant to Jaguar Land Rover's sustainable future".

Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they.

Porsche - Peter Schutz

My BMW Z3 and road test Porsche
I once stood with Peter W Schutz, the American chief executive of Porsche AG, as he waxed eloquent over the quality and longevity of his cars. “You know what,” he said to me. “Every time I see a Porsche leave the factory I know not only have we sold a car, but also we will go on selling it spares for years.” True. The factory had a bodyshell in primer parked outside in all weathers and it never decayed. Maybe it’s still there. They had to sell bits for crashed Porsches, worn-out Porsches and in due course restored classic Porsches as the cherished things lasted for decades.

Porsche sold spares at premium prices. It sold everything at premium prices. Schutz, who replaced Dr Ernst Fuhrmann as CEO in the 1980s, knew that replacement components’ business was a bankable asset. Why, a Porsche headlamp glass could cost £100 when everybody else’s were a couple of quid. Now high-power flush-fitting Halogen units are £400 and upgrades to Xenon or Litronic levelling ones are £800.

Ford Focus headlight features on new Dove book, out March
Now everybody has caught on. Headlights are much superior to those of only a few years ago. I notice it going from a newer test car to my BMW or Nissan. Those that swivel with the steering are especially clever. How like cranky American politicians to ban them on Citroëns.

The cost of headlights has gone up and up on ordinary cars well below Porsche in the price pecking order. Audis run from £270 for an A3 to £390 on an A6. But are the distinctive LED running lights strictly necessary? They seem to me more like advertising gimmicks to identify drivers of upper-class cars.

Nothing’s new. Our family Wolseleys had a little light-up badge in the middle of the radiator proclaiming our social status after dark. You didn’t want to be confused with Austins, Morrises or Vauxhalls. As a small boy I was proud of that little light and cross with father when he refused to replace its single festoon bulb. Like festoon bulbs in Trafficators it failed. Father didn’t understand status.