Economic Miracle

German Cars & the Autobahn

Course 1 · Chapter 7 · Wirtschaftswunder on Wheels

After the currency reform of 1948 and the founding of the Federal Republic in 1949, West Germany entered a long boom, known as the Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle). The car, which had been a rich man's toy in the 1920s and a broken promise in the 1930s, became for the first time a mass possession. This chapter follows that change: the Beetle's rise, the small microcars, the rebirth of Mercedes, BMW and Porsche, the arrival of foreign workers, and the first reckoning with road deaths. Names, dates and figures are from general knowledge and flagged "check".

The Boom

Rebuilding

The currency reform of June 1948 replaced the Reichsmark with the Deutschmark and, with Marshall Plan aid and rising exports, helped to start rapid growth in the 1950s (check the causes, which historians weigh differently).

A flood of cars

The number of cars in West Germany rose from well under a million around 1950 to several million by 1960, and continued to climb (check the figures). For the first time ordinary workers and clerks could buy a car.

An export power

Volkswagen, Mercedes and others exported widely, and by the later 1950s West Germany had passed Britain as Europe's leading car producer (check the date and the measure).

The Cars of the 1950s

Car and maker (check each)Note
Volkswagen BeetleThe best-seller and symbol of the miracle, improved gradually while its shape stayed the same (Chapter 6).
BMW IsettaA tiny bubble car with a front door, built from 1955 under licence from an Italian design (check). It sold well for a time and kept BMW going.
Goggomobil, Lloyd and MesserschmittOther microcars and "cabin scooters", cheap alternatives for people moving up from motorcycles.
Mercedes-Benz 300 SLThe "Gullwing" sports car of 1954 with upward-opening doors, a prestige car that showed the brand's revival (check).
Opel Kadett and RekordFamily cars from a firm owned by General Motors (Chapter 3), popular with the new middle class.
Porsche 356A small sports car developed from Beetle parts, first built in Austria in the late 1940s and then in Stuttgart (check). Its successor, the 911, appeared in 1963 (check).
The 911 and a number The car now called the 911 was first shown at the Frankfurt motor show of 1963 as the 901. Peugeot objected, since it used three-digit names with a zero in the middle, and Porsche renamed the car (check; this story is well documented in company and press sources). It is a small example of how brand names became legal property in a market that was becoming international.

BMW on the Brink

  • The crisis. By the late 1950s BMW was losing money with large, expensive cars and the fading Isetta, and a takeover by Daimler-Benz was proposed (check the details).
  • The rescue. Shareholders rejected the takeover in 1959, and the Quandt family became major investors (check). New models, the small BMW 700 and then the 1500 of 1961, put the company on a new footing (check).
  • The lesson. Today's strong brand image hides a near failure, which is typical of company histories that skip the bad years.

Guest Workers and Holidays

  • Labour shortage. West Germany signed agreements to recruit workers from Italy from 1955 and later from Spain, Greece, Turkey and elsewhere (check the dates). Many worked in car factories.
  • A famous gift. In 1964 the one-millionth guest worker, Armando Rodrigues from Portugal, was welcomed at a railway station and given a moped (check the details).
  • Holidays by car. Families began driving to Italy and Austria for holidays, and Italy became a symbol of longing in popular songs and films (check examples).

Roads and Risk

  • New roads. The Autobahn network was repaired and extended in the 1950s and 1960s (check how much was new).
  • Deaths. Road deaths in West Germany rose with traffic to a peak of around 19,000 a year in 1970 (check), which led to new rules.
  • Measures. A 100 km/h limit on rural roads was introduced in 1972, and front seat belts became compulsory in 1976 (check). Chapter 9 returns to the Autobahn question.
A British comparison Britain produced more cars than Germany in the early 1950s and exported more, but its industry suffered from many small makers, strikes and weak management, and fell behind in the 1960s (check). The Mini (1959) was a brilliant design, though how much money it made for its maker has been questioned (check). The Beetle's longevity and Germany's steady export growth contrast with the British decline, which this course does not cover in detail.
Check the details Dates, model histories and statistics are from general knowledge and vary between sources. "Miracle" stories tend to credit particular people or policies, so check which claims are documented. Death and ownership figures should be taken from official statistics for the year concerned.

Exercises

Exercise 1

Explain how the car changed from a luxury to a mass possession in West Germany between 1948 and 1960, naming two kinds of car that made this possible.

→ Solution
Exercise 2

Describe BMW's crisis of the late 1950s and what it suggests about relying on brand histories.

→ Solution
Exercise 3

Explain the link between rising car use and the measures on road safety that followed, and how you would test whether they worked.

→ Solution

Quick Reference

  • The boom: currency reform of 1948, rapid growth in the 1950s (check)
  • Cars: Beetle, Isetta, 300 SL, Opel family cars, Porsche 356 and 911 (check)
  • BMW: near takeover in 1959, rescued by the Quandt family (check)
  • People: guest workers from 1955; holidays by car
  • Risk: road deaths peak around 1970; new limits and seat belts (check)