decars1-7, Exercise 1: From luxury to mass possession

Model answer (check the details):

The change: in the 1920s only a small share of Germans owned a car (Chapter 3), and the KdF scheme of the 1930s never delivered one (Chapter 6). After the currency reform of 1948 and the boom of the 1950s, wages rose and credit and instalment buying spread, and the number of cars in West Germany went from well under a million around 1950 to several million by 1960.

Two kinds of car that made it possible:
1. The Volkswagen Beetle, a cheap, reliable family car built in large numbers and improved gradually.
2. Microcars such as the BMW Isetta, the Goggomobil and the Lloyd, which gave people moving up from motorcycles a cheap, weatherproof step.

Also: Opel's family cars suited the new middle class, and used cars spread the market further.

Caution: ownership figures should be checked in official statistics and compared on the same basis.