This report by the British motoring journal "The Motor" paints a very interesting picture about the state of the automobile industry in West Germany only six months after the end of the war. The premier German budget car of the prewar period, the DKW, is now the most common vehicle on the roads. This was largely the result of them being rarely confiscated for military use and thus destroyed or captured. Auto Union, although located in the Soviet Zone prioritized the establishment of parts and servicing for the 60,000 prewar cars on the road. New cars would not hit the market until 1948-49. For IFA and DKW postwar history, check this article: https://dkwautounionproject.blogspot.com/2020/05/collapse-and-reconstruction-history-of.html
Surprisingly, the author of the article gives a positive review of the Tatra T87, which is usually slandered in the Western press as a car so dangerous and unstable that German officers were banned from driving them (this never happened). British suspicion of rear-engine designs ran very deep, expressed in the motoring press since 1935. https://tatrat600.blogspot.com/2024/10/first-reference-to-nazi-killing-tatras.html
"Rear Engine Acceptance
A car which seems to have won golden opinions from German and U.S. Forces alike is the big air-cooled rear-engine Tatra. It appears that a fair number of these came into Germany following the establishment of the Czechoslovak Protectorate in 1939, and everyone seems agreed that they give remarkable speed, low fuel consumption and immense comfort for long-distance motoring. Seeing them in company with more orthodox vehicles, one can certainly have no doubt about their merits on the score of appearance, and one must regret that so few of these interesting models have come into this country [ie, the UK]."
The new Volkswagen also receives positive reviews, being described as a much more comfortable vehicle than the US jeep.
Other interesting links: https://heinkelscooter.blogspot.com/2022/07/state-of-german-motor-industry-1945.html
