暢談世界文化:17 香車寶馬 (1/2)

How can I help you? I'm looking for a German car preferably, but I'm not sure which brand to choose. Here we stock used Volkswagens, BMWs and Mercedes-Benz. OK, great. Can you tell me something about them? I know the word "Volkswagen" means "people's car", right? Yes, before the 1930s, there had been many efforts to create simple cars that everyone could afford, but none met with profound success. So who was the first person to succeed with the "people's car"? A man named Ferdinand Porsche. I'm sure you've heard that name before, set up business and made a simple car that everyone could afford. Oh, you must mean the Volkswagen Beetle. Didn't Adolf Hitler have something to do with that? Yes, Porsche pushed his idea of a small car forward and helped Hitler get a real people's car for the citizens of Germany. I don't really like any Volkswagen models. How about BMWs? BMW began almost 90 years ago, making aircraft engines, motorcycles and then cars.