The German Car Industry

Book excerpt: James Ruppert explains why German cars from the 1980s were quite simply, wunderbar. Because when it came to build quality, reliability and performance, every other car made anywhere else in the world was rubbish. The 1980s was a time when if you went shopping a VW Polo was the perfect companion. Beating an MG away from the lights was dead easy in a GTI and making a lasting impression meant arriving in an SL, SLC or any enormous Mercedes S-Class. It was a time when BMW M3s were racing certainties and a Quattro Turbo would always stay glued to the road. Getting poolside and on the sun lounger before the Germans only required one of their fine Audi 100 Avants. Proper showing off meant a Porsche 911 Turbo with its wonderful attention seeking tea tray rear spoiler. And the model that every young, upwardly mobile professional wanted parked outside his or her mews flat was a BMW 3 Series. Ruppert details how all these companies progressed to the 1980s and just what they did when they got there. Luckily he was there too, flogging BMWs at the prestigious West End Showroom in Park Lane, to yuppies, film stars and anyone else who could afford the non-refundable 10% deposit. From the author of the critically acclaimed, "The British Car Industry Our Part in its Downfall," here is his unique take on the German one, and why it won.