1936EngineeringVERIFIED

The V3 Prototypes Begin 50,000-Kilometre Testing

12 October 1936

Three V3-series Volkswagen prototypes begin an intensive test programme in which each car is subjected to 50,000 kilometres of driving under the supervision of the Porsche development organisation.

A 1936 Porsche Type 60 V3 prototype displayed at the Autostadt ZeitHaus in Wolfsburg.

Michael Barera — Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0

A preserved 1936 Type 60 V3 prototype representing the cars used during the Volkswagen development programme. · Michael Barera — Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 4.0

Automotive significance

The test programme was a decisive engineering stage in turning the Volkswagen concept into a viable prototype. Volkswagen’s corporate archive records that testing began on 12 October 1936 and that the results were submitted in a 96-page final report in January 1937. Technical progress did not resolve the programme’s political and economic contradictions: mass production would ultimately be reorganised under the German Labour Front and the Nazi state.

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