The small car as an opportunity
01/02/2021
It is almost exactly 100 years since the Apollo-Werke launched the Apollo two-seater 4/14 PS, a "small car". At that time, there was approximately one automobile per 800 inhabitants in Germany, while the ratio in America was 12 inhabitants per car owner. This significant difference was due to the fact that cheap production cars were built in the USA that even workers could afford, while in Germany the focus was on expensive quality cars that hardly anyone could afford.
The technical director Slevogt therefore saw the small car as a way of achieving larger numbers. However, he did not want to build a minimalist car, but simply a somewhat smaller and, above all, lighter vehicle that could have reserves and be sporty. Thanks to clever design, the car was to be more resource-efficient and still sufficiently fast. The Apollo 4/14 PS certainly achieved this, as Director Slevogt raced it with some success. For example, he took first place in his class at the Solitude-Stuttgart hill climb in 1922 (picture above).
The magic formula that he explained in a lecture in Vienna (printed in the Illustrierte Motor-Zeitung in January 1922) was: "How do I drive as long and as comfortably as possible in the cheapest, most economical and most beautiful small car possible?"
And a hundred years ago, the objectives of the time were not actually that far removed from the issues that concern us today in 2021 with all the environmental protection and resource problems! After all, instead of relying on huge vehicles with the weight of a truck, would it perhaps be better to look for lightweight and compact sports cars today, which could then be operated electrically at best, for example a purely electric VW XL1?
