Original subtitles

(car engine revving)

- [narrator] previously, on "the cars that built the world."

visionary engineer, w.O. Bentley helps win a war!

- Our boys just out-ran the germans.

- [narrator] turning victory into a must-have car.

- He wanted to

combine engineering excellence with speed

to create what he thought would be the best car.

- [narrator] only to lose out

to the ruthlessness of henry royce.

- It's a pleasure to finally meet you!

- [narrator] in germany, daimler and benz joined forces,

creating the car making giant, mercedes benz!

(members clapping)

with a new top engineer.

- Congratulations mr. Porsche! (pronounced porsh)

- actually, is a porsche. (pronounced por-shuh)

- ferdinand porsche could really push the car

further than anyone else had before him.

- [narrator] but when porsche turns

from quality to quantity.

- Build a car that the average family in germany can afford.

- [narrator] he is rejected.

- If you can't see that, I have no business here.

- [narrator] now, as international tensions rise

from nazi germany, to the empire of japan,

building cars becomes more than a challenge.

It could soon be, the key to victory.

As benz, daimler, maybach,

rolls and royce,

ford,

bentley,

porsche,

honda,

and toyota

create the cars that built the world.

(pensive music)

in 1933, adolf hitler ramps up german industry,

laying the foundation for a war machine

that will go on to kill millions.

Accelerating car production and building highways

are two of his first steps.

So, he issues a challenge to german car makers,

design a car for their people.

- They were looking for ways to make

their fascistic system attractive to the people.

- Jacob from berlin.

I was told to meet him in the lobby.

- Cars were toys for the lucky few in germany,

and to making such a technology available for the masses,

of course, this was highly attractive.

- Porsche, jacob, where the hell have you been?

- He saw that by connecting the people's car,

idea to him, and to his politics,

he could ride that wave of power.

- No first names. And for god's sake, no alcohol!

(intense music)

- [narrator] for ferdinand porsche,

it's an opportunity he desperately needs.

He's left mercedes benz and started his own car company,

designing small, affordable cars.

- Good afternoon, sir. Thank you for seeing me.

I know you wanna fill the streets of germany with cars.

Let me design them for you.

Nothing fancy,

something simple, affordable for the people.

I already have, some designs, it will be like ford.

(book slams) (suspensive music)

(fingers snapping) (suspensive music continues)

- [narrator] if he lands the contract,

porsche could not only save his faltering company,

but catapult to being one

of the biggest car designers in the world.

- What the hell did you say?

- I gotta get back to work.

- I don't know how much of adolf's plan was,

I'm gonna let the people move around

or how much of it was,

I'm gonna let the military move around.

But either way, he needed a vehicle

that was light, and inexpensive, and reliable.

- What hitler did that was so terrible,

was to take advantage of that desire need,

in everyday people.

- [narrator] while, adolf hitler dreams of mass production,

in the united states, they figured it out.

At its peak in 1921, henry ford's model t,

claims over 60% of the u.S auto market.

- Henry ford was really the first automaker

to get cars into the hands of everyday people.

He made production more efficient,

which made it cheaper to build each car,

and the cars came out higher quality.

- [narrator] now, hitler's challenged ferdinand porsche

and his son ferry, to design a car at the same price point

as the cheapest model t.

- Here, is what he wants.

He's calling it the people's car, the volkswagen.

- Let me look at this?

Maintain 60 miles per hour,

30 miles per gallon for just 900 marks!

It's impossible, it can't be done.

- This is the opportunity we've been waiting for!

- He's not just another customer!

- Have some courage!

- They executed people in the streets.

- It's a really basic set of requirements,

but it's immensely difficult to achieve this

in one single vehicle, and make it affordable.

- It can be done!

- Basically, hitler set up some guidelines

that needed to be followed,

and these guidelines were impossible.

- And we're gonna be the ones to do it.

- Everything he wanted basically,

needed to be invented from scratch.

(brooding music)

- [narrator] as the porsche's struggle to realize

hitler's radical new concept,

in England, henry royce has reached the pinnacle of success.

When royce started out,

England's king drove a german car.

Now, 30 years later, british royalty

will settle for nothing less than a rolls royce.

But times are changing!

- The good times in the 1920s only lasted so long,

and they resulted in the epic collapse

of the stock market in 1929.

- When the worldwide depression hit,

the economies of the world were in dire straits

during most of the 1930s.

- [narrator] as the effects of the great depression

take hold, henry royce's upscale car company,

and his health are failing.

But on the other side of the globe, a new contender

has entered the cutthroat world of car making.

35-year-old kiichiro toyoda.

- In the 1920s, japan was a very agricultural society.

The idea of even having a car

was like a distant dream for most people.

The roads for the most part weren't paved,

there wasn't the infrastructure to support

a widespread auto industry.

- [narrator] the market is dominated by imports,

which sell nearly 80 cars for every one made in japan.

In 1929, kiichiro toyoda learns

that improving that ratio is up to him.

The only son of a wealthy textile magnate,

he expects to inherit control of his family's company,

but his father has other plans.

- So, sakichi toyoda invented the first

fully automatic power loom

working with a son kiichiro toyoda,

but he didn't want kiichiro toyoda

to go into the family business,

he wanted him to do something

to contribute to society on his own.

- [narrator] instead,

toyoda is instructed to create a car company,

from scratch!

- All my life I've been training to lead this company.

And now, I discover that's not the plan!

Forgive me, but cars?

I know nothing about cars.

- You will learn. (intense music)

- [narrator] if he's going to succeed,

kiichiro will have to best

some of the world's most powerful companies.

- Cut the engine!

The rising nazi regime, looms over all aspects of life.

While hitler's plans for expansion

unnerve his european neighbors.

At home,

his efforts to revitalize the nation win many over.

He's built 2000 miles of paved autobahn,

that's nearly ready to fill with his people's car.

- Adolf hitler comes out and announces to the world

that germany is going to build this car

that will revolutionize the auto industry

and put germans on the road.

- [narrator] a car that will be light, but sturdy,

high quality, but affordable.

- He set out this nearly impossible challenge,

it's easy to see why ferdinand porsche would like this idea.

He was a brilliant engineer,

and also, a bit of an egomaniac.

- [narrator] a year after ferdinand's fateful meeting,

hitler approves porsche's volkswagen design,

giving the father and son team,

less than a year, to produce a radically new car.

But packing the power required for the autobahn

into such a small car creates a problem,

keeping it cool!

- He is the enemy of internal combustion.

You gotta figure out a way to cool the engine.

- You have to get heat out from every time

that cylinder fires,

its plug and explodes that fuel and air mixture,

this was not easy to do.

Traditional cars that were water cooled or liquid cooled,

you'd have to have a large radiator, water pump, hoses,

all kinds of extra equipment to keep that engine cool.

- I will make it work.

- [narrator] but creating a water cooled engine

to fit a tiny volkswagen-

- cut it, cut it!

Cut the engine!

- Is incredibly challenging.

- [jason] porsche really had a good gift for looking around

and picking out the pieces that are gonna work best

to solve his particular problem.

- [narrator] ferdinand knows the engine,

the radiator, the water pump, inside and out,

but no matter how he configures it, it's too expensive,

too complicated, and weighs too much.

(inhale and exhales)

he needs to cool the engine with less, not more,

(upbeat music) he does it!

- The hell are you doing?

- [narrator] by removing the need for water.

- Air!

- You're either gonna do it through air,

or you're gonna do it with water.

Air cooled is lighter.

- We'll force air into the engine compartment,

and we can add a fan.

- [narrator] the vw signature air cooled engine,

pulls air in through a grill just below the rear window.

The airflow is over an oil cooler removing internal heat,

then over metal fins adding surface area,

to remove even more heat from the engine cylinders,

all without using a drop of water.

- That is genius!

- [narrator] meanwhile, in rapidly industrializing japan,

entrepreneurs are searching for opportunity,

including a young mechanic, named, soichiro honda.

Like kiichiro toyoda, he wants to make cars,

but unlike toyoda, he comes from nothing.

- Soichiro honda grew up few hours outside of tokyo.

Seeing a car was an anomaly.

One day he saw a car driving through his village.

As the story goes, he was so taken with the car,

he dipped his finger in the oil

and smelled it like it was honey.

- [narrator] the son of a bicycle repairman,

honda has no schooling and no connections.

Instead, he teaches himself engineering,

lands an apprenticeship and becomes a mechanic.

Now, he's looking for a business opportunity.

(door knocks)

- piston rings,

they're small, essential, and offer maximum markup.

First, we make them for the shop and we start selling them.

- You are a good mechanic honda, stick to fixing cars.

- Soichiro honda loved the art of engineering

and he was extremely driven,

and some would say even overconfident in himself.

- [narrator] as honda struggles,

the porsches build three volkswagen prototypes

in their home garage,

barely meeting hitler's deadline.

- Push it hard,

we need to see how it holds up. (car engine roaring)

he expects perfection! (car engine revving)

and so do I!

(upbeat music)

- [narrator] by 1937, they're putting the volkswagen

through over 1.8 million miles of rigorous road testing,

more than any car in history.

Porsche designs a streamlined body,

to maximize fuel efficiency.

He sets the engine in the back,

to help keep the car small, light, and cheap.

(upbeat music continues)

but that solution leads to a different problem.

(suspensive music)

- [ferry] it bounces all over the place,

we can barely keep it on the road.

- [porsche] 21?

- [narrator] the little car is so light

and its wheelbase so short, its handling is a nightmare.

With no room for a traditional suspension,

porsche create something brand new

by connecting metal bars to the wheels and the frame.

Each bar has a twist that recoils as the car hits bumps,

absorbing the impact, smoothing, and stiffening the ride.

- In the early 1930s,

most cars were still riding around on suspension technology

that was invented for the horse and carriage.

What ferdinand porsche achieved

with the torsion beam suspension,

was an entirely new design that was lightweight,

it was inexpensive to build,

it took up less space, and it was reliable.

- [narrator] it's the final piece of the puzzle

for porsche's people's car.

A model that will eventually go on to sell

over 21 million units, in 91 countries.

Now, hailed as the great german engineer,

ferdinand porsche officially, joins the nazi party

along with ferry,

as hitler fast tracks a factory in wolfsburg

to build volkswagens.

In japan, in 1937,

soichiro honda pawns his wife's jewelry

to start his own business.

His first big break, pitching his piston rings

to a large industrial company

that's just starting to make cars.

- Mr. Toyoda,

an honor to meet you sir.

- Toyoda was already one of the biggest companies in japan.

For a nobody likes soichiro honda making piston rings,

for toyoda was like a dream come true.

Considered a loom maker by the government,

toyoda lacks the preferential treatment

of established car makers, nissan and mitsubishi.

He can't afford to make mistakes.

- You made these piston rings yourself, mr. Honda?

- I did.

We can be in production soon,

with as many as you need.

- This one

failed!

Only three are acceptable.

If you truly want to make piston rings, might I suggest,

you go to school and learn how.

- [narrator] on the brink

of what he thought was his first step

toward becoming an automaker,

soichiro honda's dream is crushed.

- This was a big blow to honda,

and he realized he needed to learn more.

He had to go back to school,

he had to go figure out all the things he wasn't aware of,

and he took it very seriously.

- [narrator] but his future rival kiichiro toyoda,

a man with all the resources honda lacks,

still hasn't sold a single car after five years of trying.

If he doesn't start to compete soon,

- [narrator] in, just over a decade,

japan's ultra nationalist emperor, hirohito,

transforms his country into an industrialized power

with imperialist ambitions,

all part of his plan for military and economic dominance.

- Japan was known as this hermit kingdom,

but now all of a sudden japan had come out of its shell.

And so for the first time, american leaders,

british leaders had to pay attention.

- [narrator] central to hirohito's strategy,

backing the rapid expansion of japan's first car companies.

- When it's left to private enterprise,

then the pace of change is comparatively slow.

But when governments can pour money in,

then all of a sudden you can build these big factories.

You can try out different models.

- [narrator] but kiichiro toyoda,

whose family is known for making looms, not cars,

has been left off the list.

Without government backing,

he's failed to design a viable car.

He looks to shake things up

by changing the company name from toyoda

to toyota.

The subtle change from d to t gives a whole new meaning.

- Literally toyoda means rice field in japanese,

and they thought that that sounded a bit too provincial

for a modern machine like the automobile.

Not only that, but the number eight

is considered a very lucky number.

Toyota can be written with eight brushstrokes in japanese.

Whereas toyoda needs 10.

- [narrator] with family expectations

and his own pride at stake,

toyota continues to siphon money

from the family loom business

as he struggles to get his first car to market.

- When kiichiro toyoda first started experimented with cars,

he knew nothing about them.

He literally had to buy an engine,

buy a transmission from overseas,

tear them down and figure out what made them work.

- [narrator] desperate for a shortcut,

he reverse engineers the work

of the world's greatest car makers,

bringing his first car to market, the toyota aa,

at a price that undercuts competitors

including the one from detroit he copied.

- The aa resembled a chrysler airflow

because at the time,

the airflow was the most advanced american car.

It was the first car to use aerodynamics and streamlining

as a concept in its design.

- [narrator] after six years of trying,

toyota is finally mass producing cars,

but the rising threat of conflict soon intervenes.

In 1937, japan invades china,

turning long simmering tensions into all out war.

Eight months later,

hitler annexes austria and parts of czechoslovakia,

bringing an end to his hollow promise of a people's car.

- Germany becoming a country where every citizen could

afford a well-performing, efficient, cheap car

was of course a very big deal.

That's what hitler wanted everyone to see.

But the whole thing was basically a scam and a fraud.

No german civilian ever ended up getting a new beetle.

- [narrator] in 1939, germany invades poland

and world war ii begins.

The volkswagen factory quickly transforms

from making civilian cars

to producing a light military vehicle

designed by ferdinand porsche.

- The kubelwagen was the german equivalent of the jeep,

but it was based on

the original porsche volkswagen mechanicals.

It was unfortunate for the people who just wanted a car,

but it did say a lot about porsche's engineering skill

and that he could make something

that was both a super cheap family car

and an extremely effective wartime utility vehicle.

- [narrator] as war rages in europe,

on December 7th, 1941,

japan bombs pearl harbor,

pulling the u s into the war

along with its manufacturing might.

- The united states became, as franklin roosevelt said,

the arsenal of democracy.

And what the united states and the world discovered

in world war ii is plants that can churn out automobiles

by the hundreds and the thousands

and the hundreds of thousands

can also churn out planes by the tens of thousands.

- [narrator] by 1944, allied planes

are hammering germany's military manufacturing,

including the porsche's operation in stuttgart.

(powerful music)

- [man] you have everything?

- I think I should stay here.

I'm needed at the factory.

- It's a factory they're aiming for.

Dad.

- What?

- It's not worth dying over.

We have to go.

- Right. - Now.

- It's time to go.

Where? - Doesn't matter.

Anywhere. - Here I come.

(warfare explosions) (somber music)

the porsche's escaped germany.

While in japan, elevated by the emperor

to one of japan's top vehicle producers,

toyota's factories are rolling out military trucks.

Honda is now making piston rings for those trucks,

but his factory is soon destroyed by american bombers.

Then in 1945, after six long years of war,

world war ii finally ends.

(light music)

- there was only one real winner in world war ii,

the united states.

Britain and the soviet union were ruined

economically or structurally by the war.

- [narrator] in america, 10 million victorious

u.S. Servicemen and women return home

seeking jobs, homes, cars, and starting families.

- You had these gis coming home and making a baby boom.

And they were moving out to the suburbs.

And of course, to get to and from work,

you're not taking the train, you're taking the car.

- [narrator] as families expand,

it triggers an economic boom

that thrusts the car to the center of american culture.

While america rebels in its postwar euphoria,

in europe and asia, the settling dust of world war ii

reveals total annihilation.

Millions are dead.

Tens of millions more are jobless and hungry.

In japan, american bombing has obliterated

the country's infrastructure.

Industry is at a standstill.

- Unlike america, its cities were destroyed.

Its industry were destroyed.

The japanese economy was absolutely devastated.

- [narrator] for soichiro honda,

war has destroyed his piston ring factory

and his car making dreams.

But among the ruins of hamamatsu,

he finds a reason to be hopeful.

- One day in 1946,

soichiro honda sees a surplus mikuni generator

at his friend's workshop.

These were used to power radios during the war.

- Just picture, like, a tiny one cylinder,

little air-cooled motor.

So it wasn't really clear what else

you could use this thing for.

- [narrator] honda is certain

he'll find a use for the surplus motor,

but for the moment, he's not sure what.

- So honda decides to take a little bit of time off.

During that time, you know, he hung around the house,

played music, drank whiskey.

He had a lot of ideas that he wanted to see

turned into reality.

And so during what he called his human vacation,

he spent a lot of time thinking about these things.

- [narrator] with roads in ruins,

limited gas and high unemployment,

bicycles are the best way to get around.

But for honda's wife who rides all day

to find black market rice,

traditional bikes aren't working

and neither is her husband.

- Soichiro honda was not a guy who gave up.

Soichiro would see a potential for something.

And even if it seemed absurd,

he wouldn't quit until he figured it out.

(powerful music)

he could see these two very different things,

a bunch of generators for radios

and a bunch of people who needed to get around faster.

- [narrator] if honda can't build cars,

he'll have to make do with what he has.

For the porsche's, moving on from the wartor] n devastated, postwar japan,

soichiro honda, like most, is starting over.

With his piston ring factory destroyed,

he's hoping to build a new business:

Powering bicycles with small surplus generator motors

leftover from the war.

- You know, the bicycles were cheap.

The generators were surplus, so no one was using them.

So with that, he was able to create

a very, very affordable mode of transportation.

- [narrator] but with gasoline strictly rationed.

Fueling it will be difficult.

Led by general douglas macarthur,

the occupation of japan has a very specific goal:

Rebuild the country as a democracy.

A new constitution is written.

Elections are held and the new parliament is installed.

For macarthur, the goal

is both humanitarian and geopolitical.

- They decided very early on that japan needed to be rebuilt

to avoid the radicalism that they saw in the past.

In addition to that, there was a fear of communism.

The emerging cold war was an incentive

to get the japanese economy going again.

- [narrator] but for kiichiro toyoda,

the americans aren't moving fast enough.

- Immediately after the war,

the american occupational forces were governing

what industries could proceed and which ones couldn't.

- [narrator] the u.S. Led transitional force

has halted car production,

putting the jobs of toyota's 3000 employees in jeopardy.

- The problem that kiichiro toyota faced

was he can't just decide

he wants to make more passenger cars

because his hands were really pretty tied.

- That's just not gonna happen.

- So, toyoda's point of view

was that we will do our everything we can

to get along and cooperate with the american military.

And they just put on hold building cars

and toyota was anxiously waiting

to find out what their future would be.

- [narrator] toyoda is failing his father

and his nation's ambitions.

In 10 years, he's made just 1900 cars

while ford is producing that many every 36 hours.

For toyoda, bankruptcy is a real possibility.

6,000 miles away,

the allies are completely reshaping germany

and its economy.

- Shortly after germany surrendered,

the allied leaders decided to carve it up.

The soviets got their zone in the east,

the british in the north, the french in the west,

the americans in the south.

- [narrator] as the u.S. Pumps $15 billion

into the marshall plan to rebuild germany,

the british military works to repair volkswagen's factory.

- It was still surprisingly pretty operable

and it was absolutely crucial in the recovery of germany

after the war that this factory actually was able to start

producing small runs of cars.

- [narrator] realizing the scope of the project

is too great, they reach out to henry ford ii,

offering to hand over the factory for free.

But ford is advised it isn't worth a damn

and passes up the offer,

missing out on a chance to own a company

that today is worth over $500 billion.

As the british worked to bring volkswagen back,

the french go after its designers, the porsche's.

Both are arrested on suspicion of war crimes,

and ferdinand is thrown in jail

where he's pressured

to improve on french car maker renault's designs.

- [man] so how do we fix this, mr. Porsche?

- Porsche would have been considered

a very valuable asset for anyone who got their hands on him

because he actually went through so far down the road

of all that testing, all the planning,

the design of the factory before, you know,

everything went to hell.

- I don't work for you.

- Look, I have all the time in the world.

Please make yourself at home.

- [narrator] with the french in no hurry to release him.

- [man] open up.

- [narrator] the pressure is on porsche

to share his engineering knowledge.

- Paper, sir.N japan where postwar scarcity

requires ingenuity,

soichiro honda has built a motorized bicycle

using a surplus engine,

but there's no way to legally fuel it.

- After the war, gasoline was incredibly scarce in japan.

- [narrator] with military forces

strictly controlling the sale of gasoline,

there's only one option:

The black market.

- There were food shortages, gas shortages.

The black market was the one thriving market in japan.

- [man] honda.

- (whispering) shh, close the door.

- [narrator] if honda gets caught using gasoline--

- is that it?

- This is it.

- [narrator] he could lose everything.

He desperately needs an alternative.

Like carl benz decades earlier,

honda keys in on a household chemical.

Turpentine.

- The turpentine had several advantages.

It was readily available.

It could extend the gasoline and it was a good way to mask

the fact that you were getting your gasoline

from the black market.

- [narrator] with that,

honda rolls out his first motor vehicle.

- That prototype became the first,

you could say, honda motorcycle.

Once people in the village started seeing that

driving around, word spread very quickly

and orders came pouring in.

- [narrator] honda can barely keep up with demand,

but he knows dodging the authorities

won't be possible forever.

- There must be something more that we can do.

- I can't keep 3000 people busy

making pots and pans.

- [narrator] with civilian car manufacturing banned,

kiichiro toyoda and his cousin eiji,

an up and coming executive at the company,

are running out of options.

- In japan, a company's seen as a citizen

and a contributing member of society.

As a result, kiichiro toyoda felt the duty

to look after his employees

by making bowls and plates

and growing crops for them.

- [narrator] but toyoda is quietly doing more.

- Come take a walk with me.

- [narrator] determined to build a car making empire,

he takes a huge risk,

secretly designing a new model

and adding four of them to an american military order.

- Have you lost your mind?

- My father taught me to make cars

and that's what I'm going to do.

- The u.S. Military put in an order

of 50 vehicles to be built by toyota.

Toyota was so committed to building a passenger car

that they kind of bent the rules

and snuck in four prototypes.

- [kiichiro] I call it the sa.

What do you think?

- It's risky.

- Not only would failure have tarnished the family name,

it would have almost been a symbolic failure

of japan's industry because toyoda

was one of the premier industrial families of japan.

- I'm in.

- [narrator] despite the ban,

toyoda is determined to produce cars

made by japanese hands,

cars that would make his father proud.

And for inspiration, he looks not to america,

but to germany.

- The volkswagen was the car of the people in germany

and kiichiro wanted to create the car

of the people in japan.

So he copied a lot of the elements

of the volkswagen beetle,

making a very simple, functional, basic car

that they could sell cheap.

- [narrator] but the designers of the volkswagen

have even bigger problems.

- [soldier] thank you, sir, move along.

- [narrator] as his father sits in a french prison

accused of war crimes,

ferry porsche has been held under american control

in western germany.

Following his release, he's desperate

to get back to stuttgart

to rebuild the family company and his life.

- [soldier] paper, sir.

Where are you headed?

- [ferry] stuttgart.

Just trying to get back home.

- Just wait here for me, sir.

(dark music)

- [narrator] but as a porsche

known for being a nazi collaborator,

moving on maybe harder than he thinks.

Next time on "the cars that built the world." on "s

ferry porsche is left with nothing

but the ruins of his father's legacy.

- We need access to vws infrastructure.

- [narrator] now he must create one of his own.

- For porsche really, this is a generational shift,

it's the handling of the baton

from ferdinand to ferry.

- [narrator] in occupied japan--

- what's this? - Two companies rise

from the ashes of war.

- Mr. Toyoda.

- [narrator] toyoda rebuilds

by partnering with the victors

before developing a way to try to overtake them.

- It really launched toyoda

as one of the elite players in the global field.

- [narrator] and honda struggles

to make his name in motorcycles.

- This wasn't what the japanese government was looking for

in an automaker.

- [narrator] then races into the car industry.

- Congratulations! (clapping)

- [narrator] starting far behind europe

and in the shadow of american supremacy for decades.

- This is an embarrassment.

We've all failed. - The japanese car makers

will have to fight for their place at the top.

- Get me an american car.