Europe on the way into the economic miracle – by car!

After the Second World War, the automotive industry developed to become a key industry and the foundation stone of prosperity and social progress in Europe. This applied very particularly to the Bonn Republic. Automotive mass production – Fordism – went ahead in a phase of redevelopment which was associated with European coalescence. When the EEC was founded, it was worth investing in Europe, and Ford and Opel (GM) aimed to profit from the growing market. It made mass production profitable in Europe.

Volkswagen and the German car industry came to symbolise the German economic miracle, while the state-owned Renault group symbolised the economic prosperity of modern France. Fiat embodied Italy's advancement to become an industrialised country. All three of them stood for the democratisation of the automobile and were symbols of a new society and the way forward into consumerism. All three became emblems of their countries, representing a historically unique phase of prosperity. In France this is referred to as the 'Trente Glorieuses' ('Glorious Thirty [Years]') and in the Federal Republic as the 'economic miracle'.

The Germans went forward into the economic miracle in the VW Beetle, while the Saarländer preferred the Renault 4 CV, affectionately dubbed 'crèmeschnittchen' ('cream slice'). Characterised by the economic and monetary union with France, the streetscape was dominated by French makes. And after Saarland's political and economic accession to the Federal Republic their strong position continued.