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Heinz Heinrich Nordhoff (6 January 1899 – 12 April 1968) was a German
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
who led the rebuilding of Volkswagen (VW) after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. He was featured on the cover of ''Time'' magazine on Feb. 15, 1954. In 1948, Nordhoff accepted a British invitation to assume the directorship of VW, which had been revived as a functioning concern by the British under the direction of
Ivan Hirst Major Ivan Hirst (1 March 1916 – 10 March 2000) was a British Army officer and engineer who was instrumental in reviving Volkswagen from a single factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, into a major postwar automotive manufacturer. Education Hirst w ...
. Nordhoff subsequently guided the company to become the fourth largest automotive company at the time of his death in 1968.


Background

Nordhoff was born in
Hildesheim Hildesheim (; or ; ) is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of t ...
, the son of a banker. He graduated from the Technische Hochschule Charlottenburg, where he became a member of the
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
fraternity Askania-Burgundia. Nordhoff died on April 12, 1968, from the effects of a heart attack sustained months earlier. He was survived by his wife, Charlotte (Fassunge) Nordhoff (1898-1988) and daughters Elisabeth (later Mrs. Ernst Piech, grandson of
Ferdinand Porsche Ferdinand Porsche (3 September 1875 – 30 January 1951) was a German automotive engineering, automotive engineer and founder of the Porsche, Porsche AG. He is best known for creating the first Petrol engine, gasoline–Electric motor, el ...
) and Barbara Nordhoff (Mrs. Dan Cantacuzino-Corneni, 1929-2022). On his death, the Boston Globe described him as a shy, gentle man, an artist, music lover, naturalist, and hunter — who, having lived the equivalent of several years in the United States during his tenure with General Motors, spoke English like a native. At the time of his death, he lived in
Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian language, Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth-largest city in the Germany, German state of Lower Saxony, on the river Aller (Germany), Aller east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the locat ...
, West Germany, the city noted for Volkswagen's then-largest production facility.


Career

In 1927, Nordhoff began work for
BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...
working on aircraft engines. In 1929 he went to work for
Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Gr ...
, where he gained experience of the
automotive industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of company, companies and organizations involved in the design, Business development, development, manufacturing, marketing, selling, Maintenance, repairing, and Custom car, modification of motor ve ...
and, since the company had been acquired by
General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
not long before, of American practices in the field. He was rapidly promoted: in 1936 he was the Commercial-Technical director who presented the company's innovative new small car, the Kadett, to the public. In 1942, with passenger car production much diminished on account of the war, he took over from Gerd Stieler von Heydekampf as Production Director at the company's flagship truck plant at
Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...
. After the war he was barred from working in the American-occupied sector because of a business award he had received from the Nazis. He obtained a job as a service manager at a
Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
garage. Hamburg was a central location for the Control Commission for Germany (British Element), the administration for the British Zone of Occupation, who recruited him for the position of
managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...
of the
REME The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is the maintenance arm of the British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full ...
-controlled Volkswagen plant at
Wolfsburg Wolfsburg (; Eastphalian language, Eastphalian: ''Wulfsborg'') is the fifth-largest city in the Germany, German state of Lower Saxony, on the river Aller (Germany), Aller east of Hanover and west of Berlin. Wolfsburg is famous as the locat ...
at the urging of British Army Major
Ivan Hirst Major Ivan Hirst (1 March 1916 – 10 March 2000) was a British Army officer and engineer who was instrumental in reviving Volkswagen from a single factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, into a major postwar automotive manufacturer. Education Hirst w ...
, who had been directing the plant. Nordhoff took up the position on 1 January 1948.Rieger, p. 110. During his first year in post, Nordhoff doubled production to 19,244 cars. By the end of 1961 annual production exceeded a million vehicles. He became legendary for turning the
Volkswagen Beetle The Volkswagen Beetle, officially the Volkswagen Type 1, is a small family car produced by the German company Volkswagen from 1938 to 2003. One of the most iconic cars in automotive history, the Beetle is noted for its distinctive shape. Its pr ...
into a worldwide automotive phenomenon; he developed export markets and ultimately manufacturing facilities abroad. He pioneered the idea of constant improvement while keeping the styling the same. He gave liberal benefits to Volkswagen workers and increased pay scales. Within six years of taking over Volkswagen, Nordhoff reduced the number of man-hours to produce a single car by 75 percent, from 400 to 100. His commitment to improving the workmanship at Volkswagen made the Beetle famous for its bulletproof reliability. In 1955, shortly before the Wolfsburg factory celebrated its millionth Volkswagen, Nordhoff was awarded a Federal Service Cross with star. Nordhoff's ability to sell cars and his achievement in first placing the Wolfsburg factory on a firm footing and then making Volkswagen a domestic and international success have not been questioned, but he has been criticised on various bases. At
Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...
during the war, he used
slave labour Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
, although he reportedly ensured the workers had adequate food, shelter and clothing. He took full credit for the company's successes and has been seen as overly self-promoting; in the 1950s he was nicknamed "King Nordhoff" by the West German press. Finally, as became apparent in the 1960s, Volkswagen was too slow and inefficient in developing new designs under him. While publicly championing the Beetle, beginning in 1952 Nordhoff spent DM200 million behind the scenes seeking to develop new models, some in partnership with other manufacturers, but his indecision led to the abandonment of all such prototypes. By the late 1960s, the Beetle faced serious competition from Japanese, American, and other European models in different markets. Ultimately, Nordhoff's takeover of
Auto Union Auto Union AG was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony. It is the immediate predecessor of Audi as it is known today. As well as acting as an umbrella firm for ...
in 1964 to provide still more manufacturing capacity for Beetles ended up both providing the group with both what would become its performance-luxury brand -
Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...
- and also the expertise to finally replace the Beetle and its tail-engined stablemates. Nordhoff had wanted Carl Hahn, head of Volkswagen of America, to succeed him on his retirement, but the Board of Directors chose Kurt Lotz. Nordhoff had a heart attack in summer 1967, and although he returned to work in October, he died six months later, in April 1968; he was to have retired that autumn.


Quote

"Offering people an honest value appealed to me more than being driven around by a bunch of hysterical stylists trying to sell people something they really don't want to have." — Heinrich Nordhoff on his automotive philosophy, from the book ''Volkswagen: Beetles, Buses and Beyond'' by James Flammang.


Notes


References

* Hans-Jürgen Schneider. ''Autos und Technik. 125 Jahre Opel'', Schneider+Repschläger, 1987.


Further reading

* Heidrun Edelmann, "Heinrich Nordhoff: Ein deutscher Manager in der Automobilindustrie", in: ''Deutsche Unternehmer zwischen Kriegswirtschaft und Wiederaufbau'', ed. Paul Erker and Toni Pierenkemper, Quellen und Darstellungen zur Zeitgeschchte 39, Munich: Oldenbourg, 1999. . pp. 19–52 * Andrea Hiott, ''Thinking Small: The Long Strange Trip of the Volkswagen Beetle'', Penguin Random House, 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nordhoff, Heinrich 1899 births 1968 deaths Volkswagen Group executives Opel people People in the automobile industry People from Hildesheim People from the Province of Hanover Technische Universität Berlin alumni Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany