German Buffet

A roundup of significant German cars could fill volumes, but here for your review and consideration is a random collection of some that intrigue us. Sports cars and sport sedans, cars from the former Soviet-controlled East Germany, a hot hatch… even a four-wheel-drive hybrid made the list.

There are examples from the dawn of the 20th century to the dawn of the 21st, produced by a variety of manufacturers. If your favorite didn’t make the cut, drop us a line and let us know.

1901 Lohner-Porsche Semper Vivus

What was the first series hybrid automobile? The Chevrolet Volt? The Fisker Karma? Neither answer is correct, as the first series hybrid motor car was built by Porsche, constructed in Germany in 1901.

Technically, the vehicle was a Lohner-Porsche, as Ferdinand Porsche had joined Vienna-based carriage builder Jacob Lohner and Company in 1898. In 1900, Porsche set to work on a car that used its gasoline engine not to power the drive wheels, but rather to spin a generator and create electricity. This electricity could then be used to power the hub-mounted motors, with any unneeded current going to recharge the onboard batteries. Such a vehicle would be an electric car (capable of being run on batteries alone, at least for limited distances), yet it would have a virtually limitless range as long as fuel was in the tank.

Working with the chassis of an electric car that he’d previously raced, Porsche took a pair of single-cylinder, 2.5-horsepower De Dion-Bouton engines, and mounted them behind the driver’s bench seat. Each engine served two functions: spin a generator, providing power to the wheel hub motors and batteries, and drive a water pump to deliver coolant to the engines. Propulsion came exclusively from the hub-mounted electric motors, as no mechanical connection existed between the engines and the front drive wheels. The very first series hybrid automobile was born, and Porsche named his creation Semper Vivus, Latin for “always alive.”

As innovative as it was, the design