On February 11, 1933, the new chancellor of the Reich, Adolph Hitler, spoke at the International Automobile Exposition in Berlin. His remarks electrified the representatives of automotive firms gathered there. Hailing their activity as “this most important industry,” he proposed measures to encourage automobile manufacture, chief among them a gradual reduction of taxes and an extensive road-building program. “If in former days the standard of life for peoples was measured by the mileage of railroads, in the future it must be measured by the mileage of roads for motor vehicles.” There was no doubt as to the vigor and importance of Hitler's words, and they came like a strong breeze to a ship lying becalmed with drooping sails.

Hitler looked to American methods as a model for German activity. “You can tell Herr Ford that I am a great admirer of his,” he told Prince Louis Ferdinand, grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II, when that young man talked with him a few months later, just before taking ship for America and the Rouge. But Hitler's aim was to create a wholly German industry, quite independent of the United States or any other country, and in April he had taken his first step by exempting from taxation all new passenger cars. This measure affected the vehicles of the Ford-Cologne factory; but that factory was a stumbling midget, and any admiration Hitler felt for Henry Ford did not extend to his German factory.