Questions in this quiz: German cars

1. Which German automaker was founded in 1909 by August Horch after he was forced out of the company bearing his own name? — Options: Opel, Audi, Wanderer, DKW
2. The four interlocking rings of Audi's logo represent the 1932 merger of which four companies? — Options: Audi, Horch, DKW, and Wanderer, Audi, Horch, NSU, and BMW, Audi, DKW, Maybach, and Opel, Horch, DKW, Wanderer, and Borgward
3. Before producing automobiles, Opel manufactured which two products for decades? — Options: Typewriters and bicycles, Sewing machines and bicycles, Cameras and motorcycles, Clocks and refrigerators
4. BMW's roundel logo is popularly said to depict a spinning aircraft propeller, but historians have shown its origins actually lie in what? — Options: A medieval Bavarian guild seal, The blue and white quartered flag of Bavaria, A stylized version of the Rapp Motorenwerke crest, A Wittelsbach royal coat of arms element
5. Which German car maker was originally established in 1916 as an aircraft engine manufacturer for the Imperial German military? — Options: Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche, Maybach
6. The Volkswagen Beetle's original design was commissioned in the 1930s by which entity? — Options: The Weimar Republic's transport ministry, The Nazi-era German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront), Daimler-Benz AG, The Reichsbahn railway authority
7. Which British Army officer is credited with restarting Volkswagen production at Wolfsburg after WWII? — Options: Major Ivan Hirst, Colonel Frank Pickering, Major Charles Radclyffe, Brigadier Michael Carver
8. The Porsche 911 was originally going to be called the 901, but the name had to be changed because which company claimed exclusive rights to three-digit names with a zero in the middle? — Options: Citroën, Peugeot, Renault, Alfa Romeo
9. Which German manufacturer built the legendary 'Silver Arrow' Grand Prix cars of the late 1930s alongside Mercedes-Benz? — Options: BMW, Auto Union, NSU, Borgward
10. What was the world's first mass-produced car to feature a rotary (Wankel) engine? — Options: Mazda Cosmo, NSU Spider, Citroën M35, NSU Ro 80
11. In what year did Daimler-Benz acquire Chrysler to form DaimlerChrysler? — Options: 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002
12. The first car to bear the Mercedes name was built in 1901 and named after the daughter of which businessman and racing enthusiast? — Options: Emil Jellinek, Wilhelm Maybach, Gottlieb Daimler, Karl Benz
13. Which Porsche model, introduced in 1976, was the company's first front-engine, water-cooled production car? — Options: Porsche 928, Porsche 924, Porsche 944, Porsche 968
14. The Trabant, the iconic East German car, had a body made primarily from what unusual material? — Options: Fiberglass-reinforced plastic, Duroplast (cotton-waste reinforced phenolic resin), Bakelite over a wooden frame, Aluminum-skinned plywood
15. Mercedes-Benz's legendary 300SL 'Gullwing' coupé debuted in 1954 and was the first production car to feature what technology? — Options: Disc brakes on all four wheels, Mechanical direct fuel injection, A five-speed manual gearbox, Independent rear suspension
16. AMG, the high-performance arm of Mercedes-Benz, was founded in 1967. What do the letters A, M, and G stand for? — Options: Aufrecht, Melcher, and Großaspach, Audi, Maybach, and Germany, Aufrecht, Mercedes, and Germany, Auto-Motoren-Gesellschaft
17. What was unusual about the engine layout of the original Volkswagen Beetle? — Options: Front-engine, rear-wheel drive, water-cooled, Rear-engine, rear-wheel drive, air-cooled flat-four, Mid-engine, front-wheel drive, air-cooled, Front-engine, all-wheel drive, water-cooled
18. Which Porsche family member led the styling of the Porsche 911 in the early 1960s? — Options: Ferry Porsche, Ferdinand Alexander 'Butzi' Porsche, Ferdinand Piëch, Wolfgang Porsche
19. Ferdinand Piëch, the powerful Volkswagen Group chairman, was the grandson of which famous engineer? — Options: Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler, Ferdinand Porsche, Rudolf Diesel
20. Which German marque produced the Isetta 'bubble car' under license in the 1950s, helping save the company from bankruptcy? — Options: Glas, NSU, BMW, Borgward
21. Which West German automaker, whose group also included Lloyd, Goliath, and Hansa, collapsed in 1961 amid controversy that some claim was politically driven? — Options: Borgward, Glas, NSU, Auto Union
22. The Mercedes-Benz 'W' designations (like W124 or W201) on factory model codes stand for what? — Options: Werk (factory), Wagen (car), Weltauto (world car), Wettbewerb (competition)
23. Which manufacturer was the first to introduce ABS (anti-lock braking) as a production-car option, in 1978? — Options: BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Audi
24. Audi shocked the rally world in 1980 with the all-wheel-drive Quattro. The 'quattro' AWD system was largely adapted from which earlier military vehicle? — Options: Volkswagen Kübelwagen, Mercedes-Benz Unimog, Volkswagen Iltis, DKW Munga
25. What is the only German car company that has continuously produced cars under the same name since before 1900? — Options: Opel, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Audi
26. In the legendary 1955 Mille Miglia, Stirling Moss set a record average speed of nearly 100 mph driving which Mercedes-Benz racer? — Options: 300SL, 300SLR, W196, 190SL
27. Following the 1955 Le Mans disaster, Mercedes-Benz withdrew from top-level motorsport for approximately how many years? — Options: About 10 years, About 20 years, About 30 years, About 40 years
28. Which German manufacturer built the legendary 917 Le Mans car that finally won the marque its first overall victory in 1970? — Options: BMW, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Audi
29. The original VW Golf GTI, launched in 1976 and credited with creating the 'hot hatch' segment, was developed in what manner? — Options: As an after-hours skunkworks project by a small engineering team, As a top-down management directive following the Beetle's decline, As a contracted design by Pininfarina, As a homologation special for Group B rallying
30. BMW's iconic M1 supercar of 1978 was originally developed in partnership with which Italian firm? — Options: Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, De Tomaso
31. The Mercedes-Benz G-Class (Geländewagen), still in production today, was originally developed in the late 1970s for what intended primary customer? — Options: The Shah of Iran's military, The German Bundeswehr, The Vatican, NATO civilian agencies
32. Which German car company was the first to put a turbocharged engine in a road-going production car, in 1973? — Options: BMW, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Audi
33. In what year were Daimler and Benz formally merged to create Daimler-Benz AG? — Options: 1908, 1919, 1926, 1933
34. Bertha Benz made a famous 1888 long-distance drive in the Patent-Motorwagen — what was her primary motivation? — Options: To set a long-distance speed record, To publicize the practicality of her husband's invention, To visit her ailing father, To deliver mail for a government contract trial
35. Which German firm built the iconic Wartburg car, the East German rival to the Trabant? — Options: VEB Sachsenring Automobilwerke, VEB Automobilwerk Eisenach, IFA Ludwigsfelde, VEB Robur
36. What links the BMW 3 Series, the Wartburg, and pre-war BMW production? — Options: All were powered by Glas-designed engines, All used the Eisenach manufacturing plant at some point, All shared a chassis with the Opel Kadett, All originated from the Auto Union conglomerate
37. Which German automaker revived the Mini brand after acquiring the Rover Group in 1994? — Options: Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi
38. The Volkswagen Phaeton, launched in 2002, was built in a unique purpose-built 'Transparent Factory' in which German city? — Options: Wolfsburg, Dresden, Leipzig, Zwickau
39. Which German tuning brand's name is a portmanteau of its two founders' surnames? — Options: Alpina, AMG, Ruf, Brabus
40. Which engine configuration did Mercedes-Benz first put into a production car in 1936 with the 260 D? — Options: V12 gasoline, Diesel inline-four, Supercharged straight-eight, Two-stroke twin
41. What is the name of Porsche's main production plant, where the 911 has been built since the model's launch? — Options: Leipzig, Zuffenhausen, Weissach, Sindelfingen
42. The DKW brand, one of the four Auto Union founders, was famous in the 1930s for using what engine type? — Options: Two-stroke, Rotary, Diesel, Supercharged straight-six
43. What does the 'C' in Mercedes-Benz CLS and CLA models nominally stand for? — Options: Coupé, Comfort, Compact, Classic
44. Which German car was infamously involved in the 'moose test' scandal of 1997, prompting urgent design changes including standard ESP? — Options: Audi A2, Smart Fortwo, Mercedes-Benz A-Class, BMW Z3
45. Smart, the microcar brand, was originally a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and which other company before Daimler bought out its partner? — Options: Swatch, Volkswagen, Renault, Nissan
46. What does the BMW model letter 'i', as in i3 or i8, denote on those specific models? — Options: Injection (fuel injection), Innovation (electrified powertrain), Italia (designed by Pininfarina), International (export market)
47. The Porsche Cayenne, launched in 2002, shared its platform with which two other SUVs from sister brands? — Options: Audi Q7 and VW Touareg, Audi Q5 and VW Tiguan, Lamborghini LM002 and Audi Q7, VW Touareg and Bentley Bentayga
48. In the 1980s, which Audi model became the world's most aerodynamically efficient production car, with a drag coefficient of just 0.30? — Options: Audi 80, Audi 100 (C3), Audi Coupé Quattro, Audi V8
49. The Maybach 57 and 62 models of the 2000s were named based on what numerical convention? — Options: Engine displacement in deciliters, Vehicle length in decimeters, Power output in tens of horsepower, The year of the original Maybach Zeppelin model
50. Volkswagen's 2015 diesel emissions scandal became known by what popular nickname? — Options: Dieselgate, Cleangate, TDIscandal, NOx-gate