Tatra V570

V570
Overview
Manufacturer	TATRA, a. s.
Production	1931 initial T57-V570 prototype 1933 second streamlined prototype
Assembly	Kopřivnice, Moravia, Czechoslovakia
Designer	Erich Ledwinka, Erich Übelacker, Hans Ledwinka, Paul Jaray
Body and chassis
Class	Subcompact Economy car
Layout	RR layout
Powertrain
Engine	854 cc air-cooled boxer
Transmission	4-speed manual[1]
Dimensions
Wheelbase	2,320 mm (91.3 in)[2]
Length	3,800 mm (149.6 in)[2]
Width	1,400 mm (55.1 in)[2]
Height	1,440 mm (56.7 in)[2]
Chronology
Successor	Tatra T97

The Tatra V570 was a prototype 1931-33 car developed by a team led by Hans Ledwinka, Erich Ledwinka and Erich Übelacker.^[3] The aim of the construction team was to develop a cheap people's car with an aerodynamic body. The first T57-V570 prototype with rear air-cooled two-cylinder engine placed in the former rear luggage compartment of conventional T57 two-seater dropped head coupe was completed late in 1931.^[4] However, the company's management decided that the revolutionary ideas introduced in the prototype should be introduced in large luxurious cars, and therefore the team abandoned the project of small cars in favour of the Tatra T77, the world's first serially produced aerodynamic car.^[5] The project of a small car was later continued and led to introduction of the Tatra T97. The second, now streamlined V570 four-seater was built in 1933, two years before the first Volkswagen, which bears a strong resemblance to the Tatra – it was misappropriated in the opinion of Tatra, by Adolf Hitler and Dr. Ferdinand Porsche in circumstances about which the German company remains intensely sensitive.^{[6][page needed]}

However Tatra V570 itself doesn't appear the first design as it has resemblance to automotive sketches by Hungarian engineer Bela Barenyi, whose works date as early as the late 1920s and published in 1934.^[7]