Baťa and Gatter: How the Shoe King Almost Built the Volkswagen Before Porsche
A forgotten pioneer Willibald Gatter dreamed of a people’s car, but plans with Baťa failed, he almost came before Porsche.
I went to the Sudeten German Museum primarily to learn more about Ferdinand Porsche, his Sudeten German roots, his early years in Bohemia, his rise as an engineer. But amid the familiar names, I came across a story that immediately captivated me, the story of Willibald Gatter. A name I had never heard before, and yet one that could have changed the history of the automobile.
From a Gifted Engineer
Willibald Gatter was born in 1896 in Hühnerwasser, North Bohemia. He worked early on as an engineer, including at Austro-Daimler alongside Ferdinand Porsche, contributing to projects such as the “Sascha” racing car and four-wheel-drive trucks. After 1918, his life changed radically. The new state of Czechoslovakia was established, and like many Sudeten Germans, Gatter experienced systematic discrimination.
After establishing Czechoslovakia German officials were pushed out of public service, German businesses lost state and municipal contracts, and demonstrations for Sudeten German self-determination were violently suppressed by the army.
Peer Gatter page 131
It was in this climate that Gatter began to pursue his own vision: a car for ordinary people, affordable, robust, and easy to maintain. A “people’s car” in German “Volkswagen” long before the term became a political slogan.
The “Little Gatter” a People’s Car in the Sudetenland
By the late 1920s, he introduced the “Little Gatter.” Technically simple yet ingeniously designed, it offered low fuel consumption at an affordable price. For many, it was their first car. The automotive press was impressed and hailed it as the “bicycle of tomorrow.”
Baťa Sees an Opportunity
In 1930, Tomáš Baťa, the “shoe king” of Zlín, entered the picture. Having built the world’s largest shoe empire, he understood the need to diversify. Baťa was already investing in bicycles, airplanes, and toys, and he now wanted to move into automobiles. The “Little Gatter” particularly caught his eye.
In October 1930, Baťa began negotiations with Gatter to acquire his numerous patents and a general license for mass production. The plan was clear: large-scale manufacturing in Zlín, combined with tires from Baťa’s new production line, a business branch that would later evolve into the Barum tire brand. But the press mocked him mercilessly. “Stick to your last, shoemaker!” sneered the editors of Motor Kritik when Baťa’s car ambitions became known.
Peer Gatter page 144
A Dispute Over the Name
Despite sound technical and financial foundations, negotiations collapsed over one seemingly small but decisive issue: the brand name. Baťa insisted the car be sold under his own name, while Gatter demanded it retain the “Gatter” name under which it had already gained recognition and won prizes at European hill climbs.
In April 1932, the partnership broke apart. Just weeks later, Baťa died in a plane crash. With him vanished the plans to mass-produce the “Little Gatter.”
The End of a Dream
Gatter continued building the car in his own workshop until 1936, but without a powerful industrial partner, expansion was impossible. Czechoslovak banks, still reeling from the Great Depression, refused him credit. Against larger manufacturers, he could not prevail. By 1937, his factory was forced to close.
What If?
It is easy to imagine what might have been if Baťa and Gatter had reached an agreement: an affordable car from Zlín, supported by Baťa’s global distribution network. The name “Gatter” might today be as well-known as “Škoda” or “Volkswagen.”
Instead, Gatter’s name slipped into obscurity, despite his pioneering work. He was a man who dreamed and built a “Volkswagen” long before Porsche, whose design later became intertwined with National Socialist ideology. Stories like this are among many other hidden treasures of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia.
Source
Peer Gatter: Volkswagenbau an Elbe und Teck. Aus dem Leben des sudetendeutschen Automobilpioniers und Politikers Willibald Gatter (1896–1973), in: Schriftenreihe Stadtarchiv Kirchheim unter Teck, Vol. 32, Kirchheim unter Teck 2008, pp. 127–171.
http://gatter-volksauto.de/images/Literatur/Stadtarch_2008.pdf
