In April 1933, the regime also announced the elimination of car tax on all newly acquired vehicles. Prior to 1933 these taxes were amongst the highest in Europe and at least ten times higher than those prevailing in the average State in the United States.47 Not surprisingly, the result was a considerable surge in car production and ownership. From a total of 486,001 in 1932 the number of registered cars more than doubled to reach 1.271 million by 1938. As these figures suggest, however, the expansion in motorization had clear limits. Germany in the late 1930s was still a society in which car
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