Bernardus Marinus "Ben" Pon, Sr. (April 27, 1904 – May 15, 1968) was a Dutch businessman. In 1947, Pon's Automobielhandel ("Pon's Car Dealership"), became the first dealer outside of Germany to sell vehicles manufactured by Volkswagen.
Ben's father, Mijndert Pon, owned a shop (founded in 1898) that sold sewing machines, household articles and tobacco goods at Arnhemseweg (Arnhem Road) in Amersfoort.[1] Later, he added Opel bicycles and motorized bicycles to his range of goods. Beginning in 1920, Pon sold Opel and Ford automobiles as well as Continental tires.[2] Ben and his brother Wijnand took over the shop in 1931 and renamed it Pon's Automobielhandel. On August 8, 1947,[3] The Pons became Volkswagen's general importer for the Netherlands. During their first year they received 51 Volkswagen Beetles from Wolfsburg.[4] The company also became an importer of Porsches in 1948.
A sketch made by Pon inspired the engineers at Volkswagen to develop the VW Type 2 Transporter (a van, commonly called the "VW Bus"),[5] a vehicle that became a cultural icon for the Hippie generation of the 1960s.
In 1949, the first Beetle was shipped to the United States. Half a million were to follow by 1960. A mere two years later there were one million Beetles in the U.S.[6] It has not been ascertained that Ben Pon was significantly involved in this success story, even though he was among the first to export them into the U.S. It cannot even be proved that he sold the first Beetle in the United States. He was, in fact, unable to find a partner for a distributorship and left the country with an unpaid hotel bill,[7] but eventually it made him a multimillionaire and one of the richest people in the Netherlands.
In 1971, the dealership was separated from the export division and ran under the name of Pon Dealer. Audi later became a partner of Pon's. The business continued to grow, and in 1980 Pon's son, former Formula One racing driver Ben Pon, Jr. incorporated Pon Holdings, an exempt private company with approximately 9,000 employees.
this, biography, need, cleanup, please, review, manual, style, biographies, help, improve, article, 2009, bernardus, marinus, april, 1904, 1968, dutch, businessman, 1947, automobielhandel, dealership, became, first, dealer, outside, germany, sell, vehicles, ma. This biography may need cleanup Please review the Manual of Style for biographies and help improve the article May 2009 Bernardus Marinus Ben Pon Sr April 27 1904 May 15 1968 was a Dutch businessman In 1947 Pon s Automobielhandel Pon s Car Dealership became the first dealer outside of Germany to sell vehicles manufactured by Volkswagen Ben s father Mijndert Pon owned a shop founded in 1898 that sold sewing machines household articles and tobacco goods at Arnhemseweg Arnhem Road in Amersfoort 1 Later he added Opel bicycles and motorized bicycles to his range of goods Beginning in 1920 Pon sold Opel and Ford automobiles as well as Continental tires 2 Ben and his brother Wijnand took over the shop in 1931 and renamed it Pon s Automobielhandel On August 8 1947 3 The Pons became Volkswagen s general importer for the Netherlands During their first year they received 51 Volkswagen Beetles from Wolfsburg 4 The company also became an importer of Porsches in 1948 A sketch made by Pon inspired the engineers at Volkswagen to develop the VW Type 2 Transporter a van commonly called the VW Bus 5 a vehicle that became a cultural icon for the Hippie generation of the 1960s In 1949 the first Beetle was shipped to the United States Half a million were to follow by 1960 A mere two years later there were one million Beetles in the U S 6 It has not been ascertained that Ben Pon was significantly involved in this success story even though he was among the first to export them into the U S It cannot even be proved that he sold the first Beetle in the United States He was in fact unable to find a partner for a distributorship and left the country with an unpaid hotel bill 7 but eventually it made him a multimillionaire and one of the richest people in the Netherlands In 1971 the dealership was separated from the export division and ran under the name of Pon Dealer Audi later became a partner of Pon s The business continued to grow and in 1980 Pon s son former Formula One racing driver Ben Pon Jr incorporated Pon Holdings an exempt private company with approximately 9 000 employees References edit Pon Dealer Archived February 20 2007 at the Wayback Machine Pon in bedrijf magazine of Pon 2006 p 6ff Archived December 9 2006 at the Wayback Machine ebd Pon Archived December 9 2006 at the Wayback Machine Peter Lanz Das grosse Kafer Buch The Big Book on Beetles Munich and Bergisch Gladbach 1985 ISBN 3 404 60141 6 p 165 Volkswagen Bedrijfswagens De geschiedenis dutch Archived September 15 2009 at the Wayback Machine Lanz ibid p 166f This story is told in The Beetle Driver Archived May 5 2006 at the Wayback MachineExternal links editBen Pon s profile at VWTrendsWeb Pon website Dutch including a History of Pon Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ben Pon Sr amp oldid 1171498127, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
