Maybe Hudson wasn't first

This could be kinda of a fun posting. I went to the various sites for the Alder and found it to be a unique car. It is compaired to a Chrysler Air Flow but looks much like a VW on steroids? The example in the website is a 1937. Gives some pause however.

http://www.vehibase.com/adler-2-5-liter/photo-1.htm

I have to put in a bid back to Hudson on this one. My 1936 that was built by Coachcraft in London, England has a back seat in it where the seat frame fits only a few inches above the rear axel. To make this work, coachcraft cut into the wood floor and extended "foot space" down below the floor. The opening for feet is about 18 inches front to back and about thirty-six inches wide. However, since the driveline runs through that area the foot space becomes kinda a foot box 18 inches deep so that the two passengers sitting in the back have ample foot space and the space is below the floor. Not technically "step down" but something that we could make an arguement for stating that Hudson had back seat stepdown design as early as 1936. Not all that well designed when you consider that I am 5' 8" tall and I almost rub my head on the headliner when I sit in the back seat?
Cannot really see it because the carpet is so dark. The floor actually starts less than an inch below those snaps. Without the foot space your knees would be right up there in your chin; but here is a shot.

Hudson might not have been the first but I would argue they were the first to do it successfully in a car that was actually popular with buyers. The public did not receive the airflow well despite its' features. The German car you show wasn't made in the numbers that step-downs were.