Volkswagen is a German automotive manufacturer that is perhaps best known for its “people’s car” that would later become the VW Beetle. The company has since expanded incredibly, offering an intriguing lineup of vehicles that include the Golf, Passat, Jetta and Tiguan, in addition to offering cars from 12 subsidiary brands—including Porsche and Audi.
Read on to discover more about this popular car brand.
Volkswagen Origins
1937: Volkswagen, otherwise known as the “people’s car,” was Adolf Hitler’s brainchild. The company was created at a time when few Germans owned cars, and so the Nazi leader came up with the idea of a car for all. He wanted the vehicle to be affordable and spacious enough to carry a family of five (two adults and three children) at 100 km/h (60 mph), according to BBC.
Volkswagen & Porsche
Hitler’s idea for a “people’s car” was largely designed by none other than Ferdinand Porsche, founder of the high-performance automotive brand Porsche. The vehicle was initially known as the KdF-Wagen, but its aerodynamic “beetle” shape would pave the way for the now familiar nickname (and later model name) Beetle.
Volkswagen & Tatra
1936: Czechoslovakian automaker Tatra sued Porsche and his collaborators for the Volkswagen Beetle. Apparently, the original car designs were inspired (or derived from) the ideas of automobile designer Hans Ledwinka. The lawsuit was eventually settled by VW sometime in 1961, the automaker said.
Volkswagen & Wolfsburg
The company’s original (and very long) name became Volkswagenwerk GmbH in 1938. That same year, the German manufacturer built a factory in KdF-Stadt, a new town that Hitler envisioned would house the factory and its workers. The town was later renamed Wolfsburg in 1945, according to DW.
Volkswagen – VW Beetle
The “people’s car” took on several names during its 65 years of production, including Type 1 and Beetle, the last of which is among the oldest nameplates in the automotive world. The Volkswagen Beetle was incredibly popular and a huge seller. It was also a global icon.
The Beetle was manufactured from 1938 to 2003, during which the company sold more than 21 million units worldwide. It was considered to be the world’s best-selling car for most of the 20th century. It underwent a significant redesign in 1998.
Volkswagen – Beetle Nickname
The nickname “Beetle”, referring of course to Volkswagen’s new “People’s car,” was used for the very first time by The New York Times on July 3, 1938. Other nicknames include the Bug and Coccinelle (that’s French for ladybug), while Cucaracha/Cucarachita (cockroach/little cockroach) is used in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Pulga (flea) is used in Colombia and Peta (turtle) is how the people of Bolivia describe the vehicle.
Other countries have their own pet names for the VW Beetle, further proof that the car reached an international market.
Volkswagen – Beetle Advertisement
1959: Volkswagen’s “Think Small” advertisement campaign for the Beetle is one of the greatest print campaigns of all time, according to design shack. It is also “the ad that changed advertising,” according to Medium.
The original idea was born from famed copywriter Julian Koenig. However, it was only when VW’s client and advertising manager, Helmut Schmitz, noticed the words on the ad copy that it became more official.
Koenig is considered to be a pioneer of the Creative Revolution.
Volkswagen – Beetle Babies
1964: During this time Volkswagen launched a marketing campaign called “Bonds for Babies Born in Beetles.” Basically, the company would award savings bonds to any child that was born in a VW Beetle car. By 1969, as many as 125 “Beetle babies” had received bonds. Some sources suggest that newborns were awarded US$25, while others suggest it was $300.
Volkswagen – Beetle vs. Model T
1972: The Volkswagen Beetle beat out the Ford Model T as “the most highly produced car in history,” Wired reported. The 15,007,034th vehicle to come off the assembly line was the tiebreaker. The total number of Beetles produced surpassed 16 million units in 1973. That number would eventually reach more than 21 million by 2003.
Volkswagen – VW Golf & Others
1973: Declining sales of the Volkswagen Beetle gave way to a new generation of models. The VW Passat, Golf, Scirocco and Polo featured front-wheel drive and water-cooled engines, the BBC explained, and they were popular among consumers.
In 1974, one of the four models—the VW Golf—became an essential piece in the company’s lineup. This is still the case some 43 years later.
Volkswagen & Hot Hatch
1976: Did you know that the first hot hatch was not the Volkswagen Golf GTI?
The Renault 5 Alpine, Alfa Romeo’s Alfasud, Autobianchi A112 Abarth, and the Simca 1100 Ti all had the potential to be the first hot hatch, according to British media outlet The Daily Telegraph. However, it appears as though the 1973 Simca model came out before other possible contenders like the 1976 Renault 5 Gordini (which happened to launch a few months prior to the Golf GTI), according to TopGear.
Volkswagen Model Names
The stories about Volkswagen having named several of their models after prominent winds are a myth, according to The Truth About Cars.
The automotive media website got in touch with Eberhard Kittler, the spokesman for Volkswagen Classics. When asked whether all VW models during the 1970s were named after winds, Kittler found “no conclusive records” to back up this story, TTAC reported.
Volkswagen & The Beatles
A white Volkswagen Beetle has had its number plate, LMW 281F, stolen repeatedly because of a Beatles album. The popular rock band used the vehicle in the background of their Abbey Road album cover, according to New Theory.
Volkswagen Value
2008: Volkswagen was the most valuable company in the world—for a day. In a bizarre turn of events, the manufacturer beat Exxon Mobil for a brief period when VW’s stock value topped $370 billion, compared to the energy titan’s $343 billion. This situation was the result of a “complex series of events” during a time of “unique global economic uncertainty,” according to The Washington Post.
Volkswagen Microbus
Did you know that the Volkswagen Type 2 Microbus was discontinued only a few years ago? It was manufactured from 1950 to 2013—a whopping 63 years—and is therefore the “oldest continuous production vehicle in the world,” Wired said.
A blue Kombi Last Edition was—you guessed it—the last model to be produced. As little as 600 vehicles were built and sold only in Brazil.
Volkswagen & Bugatti
One of the fastest cars on earth is sold by the Volkswagen Group via its subsidiary, Bugatti. The vehicle is none other than the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, a car that is capable of reaching a mind-blowing speed of about 430 km/h (267 mph), and jetting from zero to 97 km/h (60 mph) in a jaw-dropping 2.4 seconds.
Unfortunately, VW also loses money—$5 million, to be precise—on every Bugatti Veyron it sells.
Volkswagen Group
The German automobile manufacturer has come a long way since establishing a company that produced one of the most well-known and oldest nameplates in the automotive industry. Since then, the Volkswagen Group has acquired several subsidiaries and sells vehicles under 12 brands. This includes Porsche, Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini, and Skoda—all of which are among VW’s best-selling subsidiaries, according to DW.
Volkswagen Global
2014: During this time, one in 10 cars sold globally was a vehicle owned by the Volkswagen Group. Having 12 brands under your umbrella certainly makes it easier to sell tons of cars. Unsurprisingly, that same year the multinational company managed to sell over 10.2 million vehicles—many of which (seven out of 10) were sold outside of Germany, according to DW.
Volkswagen vs. Toyota
Volkswagen did what many assumed was impossible: it overtook Toyota as the world’s top-selling carmaker in the world, the BBC reported. The German company sold 10.31 million vehicles worldwide in 2016, compared to the Japanese automaker’s 10.175 million units. A 3.8 per cent increase in sales was sure to play in VW’s favour.
This milestone is even more impressive when you consider the emissions scandal that surfaced in 2015.
Volkswagen Dieselgate
The Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal, dubbed Dieselgate, started on September 18, 2015—the moment the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent the automaker a notice regarding the “violation of the Clean Air Act,” according to New Theory.
When news of the violations surfaced, shares dropped nearly 30 per cent within a week. The scandal is believed to be the result of a massive VW-BMW-Daimler “car cartel” conspiracy, according to a July 2017 article posted by Forbes.
