A different type of Beetle mania, the Type 1 was the best-selling car in automotive history by 1972. Production increased rapidly, with the Beetle reaching one million sales by 1955. VW became an important part of the regeneration of West Germany in the period after the Second World War. Instead, Volkswagen was left to fend for itself, with Hirsts German assistant Heinrich Nordhoff as leader.
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Hirst even offered the company to Henry Ford free of charge, but he rejected the offer. Hirst offered up the factory to representatives from all over Australian, American, British and French, yet no one would take it on. However, it was Hirst that saw a future in the factory, and convinced his commanders of the potential of the VW car.In September 1945, the British Army placed an order for 20,000 vehicles to run post-war Germany. Technically, the factory was liable for destruction as part of the war reparations – as per the Potsdam Agreement. The factory is then used as a maintenance depot. The factory was placed under the control of civilian Military Governor Hirst. In April 1945, the KdF-Stadt factory was heavily bombed, and the town captured by the Americans. In 1998 the survivors filed a lawsuit against the car manufacturer, and they set up a restitution fund in response. As a common practice with German factories at this time, more than 15,000 slave labourers from a nearby concentration camp worked in the factories.
When World War Two broke out in 1939 Volkswagen changed their production from cars to military vehicles. What happened to VW during the Second World War? The Type 1 Cabriolet was presented to Hitler on April 20th 1944, his 55th birthday. In fact, none of the cars were actually delivered to those that had completed the savings scheme. However, it had only produced a number of cars by the time the war broke out. This was a purpose built town for the factory workers. In fact, the car did a record-breaking million miles worth of testing.Ī factory was built in a new town called KdF-Stadt. Interestingly, the car was mainly designed by Ferdinand Porsche and the designs went through vigorous testing before being declared as finished. The KdF-Wagen (or Kraft durch Freude, OR, strength through joy) had an air-cooled rear engine and a torsion bar suspension. Be cheap, costing no more than a motorbike – this was 990 Reichsmark, and was available through a savings scheme to all citizens of the Third Reich.Carry two adults and three children at 100km/h.Very few owned cars in Germany around this period so VW was created to address the need for an affordable car for the common German citizen. In 1937 the Nazi trades union organisation, the Deutsche Arbeitsfront, set up Volkswagen with the aim to create a “people’s car”. OSV takes a look at the interesting history of Volkswagen. They are Germany’s biggest car company and the third largest automaker in the world.įrom “the people’s car” to the emissions scandal, it’s safe to say VW have a history like no other.
Not one for fancy branding strategies, the current VW tagline is simply “Das Auto”, which literally translates to “the car”.
Of the ten top selling car models in history, three are Volkswagen the Beetle, the Golf and the Passat. A brief history of Volkswagen: From the people’s car to the emissions scandal