(pronounced ''folksvagen''; meaning: "people's car"; also known as '''VW''' or "V-Dub") is an
Automobile manufacturer based in
Wolfsburg ,
Germany in the State of Lower Saxony.
It forms the core of
Volkswagen AG (VAG Or VWAG) , one of the world's four largest car producers.
Its German tagline is "Aus Liebe zum Automobil", which can be translated as "For the love of the car".
Though the origins of the company date back to the
1930s , the design for the car that would become known as the
Beetle / "Käfer" date back even further, as a pet project by car designer
Ferdinand Porsche (1875–1951).
Adolf Hitler 's desire that almost anybody should be able to afford a car coincided with this design—although much of this design was inspired by the advanced
Tatra cars of
Hans Ledwinka .
'' = "strength through joy"), appeared from
1936 onwards (the first cars had been produced in
Stuttgart ). The car already had its distinctive round shape and air-cooled, flat-four, rear-mounted engine, features similar to the Tatra. The VW car was just one of many KdF programs which included things such as tours and outings.
Erwin Komenda , the longstanding Porsche chief designer, developed the car body of the prototype, which was recognizably the Beetle we know today. It was one of the first to be designed with the aid of a
Wind Tunnel ; unlike the
Chrysler Airflow , it would be a success.
The new factory in the new town of KdF-Stadt, now called Wolfsburg, purpose-built for the factory workers, only produced a handful of cars by the time war started in
1939 . None were actually delivered to holders of the completed saving stamp books, though one Type 3 Cabriolet was presented to Hitler on his fiftieth birthday, in 1938.
War meant production turned to military vehicles, the Type 81 ''
Kübelwagen '' utility vehicle (VW's most common wartime model) and the
Amphibious ''
Schwimmwagen '' .
The company owes its postwar existence largely to one man,
British Army officer Major
Ivan Hirst (1916–2000). In April 1945, KdF-Stadt and its heavily bombed factory were captured by the Americans, and handed to the British to administer. The factory was placed under the control of
Oldham -born Hirst. At first, the plan was to use it for military vehicle maintenance. Since it had been used for military production, and had been a "political animal" (Hirst's words) rather than a commercial enterprise, the equipment was in time intended to be salvaged as
War Reparations . Hirst painted one of the factory's cars green and demonstrated it to British Army headquarters. Short of light transport, in September 1945 the British Army was persuaded to place a vital order for 20,000. The first few hundred cars went to personnel from the occupying forces, and to the German Post Office. By 1946 the factory was producing 1,000 cars a month, a remarkable feat considering the factory was still in disrepair: the damaged roof and windows meant rain stopped production; the steel to make the cars had to be bartered for new vehicles.
The car and its town changed their Second World War-era names to Volkswagen and Wolfsburg respectively, and production was increasing. It was still unclear what was to become of the factory. It was offered to representatives from the British, American and French motor industries. Famously, all rejected it. After an inspection of the plant,
Sir William Rootes , head of the British
Rootes Group , told Hirst the project would fail within two years, and that the car "is quite unattractive to the average motorcar buyer, is too ugly and too noisy ... If you think you're going to build cars in this place, you're a bloody fool, young man." (In a bizarre twist of fate, Volkswagen would manufacture a locally built version of Rootes'
Hillman Avenger in
Argentina in the
1980s , long after Rootes went bust at the hands of
Chrysler in
1978 —the Beetle outliving the Avenger by over 30 years)
Ford representatives were equally critical: the car was "not worth a damn."
Henry Ford II , the son of
Edsel Ford , did reportedly look at the possibility of taking over the VW factory but dismissed the idea as soon as he looked up Wolfsburg on the map. . . and found it to be too close for comfort to the East German border. In
France Citroën started the
2CV on a similar marketing concept. In
Italy it was the
Fiat 500 .
From 1948, Volkswagen became a very important element, symbolically and economically, of
West German regeneration.
Heinrich Nordhoff (1899–1968), a former senior manager at
Opel who had overseen civilian and military vehicle production in the 1930s and 1940s, was recruited to run the factory in 1948. In 1949 Hirst left the company, now re-formed as a trust controlled by the West German government. Apart from the introduction of the
Type 2 commercial vehicle (van, pickup and camper) and the
Karmann Ghia sports car, Nordhoff pursued the one-model policy until shortly before his death in 1968.
Volkswagens were first exhibited and sold in the -based
New Beetle would the name be adopted by
Wolfsburg .
During the
1960s and early
1970s , although the car was becoming outdated, American exports, innovative
Advertising and a growing reputation for reliability helped production figures to surpass the levels of the previous record holder, the
Ford Model T . By 1973 total production was over 16 million.
VW expanded their product line in
1967 with the introduction of several
Type 3 models, which were essentially body style variations (Fastback, Notchback, Squareback) based on Type 1 mechanical underpinnings, and again in 1969 with the relatively unpopular
Type 4 (also known as the 411 and 412) models, which differed substantially from previous models with the notable introduction of
Unibody construction, a fully automatic transmission, electronic
Fuel Injection , and a sturdier powerplant. Volkswagen added a "Super Beetle" (the Type 113) to its lineup in 1971. The Type 113 differed from the standard Beetle in its use of McPherson strut front suspension instead of torsion bars. The McPherson suspension added valuable trunk space and widened the front end. Despite the Super Beetle's popularity with Volkswagen customers, purists preferred the standard Beetle with its less pronounced nose and its original torsion bar suspension. In 1973, Volkswagen introduced the military-themed
Thing (Type 181) in America, recalling the wartime Type 81. The military version was produced for the NATO-era German army (Bundeswehr) during the cold war years of 1970 to 1979. The US Thing version only lasted two years, 1973 and 1974, due at least in part to Ralph Nader's automobile safety campaigns.
Volkswagen was in serious trouble by the end of the 1960s. The Type 3 and Type 4 models had been comparative flops, and the
NSU -based K70 also failed to woo buyers. The company knew that Beetle production had to end one day, but the conundrum of replacing it had been a never-ending nightmare. The key to the problem was the
1964 acquisition of
Audi/Auto-Union . The Ingolstadt-based firm had the necessary expertise in
Front Wheel Drive and
Water-cooled engines that Volkswagen so desperately needed to produce a credible Beetle successor. Audi influences paved the way for this new generation of Volkswagens, known as the Polo, Golf and Passat.
Production of the Beetle at the Wolfsburg factory switched to the
VW Golf in 1974, marketed in the United States and Canada as the
Volkswagen Rabbit in the 1970s and as the Golf in the 1980s. This was a car unlike its predecessor in most significant ways, both mechanically as well as visually (its angular styling was designed by the Italian
Giorgetto Giugiaro ). Its design followed trends for small family cars set by the 1959
Mini and 1972
Renault 5 —the Golf had a transversely mounted, water-cooled engine in the front, driving the front wheels, and had a
Hatchback , a format that has dominated the market segment ever since. Beetle production continued in smaller numbers at other German factories (Essen) until 1978, but mainstream production shifted to
Brazil and
Mexico .
While Volkswagen's range of cars soon became similar to that of other large European car-makers, the Golf has been the mainstay of the Volkswagen lineup since its introduction, and the mechanical basis for several other cars of the company. There have been five generations of the Volkswagen Golf, the first of which was produced from the summer of 1974 until the end of 1983, sold as the Rabbit in the United States and Canada and as the Caribe in Latin America. Its chassis also spawned the
Scirocco coupe and
Jetta sedan.The production number of the first generation Golf has continued to grow annually in South Africa, and has had slight modifications made to it, mainly to the interior, engine and chassis. The second generation Golf hatchback/Jetta sedan ran from late 1983 to late 1991. In 1991, Volkswagen launched the third-generation Golf and it was third time lucky when the Volkswagen Golf was voted European Car of the Year for 1992. The previous two versions had lost out to the
Citroën CX in 1975 and the
Fiat Uno in 1984. This time the sedan version of the Golf was badged Vento in Europe (but Jetta in the USA). The fourth incarnation of the Golf arrived in late 1997, its chassis spawned a host of other cars within the Volkswagen group—the
Volkswagen Bora (the sedan, still called Jetta in the USA), Volkswagen New Beetle,
SEAT Toledo ,
SEAT Leon ,
Audi A3 ,
Audi TT and
Skoda Octavia . However, it was beaten into third place for the 1998 European Car of the Year award by the winning
Alfa Romeo 156 and runner-up
Audi A6 . The current Volkswagen Golf was launched in late 2003, came runner-up to the
Fiat Panda in the 2004 European Car of the Year, and has so far spawned the new generation
Seat Toledo ,
Skoda Octavia and
Audi A3 hatchback ranges as well as a new mini-
MPV , the Seat Altea. The fifth-generation Golf is now available in Europe, and the GTI boasts a 2.0 L Turbocharged direct injection engine. When it goes on sale in the U.S. and Canada in 2006, the fifth-generation Golf will once again bear the Rabbit nameplate. The fifth-generation Jetta, and the performance version, the GLI, are currently available in the
United States and
Canada .
The other main models have been the and
Corrado were both Golf-based coupés.
In 1998, Volkswagen launched the ("Fay-ton") luxury car, and the
Touareg ("Twah-regg")
SUV . The Phaeton was critically acclaimed but not well received in the marketplace. In 2005 VW announced its discontinuance on the US market for fall 2006, mainly due to the disappointing sales there and the need for major investments in the cars line of engines (W12 and V8) to meet new emission requirements. Also, Volkswagen has faced harsh criticism that the Phaeton had used up money that was better invested in their smaller cars.
After rising significantly between 1998 and 2002, VW's North American sales began to fall sharply leading to a 2005 loss of roughly $1 billion (U.S.) for its operations in the U.S. and Canada. The reliability of the company's cars appears to bear some of the responsibility for this situation. By the early 2000s, its models sat near the bottom of Consumer Reports and J.D. Power reliability rankings.
Volkswagen is still in better position in North American market than it was in the early nineties, when its U.S. sales plummeted to 49,533 units in 1993. Despite its current reliability problems, the company hopes to remain competitive in the U.S. and Canada with several new models. Ahead of the new Rabbit, the fifth-generation GTI is already on sale in North America and has generated interest among the VW faithful with its "Make friends with your fast" and "Unpimp My Ride" advertising campaigns. Volkswagen is also adding the
Eos , a sport coupe with a convertible hardtop, to its U.S./Canadian lineup as well. All of these cars are being made in Germany for the North American market instead of at VW's Mexican factory, where Golfs and Jettas for the United States and Canada have been made in the past.
Volkswagen is counting on better workmanship from its German plants to improve the reliability of its North American lineup, and it is also competitively pricing its Rabbit, with a base model starting below the average cost of a new automobile. Volkswagen's relations with its unions and its relationship with the government of the German state of
Lower Saxony , which owns stock in VW, remain impediments to further progress. But the company is taking a greater interest in the North American market rather than treating it as an afterthought.
Volkswagen currently offers a number of its vehicles with an advanced, light duty diesel engine known as the TDI (Turbo Direct Injection). Whilst extremely popular in the European market, light duty diesels do not yet enjoy the same wide acceptance in the American marketplace, despite increased fuel economy and performance comparable to gasoline engines due to turbocharging. According to the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency , 4 of the 10 most fuel efficient vehicles available for sale in the U.S. in 2004 were powered by Volkswagen diesel engines. They were a three-way tie for 8th (TDI Beetle, TDI Golf, TDI Jetta) and 9th, the TDI Jetta Wagon. Sales of light duty diesel engine technology are increasing as gasoline prices rise. Products such as the
Toyota Prius might have highlighted the economy of non-gasoline engines, but in reality, a Volkswagen TDI engine is often found to be more efficient than the Prius on the highway (although not so when driving in the city). In addition, all VAG TDI diesel engines produced since 1996 can be driven on 100%
Biodiesel .
Like its competitors, the
Mini and the
Citroën 2CV , the original-shape Beetle long outlasted predictions of its lifespan. More so than those cars, it maintains a very strong following worldwide, being regarded as something of a "cult" car, like the
Delorean , since its
1960s association with the
Hippie movement. Currently, there is a wide array of clubs that are concerned with the beetle. The fans are quite diverse. Looks include the resto-look,
Cal Look , German-look, resto-Cal Look,
Buggies ,
Baja Bug s,
Old School , ratlook, etc. Part of their cult status is attributed to being one of a few cars with an
Air-cooled , horizontally-opposed engine design and the consequent ease of repair and modification as opposed to the more conventional and technically complex watercooled engine design. The original design flat-four boxer design had less than 200 moving parts.
By 2002 over 21 million Type 1's had been produced.
On
July 21 ,
2003 , the last Type 1 rolled off the production line in
Puebla, Puebla ,
Mexico . It was car number 21,529,464, and was immediately shipped off to the company's museum in
Wolfsburg, Germany . In true Mexican fashion, a
Mariachi band serenaded the last car in the 68-year-old history. The last car was nicknamed ''El Rey'', which is Spanish for "The King". The last 3000 type 1's were called the "Ultima Edicion" or the last edition.
In the
United States , most notably in
California , Volkswagen enthusiasts frequent large Volkswagen-themed car shows, especially in the summer months. Many of these shows feature camping, a car show called a "show 'n' shine", drag racing, parts swap meet, raffles, and other events. Die-hard and loyal "VW-heads" attend these shows regularly, often travelling 500 miles or more to attend their favorite event.
In the
Winter , a group of drivers of the "split window" bus model (1951-1967 Microbuses, trucks, campers, and panel vans) drive from
Guerneville , CA, to
Mt. Shasta CA, entirely on unpaved jeep roads. This event is called the "Mt. Shasta Snow Trip Challenge" and is a good example of VW enthusiasts' trust in the durability of their often 40-year-old cars.
The company has had a close relationship with
Porsche , the
Zuffenhausen -based sports car manufacturer founded in 1931 by
Ferdinand Porsche , the original Volkswagen designer. The first Porsche cars, the 1948
Porsche 356 , used many Volkswagen components including a tuned
Engine ,
Gearbox and suspension. Later collaborations include the 1969/1970
VW-Porsche 914 , the 1976
Porsche 924 (which used many
Audi components and was built at an Audi factory), and the 2002
Porsche Cayenne (which shares engineering with the
VW Touareg ).
In
September 2005 , Porsche announced it was buying a 20% stake in Volkswagen at a cost of €3 billion, with the intention that the combined stakes of Porsche, Volkswagen and the government of
Lower Saxony ensure that any hostile takeover by foreign investors would be impossible
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In 1966 Volkswagen left the racing starting grid when Formula Vee — circuit racing with cars built from easily available VW Beetle parts — took off in Europe. It proved very popular as a low-cost route into formula racing.
In 1971 Volkswagen moved on to the more powerful Formula Super V, which became famous for hothousing new talent. In the 11 years it ran, until 1982, it produced a stable of world-famous Formula I drivers — names like Niki Lauda, Jochen Mass, Nelson Piquet, Jochen Rindt and Keke Rosberg. Volkswagen also notched up several victories and the championship in Formula 3.
In 1976 Volkswagen enter the under 2000 cc Trans Am series with the Scirocco and they won the series outright.
In 1981, now based in Hanover and renamed Volkswagen Motorsport, VW racing took a new direction into rallying. With the launch of the first generation Golf, the sports department masterminded the development of rally cars. At home and abroad, the Golf GTI, in the capable hands of Sweden's Per Eklund, Frenchman, Jean-Luc Therier and the Finn, Pentii Airikkala, took the racing world by storm.
1986 — VW's 20th anniversary in motor racing in 1986 was a double celebration when Sweden's Kenneth Eriksson won Volkswagen Motorsport the title of
From 1997 the company was a big name in national rallying in the UK, taking the British Rally Championship crown with the Golf GTI, and again, two years later with the Golf GTI MkIV. The final chapters in Volkswagen Racing UK's rallying success story were the 'one-make' Castrol Polo Challenge, and the thrilling Polo GTI 'Super 1600' in 2001.
In 2000 Volkswagen starts a one make racing cup with the newly released to Europe New Beetle called the ADAC New Beetle Cup this takes over the ADAC Lupo Cup which was racing since 1998.
In 2001 the department was renamed Volkswagen Racing and since then has concentrated all its efforts on developing its circuit racing championship, the Volkswagen Racing Cup.
In 2003 VW replace the ADAC New Beetle Cup with the newly released Polo to become the ADAC Polo Cup.
In 2004 VW Commercial vehicles enter the European Truck racing series with the Titan series truck it became Back to Back champion for the 2004 and 2005 series.
In 1980 Volkswagen competed in the Paris to Dakar Rally with the Audi developed Iltis, It came 2nd 4th and 9th overall.
In 2003 Volkswagen enters the Dakar once more to reclaim 1st spot and help promote the Touareg.
Volkswagen enlists the great Dakar Champion Jutta Kleinschmidt the 1st female to win the Dakar in 2001 with a Mitsubishi to help design and compete a Dakar Racer.
The 1st entry from the Wolfsburg based team is a FWD buggy named Tarek it placed 6th outright but took 1st in the 2WD and Diesel class.
In 2004 VW enters the newly developed Race-Touareg T2 which is similar to the Mitsubishi Pajero Evo Racers.
The Race Touareg finishs 6th overall and 2nd in Diesel class.
In 2005 a updated Race-Touareg T2 with slightly more power is entered, this Race-Touareg with driver Bruno Saby finishs in 3rd overall and 1st in the Diesel class.
In 2006 Volkswagen releases it most powerful Race-Touareg yet the Race-Touareg 2.
VW races 5 of these with driver Giniel de Villers finishing in 2nd place overall and 1st in the Diesel class.
In China Volkswagen in the Rally scene raced Shanghai-VW Santana and VW Polo and a FAW-VW Jetta, the Polo Cup was even a support to the 1st Shanghai Grand Prix in 2005.
In South Africa Volkswagen in the Rally scene raced Polo,Polo Playa,Citi Golf and Golf.
In the circuit scene VW raced the early 1990's Polo Derby/Classic sedan also VW now support the A1 racing series with a A3 vehicle powered by VW.
There is also a GTI engined F3 style racing series there to.
In France a French based Volkswagen team entered the 2000 and 2001 Le Mans series with there 2.0 Turbo racer which produced around 356 kW/485 hp.
In Brazil VW raced all the generations of Gol also the 1980's Voyage and the VW Caminhoes(Trucks) in rally.
In circuit racing VW raced the Gol and the Hillmann Avenger rebadged to 1500 also the Trucks were raced as well.
In Australia VW has a very close relationship with Motorsport it was the REDeX and Mobil Trials of the 1950's that propelled VW to be a sales success.
In 1999 and 2000 VW won the F2 Australian Rally Championship with the Golf GTI.
In 2001 and 2002 VW raced the New Beetle RSI in the GT Performance series, it was close to the top of the board both seasons.
In 2003 VW Aust. was the 1st to race and develop the R32 Golf in the 2004 GT Performance series it come 2nd overall.
In Japan VW started a Golf GTI racing series for the newly released MkV Golf in 2005.
In Poland VW races the 2005 Golf V TDI in its own Cup.
Information contains excerpts from Volkswagen Racing UK's website.
Volkswagen is part of the
Volkswagen Group , along with:
From July 1998 until December 2002, Volkswagen's Bentley division also sold cars under the Rolls-Royce name under an agreement with BMW, which had bought the rights to that name. From 2003, only BMW may make cars called Rolls-Royce.
Nazi war criminal
Adolf Eichmann worked as a
Foreman at a Volkswagen factory in
Argentina before being captured by the
Mossad in
1960 .
