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The VW Type 1, which was called the ''' Beetle''' or '''Bug''' or '''Käfer''' (in German), is a small family Car , the best known car of Volkswagen , one of the best known cars from Germany , and one of the most recognisable and distinctive cars in the world. Thanks to its distinctive shape and sound, and its reliability, it now enjoys a " Cult " status. The Beetle was in production from 1938 until 2003, interrupted only by the Second World War . Over 21 million Beetles were produced. The name "Beetle" was not originally given to the car. Inside Volkswagen, it was simply known as the "Type 1" until the 1968 model year (August 1967), when, for the first time, German brochures used the name "Der Käfer" (meaning "The Beetle" in German ) on the front cover and inside. In Europe, it was marketed as the VW 1200/1300/1500 before adopting the "Beetle" name given to it by the public. The Beetle name was later reused when the New Beetle was introduced in 1998. In the international poll for the award of the world's most influential Car Of The Twentieth Century the Beetle came fourth after the Ford Model T , the Mini and the Citroën DS . HISTORY The origins of the car date back to 1930s and sidecar to buy. A savings scheme was also launched that would enable the common people to buy the car. However, the advent and aftermath of World War II meant that those who paid into the scheme never received their cars. Rumors said that the Beetle was originally designed for conversion into a makeshift armored car in times of war. Its style resembles a Tankette without a Turret or Armor . Who designed the car is a matter of controversy. The official story is that it was designed by Ferdinand Porsche . But in the 1920s Joseph Ganz had already made a similar design for a car that was smaller and more affordable than existing models. Car manufacturers were not interested, but two motorcycle manufacturers were. Adler produced the ''Maikäfer'' and Standard the ''Superior'', which it advertised as 'Der Deutsche Volkswagen' and was the cheapest four wheel car at the time. When the Nazis came to power, they tested the Superior and favorable reviews appeared in magazines. However, shortly after, the Nazis suddenly imprisoned Ganz for a while, fired him as chief editor of the magazine ''Motor-Kritik'' and confiscated his documents, after which he fled to Switzerland , never to return. The reason for this is probably that they found out he was a Jew. The Nazis then turned to Porsche, who produced a prototype of the Käfer that looked a lot like the ''Superior''. Volkswagen says that Ganz wasn't the only one to have such a design and that the Käfer was not based on his. See also {Link without Title} a week if you want to drive in your own car!'']]Prototypes of the car called the ''KdF-Wagen'' (German: '' Kraft Durch Freude '' = strength through joy; the car was so called because it was intended to be sold to members of the KdF, a Nazi leisure organization), appeared from 1935 onwards—the first prototypes were produced by Daimler-Benz in Stuttgart, Germany . The car already had its distinctive round shape (designed by Erwin Komenda ) and its Air-cooled , Flat-four , rear-mounted Engine . However, the factory (in the new town of Kdf-Stadt , purpose-built for the factory workers) had only produced a handful of cars by the time war started in 1939. Consequently, the first volume-produced versions of the car's chassis (if not body) were military vehicles, the Jeep -like '' Kübelwagen '' Typ 82 (approx. 52,000 built) and the amphibious '' Schwimmwagen '' Typ 166 (approx. 14,000 built). Deliberately designed to be as simple as possible mechanically, there was simply less that could go wrong; the aircooled 985 cc 25 hp (19 kW) motors proved especially effective in action in North Africa 's Desert Heat . The innovative suspension design used compact Torsion Beams instead of Coil or Leaf Spring s. A handful of for protection, allowing production to resume quickly once hostilities had ended. Much of the Beetle's design was inspired by the advanced Tatra cars of Hans Ledwinka , particularly the T97. This also had a streamlined body and a rear-mounted 4 cylinder horizontally-opposed Air-cooled engine. Tatra sued, but the lawsuit was stopped when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia . The matter was re-opened after WW2 and in 1961 Volkswagen paid Tatra 3,000,000 Deutsche Mark s. These damages meant that Volkswagen had little money for the development of new models and the Beetle's production life was necessarily extended. The Volkswagen company owes its postwar existence largely to one man, Oldham -born British army officer Major Ivan Hirst (1916–2000). After the war, Hirst was ordered to take control of the heavily bombed Factory , which the Americans had captured. His first task was to remove the unexploded bomb which had fallen through the roof and lodged itself between some pieces of irreplaceable production equipment; if the bomb had exploded, the Beetle's fate would have been sealed. He persuaded the British Military to order 20,000 of the cars, and by 1946 the factory was producing 1,000 cars a month. The car and its town changed their Nazi-era names to Volkswagen (''people's car'') and Wolfsburg , respectively. The first 1,785 Beetles were made in a factory near Wolfsburg, Germany in 1945 . Production of the "Type 1" ; ''Sedan'', then ''Fusca'' in Brazil ; ''Coccinelle'' in France ; ''Σκαθάρι'' (Scathari meaning beetle) or ''Σκαραβαίος'' (Scaraveos meaning Scarab ) in Greece ; ''Maggiolino'' in Italy ; ''Sedán'' or ''Vocho'' in Mexico ; ''Kever'' in the Netherlands ; ''kotseng kuba'' (literally, 'hunchback car')/"pagong" (turtle) in the Philippines ; ''Kodok'' (frog) in Indonesia ;''Garbus'' (literally, 'Hunchback') in Poland ; ''Brouk'' in Czech Republic ; ''Carocha'' in Portugal ; ''Escarabajo'' in Spain and Latin America ; ''Hipushit'' in Israel ; ''Косτенурка'' (Kostenurka) in Bulgaria (meaning turtle); ''عقروقة'' (Ag-ru-ga) in Iraq; ''Boble'' (bubble) in Norway ; ''Buba'' in Croatia ; ''Bug'' in the United States . While production of the standard Beetle continued, a Type 1 variant called the ''Super Beetle'', produced from model year 1971 to 1979 , offered MacPherson Strut front suspension, better turning radius, and more space in the front luggage compartment. The ''Super Beetle'' was improved in 1973 to include a padded dashboard and a curved windshield. The Super Beetle (VW 1302 and 1303 series) is not the only Type 1 variant; other VWs under the Type 1 nomenclature include the Karmann Ghia and the VW 181 utility vehicle, not to mention the VW Brasilia (a locally produced Brazilian version of the Type 4 using Beetle components) and the Australian Country Buggy (locally produced in Australia using VW parts). Faced with stiff competition from more modern designs—in particular economical Japan ese autos in the U.S. —sales began dropping off in the mid-1970s. There had been several unsuccessful attempts to replace the Beetle throughout the 1960s; but the Type 3 , Type 4 , and the NSU-based K70 were all failures. Finally, production lines at Wolfsburg switched to the new watercooled, front-engined, Front Wheel Drive Golf in 1974, a car unlike its predecessor in most significant ways. , this Beetle ''can'' shed its skin]] Beetle production continued in smaller numbers at other German factories until 1978, but mainstream production shifted to Brazil and Mexico . The last Beetle was produced in Puebla , Mexico, in mid-2003. The final batch of 3,000 Beetles were sold as 2004 models and badged as the ''Última Edición,'' with Whitewall Tires , a host of previously-discontinued chrome trim, and the choice of two special paint colors taken from the New Beetle . Production in Brazil ended in 1988, then restarted in 1993 and continued until 1996. Volkswagen sold Beetles in the United States until 1978 (the Beetle convertible a.k.a. Cabriolet was sold until February 1980) and in Europe until 1985. Other countries produced Beetles from CKD (complete knockdown kits): Thailand, Indonesia, South Africa, Australia, and Nigeria have assembled Beetles under license from VW (source: Volkswagens of the World). Beetles produced in Mexico and Brazil had several differences:
Independent importers continued to supply several major countries, including Germany , France , and the UK until the end of production in 2003. Devoted fans of the car even discovered a way to circumvent United States safety regulations by placing more recently manufactured Mexican Beetles on the floorpans of earlier, US-registered cars between 1998 — 2003. The Mexican Beetle (along with its Brazilian counterpart) was on the US DOT's (Department of Transportation) hot list of gray market imports after 1978 since the vehicle did not meet safety regulations. A U.S. citizen who drives a Mexican Beetle across the US-Mexico border into the US is likely to end up with the vehicle seized by the US Government . In the Southwest United States ( Arizona , California , New Mexico , Texas ) — Mexican Beetles (and some Brazilian T2c Transporters ) are a common sighting in San Antonio and Houston since Mexican nationals can legally operate the vehicle in the United States , as long as they have the registration papers. The end of production in (now Germany's largest automaker) has been attempting to cultivate a more upscale, premium brand image, and the humble Beetle, with its US$7000 base price, clashed with VW's new identity, as seen in the Touareg and Phaeton luxury vehicles. POP CULTURE ]] Like its competitors the Mini and the Citroën 2CV , the Beetle has been regarded as something of a "cult" car since its 1960s association with the Hippie movement; and the obvious attributes of its unique and quirky design. Much like their Type 2 counterparts, Beetles were psychedelically painted and considered an Art Car Ancestor . One of the logos used by the Houston Art Car Klub incorporated a Beetle with a cowboy hat. From 1968 to 2005 , a pearl white 1963 fabric sunroof Beetle with racing number "53" and Red , White , and Blue Stripes named " Herbie " played a starring role in '' The Love Bug '' series of Disney Comedy Film s. A yellow ''Wunderkäfer'', called DuDu, appeared in a series of German films for children. Also made famous is the Autobot Bumblebee , a canary yellow Beetle in the cartoon and toy line '' The Transformers ''. Bumblebee was later reformated into the Throttlebot Goldbug , a gold 1975 Super Beetle. The sci-fi thriller The Arrival featured a few Mexican Beetles in the film — one scene in the film is where Charlie Sheen hides in the trunk. During the early 1970s, the Beetle was used for advertisements where graphic art ads were decaled on newly-sold Volkswagens to which the Beetleboard craze kicked in. A marketing consultant (Charlie E. Bird) in the Los Angeles area came up with this concept — it would be deemed the progenitor of removing billboards off the highway to which automobiles have been used for advertising media. Both standard and Super Beetles were used until the original Beetle ceased production in Europe in 1978; this trend was resurrected after the New Beetle entered production (source — The Beetle Book). The first shot of Stanley Kubrick 's '' The Shining '' featured a yellow Volkswagen Beetle. The sighting of a VW Beetle is cause for violent fun in the car-sighting game known as '' Punch Buggy .'' NEW BEETLE See Also: Volkswagen New Beetle At the 1994 North American International Auto Show , Volkswagen unveiled the J Mays -penned "Concept 1", a concept car with futuristic styling deliberately reminiscent of the original Beetle's rounded shape. Strong public reaction convinced the company to move the car into production, and in 1998 , 20 years after the last original Beetle was sold in the United States , Volkswagen launched the New Beetle , designed by Mays and Freeman Thomas at the company's California design studio. New Beetles are manufactured at VW's Puebla, Mexico assembly plant. The New Beetle is related to the original only in name and appearance: under the hood, it is a modern car in every way, based on the Volkswagen A Platform . In stark contrast to the original, the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety gave the New Beetle among the best safety ratings in its class at the time of its launch. Marketing campaigns have enhanced the continued goodwill towards the original, and helped the new model to inherit it. The Volkswagen New Beetle was '' Motor Trend '''s Import Car Of The Year for 1999. PHASE-OUT OF THE ORIGINAL BEETLE In 2002 total production of the VW Golf , at 22 million units, overtook that of the Beetle. However this measure includes all four distinct generations of Golf since 1974, and these are really different cars using the same name, as is also the case with the Toyota Corolla . By 2003 Beetle annual production had fallen to 30,000 from a peak of 1.3 million in 1971. On July 30 , 2003 , the final original VW Beetle (No. 21,529,464) was produced at Puebla , Mexico , some 65 years after its public launch in Nazi Germany , and an unprecedented 58-year production run since 1945. VW announced this step in June, citing decreasing demand. The last car was immediately shipped off to the company's museum in Wolfsburg, Germany . In true Mexican fashion, a Mariachi band serenaded the last car. The final edition had the following specifications:
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