The story of how Volkswagen, the renowned German ‘people’s car’ marque, became the behemoth of today
1.Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns other renowned car marques such as Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT and Škoda and the truck manufacturer, Scania.
2.Volkswagen was originally founded in 1937 by the Nazi trade union, the German Labour Front. In the early 1930s the German auto industry was still largely composed of luxury models and the average German could rarely afford anything higher than a motorcycle. In 1933, Adolf Hitler made public his intentions about a State-sponsored ‘Volkswagen’ programme. Hitler required a basic vehicle capable of transporting two adults and three children at 100 km/h.
3.Prototypes of the car, called the ‘KdF-Wagen’, appeared from 1936 onwards. The car already had its distinctive round shape and an air-cooled, flat-four, rear-mounted engine. The VW car was just one of many KdF programmes, which also included tours and outings.
4.From 1948, Volkswagen became a very important element, symbolically as well as economically, of West German regeneration. Volkswagen of America was formed in April 1955 to standardise sales and service in the United States of America. Production of the Type 1 Volkswagen Beetle increased dramatically over the years, the total reaching one million in 1955.
5.VW expanded its product line in 1961 with the introduction of four Type 3 models: the Karmann, Ghia, Notchback and Squareback. These had monocoque construction, the option of a fully automatic transmission, electronic fuel injection and a sturdier powerplant.
6.First in the series was the Volkswagen Passat , introduced in 1973, a fastback version of the Audi 80, using many identical body and mechanical parts. In the spring of 1974, the Scirocco followed. The coupé was designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro. Based on the platform of the not yet released Golf, it was built at Karmann due to capacity constraints at Volkswagen.
7.In the late 1990s, Volkswagen, under CEO Ferdinand Piëch, acquired the three luxury brands Lamborghini (through Audi), Bentley and Bugatti. Audi’s plans for Lamborghini included a small supercar, later to be named the Gallardo, and a new halo vehicle, the Murciélago, and later still the Reventon limited-edition halo car. In late 2008, a four-door saloon for the Lamborghini brand was shown in the form of the Lamborghini Estoque concept.
8.Presently, Volkswagen are recognised as one of the leading small diesel engine manufacturers and are partners of Mercedes and other companies to market the BlueTec clean diesel technology. Volkswagen have offered a number of their vehicles with the TDI (turbocharged direct injection) engine, which lends class-leading fuel economy to several of their models.
