VolksWagen Facts - Week 10 EOC

• The history of the VolksWagen and the Beetle started in 1934 when in the Hall of Berlin Adolf Hitler announced that the car had not to be an exclusive privilege of the rich.

• To Ferdinand Porsche, defined by Hitler as "the most famous designer of all time". Hitler entrusted the assignment to construct the Volkswagen (the people's car to Porsche; and Hitler did not limit himself just to the definition of the name, but dictated also terms about the peculiarities that it had to have (speed, consumption, price, etc...).

• In '36 the first 3 prototypes were ready (two sedans and one cabriolet) so that, a little bit later, Hitler entrusted the task to find out the suitable place to build up the factory of the future Beetle.

• The place was located in a vast zone of the Low Sassonia, in the surroundings of the castle of Wolfsburg of Earl Von Schulenberg, who was dispossessed of his land.

• In '38 it took place, the ceremony of the laying of the foundation stone of that factory which became (and it is still) the biggest car factory of automobiles in the world.

• The name chosen for the future Beetle was KDF Wagen (Kraft Durch Freude Wagen), that is "Car of the force by means of joy"

It is no use saying that Porsche tried to set himself against such name, but the choice came from Hitler personally, and there was nothing he could do about it.

• In '39 the KDF-Wagen officially appeared at the Hall of Berlin and it was such a modern and revolutionary car that is made the competitors look like nothing.

• In September '39 the Second World War began and the civil production of the Beetle was converted to a military production. This had a lot of importance for the future of the Beetle because on account of the war it had to sustain the hardest test which no other car had ever been submitted to before (and today).

• It got off very well: in any climatic condition (from torrid Africa to icy Russia) and in any sort of ground (in the mud, in the sand and the snow) the Beetle was unstoppable.

• In this period the KÜBELWAGEN (car "made like a bucket", was built in many versions), and the SCHWIMMWAGEN (a car "which could swim", was able to achieve the speed of 10 Km/h in the water), and many other military models were built.

• In May '45 the war was over but the factory was seriously damaged by the bombardment. It was thought to have been demolish, but thanks, to the Major Ivan Hirst (who it had been trusted to) the English changed their mind and, some years later, gave it back to the Germans, entrusting the task to manage it to Heinz Nordhoff.

• In the meantime the workers, with the last materials saved from the bombardment, had laboriously started building the Beetle again, but the production had very low levels.

• It was just Nordhoff, in ’46 who preformed a "miracle": from a few hundred cars produced in '46 the productions went to 19.000 in the '48 and 46.000 in the '49 in a continuous and exponential growth which slowed down only in the middle seventies.

• In that period of time, many technical improvements were continuously introduced, however without ever touching the original look and formulation of Porsche's project.

• And with regard to Porsche: where was he?

• Porsche was prisoner in France even accused by Pierre Peugeot of war crimes (while it seems that Porsche himself had helped Peugeot form being arrested by the Gestapo). In ‘47 Peugeot was declared innocent and was set free, but he could not go back to Germany until '49.

• He died on 30 January 1951 without being able to know what "incredible career" his Beetle would make in future.

• In those years the exports began in other countries: Holland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland and United States.

• In '53 the Brazilian production started with the affiliated firm "Volkswagen of Brasil" and the "Volkswagen of America" was built too; in '64 another overseas branch was built, the "Volkswagen de Mexico", and in '66 a factory opened in South Africa too.

• In '55 the millionth Beetle was built and, for that occasion, it was made in gold metalized color, with brocade seats and embellishments in little glass pearls on the chromizings.

• In the meantime in all the Countries where the Beetle was constructed or exported the sales grew constantly: in Italy '63, 42.000 Beetles were registered and America, people who wished to buy a Beetle had to wait up to 5 months.

• In '67 the look of the Beetle was remarkably modified: the headlight became round and vertical, the bumpers squared and increased in size, the tail lights magnified and the electrical system was strengthened (from 6 to 12 Volt).

• Even in '70 there was an important changes: in fact, the Super Beetle (mod.1302 and 1302/S) was born.

• Substantial differences regarded the appearance (a front hood more "plumper") and the mechanics (McPherson front chassis and rear axle with double flexible shafts) that were further modified in '73 with the Super Beetle mod.1303 (curved anterior glass and new dash-board stuffing). As it was already said, in the course of the years improvements never gave up, and it is interesting to notice that they were almost always ahead of their time and, therefore, destined to set a fashion; like the water resistant sun roof cover in PVC (1955), the tubeless tyres (1957) or the acrylic painting rather than the nitro painting (1949).

• Since '74, periodically, special series were built in a limited number, which had very particular inner fittings and colorations.

• The Jeans, the City, the Big, the Special Bug, the Fioriserie, the Winter, the Samtrot, the Silver Bug were built, and in '87, in order to celebrate the 50th year since its birth, the last one of the series was born, considered the best by the most: the Beetle of the Jubilee (Jubiläums-käfer). It was metalized grey and it had athermic, blue-tinted windshield, printed steel sports rims, the steering wheel of the Golf GTI and grey inners with strips of several tonalities.

• In the middle seventies sales began to decrease and in '74 they decided to move the Beetle production from Wolfsburg to Emden in order to make room for a new car: the Golf.

• In the '78 the European production definitively stopped and the Beetle continued being built only in Mexico, from where it was imported in Europe.

• In '76 the Super Beetle sedan had topped being built, and it was only built in the cabriolet version, but only until 1980.

• Recently the production in Mexico has been stopped.

    But the Beetle is not likely to disappear from the roads of our planet: a great part of the 22 million models that had been built cover miles of miles every day along the roads all over the world, asking in exchange only a little bit of oil and petrol.And their owners are sure of one thing: if they love it and they treat it well, "he" will never betray them. (Central Kentucky VW Club; HISTORY OF THE VW- THE BEGINNING: http://centralkyvwclub.com/centralkyvw.aspx)
    In the third episode of Mad Men the men were in a meeting to talk about a marketing plan about laxatives. One of the men bought up the article in a magazine about the VW Beetle. None of the men liked the article or the car, but they sat there and discussed the article for at least 15 minutes.
    In 1960, New York ad agency Doyle Dane Bernbach took a gamble and introduced the comely, low-priced Volkswagen Beetle as a "lemon"--ordinarily the ultimate insult for a car. But the attention-getting copy took an intriguing twist, explaining that though the car looked perfect, a VW inspector discovered a blemished chrome strip on the glove compartment that needed to be replaced before the car could be sold. (Bug’s Smashing Campaign, Los Angeles Times, March 5, 1998, By DIANE SEO, http://articles.latimes.com/keyword/doyle-dane-bernbach-company)
    The charming, honest advertising became part of the charm and honesty of the car. The advertisements they produced changed the face of advertising. Not just in America but across the world.