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• volkswagen.com
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Volkswagen

When you think of German automakers, Volkswagen should be one of the first companies that come to mind. Even though the company has the reputation of being a bit more pricey than its competitors, the cost is far outweighed by the driving experience that each Volkswagen offers.

For those of you that don't know the storied history of this company, let's take a brief look. In 1934, Adolph Hitler, commissioned Ferdinand Porsche to build a small and inexpensive automobile. What he produced in 1936 was the small beetle shaped vehicle that was the Volkswagen. Most of you know that stand for “peoples car”. At this time Hitler erected a town near the plant and called it Kraft durch Freude Stadt. In short, derived from the Nazi motto “Joy Through Strength”. And since Adolph thought he was very creative, he decided that the car should be named the KdF-wagen. Once again, an abbreviated version of the Nazi motto. Needless to say. Porsche was not happy, but then again, What Adolph wanted, Adolph got.

During WWII, the factory was damaged extensively by the Allies and eventually the British Army seized control of the plant. The first things that were done was to rename the company to Volkswagen and to rename the town to Wolfsburg, in honor of Werner von Schulenberg of Wolfsburg who so graciously (was forced to )donated his land to Adolph Hitler. As the 1940's came to a close, the Volkswagen Beetle was in full production and during 1949, the Volkswagen Beetle made it the shores of the US.

During the 1950's, Volkswagen began to broaden its product line by adding the now legendary Bus (Type 2) as another one of its offerings. It was also during this decade that the Beetle went on to become the the best selling car of all time in 1955, with the factory in Wolfsburg churning out the 1 millionth model. It was also during this decade that Volkswagen unveiled an Italian designed 2 seat sports car that was built onto the Beetle chassis.

In the 1960's, the popularity of the Beetle grew by extraordinary leaps and bounds. Much of it's success was due to being a major character in a Disney movie. As this decade drew to a close, Beetles were being produced at an average of 1 million units per year.

Volkswagens' success continued into the 1970's when production of Beetles exceeded the 15 million mark, surpassing the production record of the legendary Model T Ford. As the decade movesd to the halfway point, Volkswagen started to launch a line of vehicles with water cooled engines mounted in the front and using front wheel drive technology. The first entry in this line was the VW Passat., marketed in the US as the Dasher. This was the first vehicle in a lineup that would standardized parts that could be used across the whole product line. Soon to join the Passat was the VW Golf, the Rabbit in the US. A a sports coupe called the Scirocco and the Golf/Rabbit GTI which delighted performance enthusiasts. It was during this time, late in the decade, that the venerable Beetle was taken off the market.

The 1980's saw the Golf grow in popularity, in fact it became the most popular model that Volkswagen offered. It was also the very first car in 1983 that utilized robots during the manufacturing process. A first in the automotive world. This was also the time that all Golfs sold used the same name. No more Rabbits. In order to show the world it's its adeptness at building high performance rally type cars, Volkswagen aggressively raced the Golf GTI. Finally in 1986, the title of Group A World Rally Champions was finally nabbed by Volkswagen Motorsports.

Although Volkswagen saw its sales slump during the 1990's, it continued to bring new products to market and work on building customer brand awareness. Through aggressive marketing that was very well received, the company's fortunes were soon reversed. To help stimulate sales, Volkswagen introduced the New Beetle. The vehicle immediately struck a chord with US consumers. And it was not just popular with those who remembered the old Beetle, but Volkswagen was marketing to a whole new generation of “Love Bug” users and doing it quite successfully.

As the millennium was ushered in, Volkswagen decided to try its hand in the luxury car market. It introduced the Phaeton sedan and the Touareg SUV. Although the Phaeton was well designed and appointed, sales were less than brisk. Most analysts attributed this to the competition and the brand awareness that both Mercedes Benz and BMW had already acquired in the market segment.

Taking a look at Volkswagen today, you see a company that produces quality upscale vehicles in just about every market segment. This includes everything from spacious SUV's, to sport coupes to family sedans and of course, the lovable New Beetle.

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