Volkswagen, a Brief History
Of all the cars produced by Volkswagen over the years, there are three models that will never be forgotten; the Volkswagen / Westfalia Camper Van, with its numerous fans and owners clubs throughout the world. The Karmann-Ghia launched in 1955, now a sought after collectors car, and of course the world famous Beetle, although in fact the name Beetle was not adopted by Volkswagen until the 1960's.
The Beetle dates back to before the Second World War. Although who would have thought that a vision Ferdinand Porsche had to produce a car that the average German could afford, would lead to a company that in 2006 had sales in excess of 100 Billion Euros.
Today Volkswagen is so popular with company car drivers that it is estimated that at any one time there are approximately 400,000 Volkswagens out on Contract Hire in the UK. This does not take into account the large numbers who acquire their vehicles personally on Personal Contract Hire, or indeed those on Hire Purchase. It is hard to imagine that what started out as the "People's Car" would lead to the highly acclaimed Phaeton, that has been described a Rolls Royce in disguise.
Adolf Hitler took up the idea of a car for the people. Interestingly Hitler did not drive but was nevertheless a great car enthusiast. During one of his spells in prison he read My Life And Work the Ford biography, and was fascinated not only by Henry Ford's political views but by his achievements in the motor industry.
Hitler became chancellor in 1933. He soon made it known that his dream was that Germany should have a People's Car. Hitler asked Porsche to design a car that would carry two adults, three children, cruise at 62 mph and return 33mpg. Quite a tall order but that wasn't all; the price should be 1,000 Reichmarks, about the price of an average motorcycle. Porsche doubted that this could be done but he saw it as a challenge. It was named The Type 60.
There were many changes made before the car first went on the road in 1935, bearing remarkable similarities to a previously designed Tatra. A scheme was set up urging Germans to save 5 Marks a week via a stamp scheme in order to own a Type 60. Eventually 336,000 paid into the scheme. It is disputed as to how many, if any, finally got their car.
During 1938 Hitler announced that the Type 60 was to be named KdF Wagen (Kraft durch Freude), which translates into, Strength Through Joy. Porsche was said to be enraged by this move, as it was simply propaganda for the Nazi party, of which Porsche wasn't a member.
The KdF factory was a target for the allied forces during the war and much of it was destroyed. After the war it was taken over by the British army; the army was urgently in need of light vehicles so the solution was seen as re-instating the KdF factory. The job fell on the shoulders of a young army officer, Major Ivan Hirst. In the year that the war ended 2000 units were produced, even though the factory was damaged and only partially in service. Because of damage to the roof production had to be halted when it rained, even so they went on to produce 1,000 cars per month in 1946.
Ironically it was the British Government that named the company Volkswagen. The factory and its production were very valuable to the British forces. Later however it proved difficult to relinquish control of the company; the British tried, without success, to interest the French government in taking it over. It is understood that Ford also declined allegedly saying "the car's not worth a damn". Sir William Rootes head of Rootes Group visited factory; he Told Hirst that the car was "too ugly and too noisy" adding, "If you think you are going to build cars in this place, you're a bloody fool young man". Routes group went bust, Volkswagen didn't.
Eventually the German Government agreed to take over the company; Heinrich Nordhoff an engineer, who had considerable experience in the industry, was recruited to run the factory.
In 1947 a Dutch importer of Volkswagens spotted the motorised trolleys that were being used for transporting components around the vast Volkswagen factory, which was the Beetles chassis and running gear. This gave him an idea and he did some drawings of a Beetle based van. Nordhoff took up the idea and the first van was launched at the Geneva Motor show in 1949. That was the birth of what became the Camper Van, launched in 1951 by Westfalia a coach building company. The vehicles were also used amongst other things, as buses, delivery vans, ice cream vans, milk floats, bread vans, ambulances and fire engines. Over 5,000000 of these vehicles were produced. In 1955 Volkswagen launched the Karmann Ghia sports car.
During the 1960's Volkswagen were becoming concerned that whilst the beetle was still selling well, eventually beating the previous best selling car, the Model T Ford, it was becoming outdated. They acquired Audi/ Auto Union in 1964, a manufacturer of front wheel drive and water-cooled cars. This allowed Volkswagen to develope and helped it to produce its later models the Passat, Polo and Golf.
The 20,000000 Beetle was produced in Mexico 1981. Volkswagen acquired a majority holding in Seat in 1987 and bought Skoda in 1991. In 1997 a Beetle owned by a Mr Albert Klein clocked up 1,000,000 miles, since it was new in 1966. Bentley was bought in 1998 from Vickers along with Rolls Royce (Rolls Royce was later transferred to BMW in 2003). The Bugatti name and Lamborghini were also bought in 1998.
In July 2003 the last Beetle ever to be produced came off the production line in Puebla Mexico, it was number 21,529,464. It was shipped to the Volkswagen museum in Wolfsburg Germany, the last model of best selling car in the world.
All in all not bad for a company that at one time had only one product; a car that was "too noisy and too ugly".
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