In the year 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed as the Chancellor of Germany. He had many visions for Nazi Germany, one among them being a road, which the Germans could use to explore their country. And thus, on 19 May 1935, the Reichsautobahn was born.
However, Hitler quickly discovered a fault in his plan- people didn't have cars to use on the new Highway. In the early 1930s, only about one in fifty Germans owned a car. So, to eliminate the problem, Volkswagen ('the people's car' in German) was born. Their primary objective was to produce an affordable and reliable car for the common German.
Ferdinand Porsche, was brought in to design it. Hitler insisted on it being able to carry two adults and three children, reach 100 kmph (62 mph) while not using more than 7 litres of fuel per 100 Kms (39 mpg). He was adamant on the engine being air cooled because "not every doctor has a garage in his backyard".
In 1938 the first ever Volkswagen Beetle was given to Hitler. During the war, however, production was slowed, with only a handful being produced for the Nazi elite.
After the war, the Volkswagen factory, which Hitler had instituted in Fallersleben (present day Wolfsburg), was handed over by the Americans to the British army. The control of the factory was handed over to British major Ivan Hirst in 1945. He persuaded the British military to order 20,000 beetles, and sold it under the name Volkswagen Type 1 (painted in khaki colour). Opel manager Heinz Nordhoff was appointed as director of the factory, under whose control, demand increased exponentially.
When production was stopped in 2003 due to decline in demand, Volkswagen had sold over 21.5 million units spanning a period of 65 years
Join In
Comments (2)
Welcome to Drivetribe! Rio!
Why, thank you very much