Perhaps no automaker is more well known internationally than Volkswagen. Literally translated as "people's car", Volkswagen has always worked to provide cheap, reliable transportation. Over the years, its products became an icon for millions, mainly through the Beetle and variants of the microbus. Today, Volkswagen is the world's third largest automaker, ranking behind Toyota and General Motors.
Volkswagen got its start under Nazi Germany, formed in 1937 by the Nazi trade union. Adolf Hitler launched a state-sponsored "volks wagen" program in the 1930s, which required a vehicle that could transport two adults and three children at 100 kmh (or about 62 mph), while remaining affordable at just 990 Reichmark, around the price of a motorcycle at the time. Ferdinand Porsche (of later Porsche fame) had been working on a similar concept for Zundapp and NSU, and was one of several designers brought in to produce the car. Their efforts resulted in the Beetle. World War II kept production of the civilian car low, but the company produced a number of military... View more variants, as well as the jeep-like Kobelwagen and amphibious Schwimmwagen.
Volkswagen became an integral part of German post-war recovery, and the Beetle hit American shores in 1949, paving the way for a wave of inexpensive foreign imports into the American market. And by the 1950s and 1960s, the simplicity of the cars, combined with their cheap price, ease of maintenance, and excellent advertising campaigns made them a hit in the states.
Volkswagen stuck with only a handful of models through the 1960s, including the Type 1 (Beetle), the Type 2 (van and pickup), and the Type 3 (Karmann-Ghia, Squareback, and Notchback). They all featured the same basic layout of an air-cooled rear-mounted engine and manual transmission, although some automatics found their way into the mix late in the decade. The Type 2, affectionately referred to as the "Bus" or "Microbus" became a favorite of the American Hippie movement, and restored examples are today some of the most valued vintage Volkswagens. By the time production of the Beetle wound down in 2003, over 21 million had been built, the highest production of any car, including the Ford Model T.
1964 saw Volkswagen purchase German giant Auto Union, and NSU came under VW control in 1969. And as the air-cooled engine became out of date in the 1970s, both Auto Union and NSU offered technology that helped Volkswagen move forward with water-cooled powerplants. New projects in the 1970s included the Rabbit, Dasher, and Scirocco, all of which helped bring the company up to date with other European manufacturers. The Beetle ceased production in Mexico in 2003, but was revived in 1998, with a fresh modern design and a water-cooled front-mounted engine. Production of the New Beetle ceased in 2010, but an all-new model is slated for 2011.
Today, Volkswagen is one of the leading brands developing clean technologies, which includes the TDI clean diesel engine offered in the Jetta and Golf. These turbocharged direct-injection engines provide excellent fuel economy, in some cases higher than 50 mpg, all while producing fewer greenhouse gasses than comparable gasoline engines. View less
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