2011 Featured Marque - Volkswagen
Who hasn't had a Volkswagen in their past, or at least had a friend who owned one? For most folks, especially Baby Boomers, the first thing that comes to mind when seeing the Volkswagen logo or hearing the name, is the Beetle. As one of the world's most recognizable icons, the Beetle stands for simplicity, economy and, well – love! But it's not only the Beetle that stirs American's emotions. Remember the Micro Bus, Karmann Ghia, Camper and Thing? Nothing evokes nostalgia like a fabulous Vintage Volkswagen display.
75 Years of VW
Ferdinand Porsche was devoted to the idea of building a "People's Car". In the mid 1930s when Germany's Reich government commissioned Porsche to design the car, they agreed on the following specifications: 26 horsepower, four-wheel independent suspension, 62 mph cruising speed, 40 mpg fuel consumption, air-cooled engine for reliability in cold weather and a space-efficient design able to accommodate a family of 5, with luggage! Porsche was optimistic that he could build the car for 1550 marks ($620), but the German auto association mandated that the car cost no more than about 900 marks ($360)!
Indeed, 75 years ago, on October 12, 1936, Porsche presented the VW3 prototype to the German auto association, ready for testing. The cars were driven 500 miles a day, six days a week, in all weather conditions. With most of the bugs ironed out (no pun intended!), the next step was to build the factory in what is now Wolfsburg. 
The "People's Car", or Volkswagen, was originally named the KdF-Wagen by Hitler, short for Kraft durch Freude, or "Strength through Joy" car. Two models were offered; a cabriolet and a sedan with an optional roll-back sunroof. Only a handful of cars were produced before the outbreak of World War II, when production turned to military staff cars and vehicles such as the Kubelwagen and the amphibious Schwimmwagen.
Despite heavy bomb damage to the factory, production never ceased entirely. The British took control of the factory in May, 1945. By year-end, 1,785 Volkswagens were produced for use by allied occupation forces and the German Post Office. The 25,000th VW came off the assembly line in May, 1948 and in January, 1949 the first two Beetles were shipped to the US!
The Beetle's signature shape was retained throughout its history, though Volkswagen tweaked the car's performance, safety and comfort.
During the '50s, the fabulous split rear window grew to a single oval in 1953, then to a larger rectangle in 1957. Hydraulic brakes replaced cable brakes in export models, semaphores gave way to fender-mount lamps and the engine grew to 1192 cc from 1131. The 1,000,000th Beetle rolled off the assembly line in 1955.
Volkswagen took a giant step in March, 1950 with the introduction of the Type 2, commonly known as the Transporter or Micro Bus. Although few were exported to the US before 1954, demand for the Transporter exceeded production. The 1,000,000th Type 2 rolled off the line in 1962. As with the Beetle, Volkswagen didn't stray far from the Type 2 basic design. Some prime examples of Type 2 variations include the single and double cab "dropgate" trucks, the aptly named Deluxe 23-Window Bus complete with roll-back sunroof and the Westfalia Camper - another example of amazing space efficiency. Ultimately, the Type 2 became an icon of the American hippy counterculture.
In 1955 Volkswagen veered completely off-course when they added a hefty dose of style to the Beetle platform. Combining the talents of coachbuilder, Karmann and Italian designers from Ghia, the sporty Karmann Ghia was born. Its popularity never quite matched the Beetle or Transporter, however. The cost ran about $900 more than the Beetle, body repair was more expensive and it didn't get the same attention in Volkswagen's quirky but popular advertising campaigns.
Volkswagen became the import sales leader in the US in the mid '50s. Though several new models were added in the '60s and early '70s, none were as popular as the beloved Bug. On February 17, 1972, the 15,007,034th Beetle came off the assembly line beating the production record of the Ford Model T.
By the mid-'70s, US emission standards became more stringent and Japanese automakers were making a huge impact on the US import market. Volkswagen fought back with the ever-popular water-cooled Rabbit in 1975. Air-cooled production gave way to VW's expanding water-cooled line of Sciroccos, Corrados, etc. The last Beetle sedan built in Germany left the Emden assembly line on January 19, 1978. The last Beetle Convertible left the Karmann plant in Osnabruck on January 10, 1980. Beetle production continued into the '90s in Brazil and even later in Mexico, though the EPA blocked importation to the US.
Volkswagen sales declined in the US during the '80s, but by the mid-'90s the pendulum began to swing back. The timely 1994 presentation of the Concept I, the prototype New Beetle, stirred the emotions and the excitement of former "old" Beetle lovers. Americans practically begged Volkswagen to build the New Beetle. Introduced in March, 1998, its popularity was not limited to Baby Boomers. Complete with a bud vase as a standard accessory, flower power fueled not only New Beetle sales, but planted the seed for other automakers to cash in on the "retro car" craze.