The largest automaker in Germany and the second-largest carmaker in the world, Volkswagen has been a part of the automotive industry for more than 75 years. The Beetle was a masterpiece of economics and innovation because it was small but functional and affordable to buy and maintain. The car’s curving body was both innovative in appearance and aerodynamic. Particularly when contrasted to the American land yachts of the time, the Beetle’s rear-wheel drive and tiny size gave it superb handling, and the ground-breaking air-cooled engine was simple to maintain and repair.
The Birth & Positioning
Volkswagen’s roots go back to the 1930s when Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany, approved Ferdinand Porsche’s design for the “people’s car,” or Volkswagen beetle. World war II interrupted the production of the first Volkswagen type 1 or beetle cars. This business was started in Berlin by the German Labour Front, a Nazi trade union in 1937. However, when the Nazi dictatorship came to an end in 1945, the British Military Government ordered the company to produce 20,000 Volkswagen automobiles. Mass production of the beetle began in 1945 and by the 1950s, Volkswagen started exporting overseas primarily to the US and South America. As VW grew, more models were introduced in 1972.
The Evolution and Timeline of VW Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle survived World War II and prospered for the rest of the 20th century. The Beetle was continuously improved upon while maintaining its fundamental design philosophy, which kept drivers interested in it for a very long time.
In 1938, Ferdinand Porsche was hired by Adolf Hitler to create a straightforward, cost-effective automobile for the general populace in an effort to manufacture an affordable automobile for German workers. Type 1 was an air-cooled rear-engine vehicle that incorporated styling cues from many Tatra cars and an earlier Porsche automobile. Hitler formally opened the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, in May. Due to World War II, civil production nearly immediately came to an end, but some automobiles were made for military officers. The first convertible was delivered to Hitler. By the end of the war, the factory was put under British control. More than 10,000 automobiles were produced by the end of 1946. After ten years, one million had been distributed.
In 1959, a “Think small” ad for Volkswagen with a tiny Beetle in a plane of white space was rolled out. “Maybe we got so big because we thought small,” the ad touted. Later, the Ad was named the best advertising campaign of the 20th century by the Ad Age.
The Beetle’s New Appearance
In 1967, the Beetle’s first significant stylistic upgrade. Volkswagen installed larger rear lights with integrated reverse lights in place of the sloped headlights the company had been using since the 1930s. In addition, there were two new end bumpers, four-lug steel wheels, and a revised dashboard. You may describe it as a mid-cycle upgrade because it happened almost exactly in the middle of the unusually extended Beetle production run. Significantly, Volkswagen also improved the brake system and installed two-speed wipers, a 12V electrical system, and. A year later, a semi-automatic transmission with the catchy name Automatic Stick Shift was added to the list of choices. In 1968, Type 1 was officially given the name “Beetle”.
Super Beetle
Volkswagen introduced a premium model known as the Super Beetle in 1971. McPherson struts replaced the torsion-beam front suspension because of which engineers were able to position the spare tyre horizontally and fix one of the Beetle’s main drawbacks by enlarging the trunk. Volkswagen bragged that it made 89 changes to the Beetle in total to make it deserving of the “Super” prefix. The manufacturer included a diagnostic port in the engine bay which enabled technicians to keep an eye on the engine’s compression, rear lights, charging circuit health, and ignition timing.
Probably as Beetle’s final evolution, the renovated Super Beetle came in August 1972 as the 1973 model. In order to increase safety, Volkswagen installed a curved windscreen. This decreased the possibility of passengers being sliced by the glass in the event of a frontal crash. Inevitably, the hood shrank as the dashboard grew larger.
In February 1972, Volkswagen built the 1,50,07,034th Beetle which broke the record held by the Ford Model T for four decades to become the best-selling car in history. Volkswagen celebrated the event by releasing a unique model called “Weltmeister,” which is German for “world champion.” It was made unique with metallic-blue paint and unique wheels.
Declining popularity of Beetle
The Beetle’s fierce resistance to change helped it conquer the world in the 1960s but it backfired during the 1970s. Modernized rivals like Volkswagen’s Golf and Honda’s Civic consumed less gas, had more room for both passengers and baggage, and priced less. At the end of 1976, Volkswagen stopped selling the Beetle in America, while the convertible continued to be produced until 1979. But it couldn’t go on much longer. It became increasingly difficult and costly for Volkswagen to make it compliant with safety and emissions regulations. The Wolfsburg factory stopped making the models in 1974 and shifted production to other factories. Volkswagen ended Beetle production in all of its German factories in 1978 as a result of the vehicle’s fading popularity. After this, Volkswagen sent production to Brazil and Mexico, where it remained into the 1980s.
Arrival of New Beetle- The Revival
After more than a decade’s long pause from the American market, in 1998, VW gave the car its first significant update and marked the entry of the “New Beetle” in the market. This new Beetle has a bigger body than previous models because it was built on a small Golf hatchback basis. It still has a classic appearance to make it easy for drivers to recognize it as a Beetle. The automobile had a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with 115 horsepower, and the dashboard featured a miniature vase as a homage to its flower-power heritage. The car also included a front engine and front-wheel drive. Though the redesigned Beetle was initially a hit, Volkswagen decided to end the Type 1 Beetle’s production in 2003.
The End of Beetle’s Era
2019 July 10 marked the production of the final model. The Volkswagen Beetle has been around and accomplished everything in its 81 years. One of the most sought-after antique automobiles started out its existence as a people’s car in Germany, evolved into America’s darling, then traveled south to put a large portion of Latin America on wheels. It has won races, shuttled scientists in Antarctica, and transported millions of people through Mexico City. It has also conquered land, water, and the air.
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