Volkswagen celebrates 75 years since the start of production of the "Beetle"

Volkswagen celebrates 75 years since the start of production of the "Beetle"  - What you need to know about this, here is the right place for those of you who are in love with automotive-information.com.

Volkswagen celebrates 75 years since the start of production of the "Beetle"

Concern Volkswagen AG celebrates an important anniversary: ​​75 years ago, the first copies of the small car Type 1 - the legendary "Beetle" were produced, from which, in fact, the history of the brand began. The release of the model started on December 27, 1945.

The Beetle has an unusual and interesting story. It all started with the fact that in 1934 Porsche received a state contract from the authorities of Nazi Germany to develop a mass "people's" passenger car. In 1938, construction began on the first Volkswagen plant. However, due to the Second World War, plans changed, and in 1940, the company began to produce the Kübelwagen - an army off-road vehicle that had much in common with the Zhuk. Before the war, the factory managed to assemble only 210 units of the people's "Zhukov".

Volkswagen returned to the civilian automotive industry only after the end of the war. The plant ended up in the British Occupation Zone. As a result, with the participation of the British in December 1945, the first 55 cars were assembled.

The British intended to use the Volkswagen Type 1 (this was the name of the model, aka Käfer) for urgent transport tasks in the occupied zone. Back in August 1945, the British military government placed an order for 20,000 vehicles. He saved the plant from demolition.

Export supplies played an important role in the development of the company: up to a third of the cars produced in the 1950s went abroad. In Germany, the Beetle was produced until the mid-1970s, but in fact, its conveyor life ended only in the 21st century: the last machines were assembled in Mexico in 2003.

A total of 21,529,464 vehicles were produced, including about 15.8 million in Germany. "Beetle" is included in the list of the most massive cars in history.

1997 saw the launch of the New Beetle, a modern model based on the Golf 4 with a style reminiscent of the original Beetle. The second-generation New Beetle appeared in 2011 and was produced until July 2019. Volkswagen does not manufacture cars with that name today.

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