A few weeks ago, Ashley spent a day with members of the Waikato and Auckland Volkswagen Clubs to learn about their hobby — Volkswagens and, in particular, Beetles

In preparation for this article the more I read, the more fascinated I became with the history of Volkswagen and its origin. It didn’t take long for me to realise why this ‘people’s car’ of Germany has such a passionate global following.

Today, the Volkswagen with its distinct shape and unique engine sound enjoys worldwide cult status, and is quite possibly the most popular small family car in the world.

Volkswagen means ‘people’s car’ and, in pre-1930s Germany, this wasn’t exactly a new idea, there having been many attempts to create a basic, simple car that would be affordable by the masses. However, until the Beetle none even came close to seeing the light of day. Contrary to common belief, these failures weren’t down to poor design — it simply proved impossible to achieve the levels of affordability required by the average German worker.

In the beginning

Then along came Dr Ing h.c Ferdinand Porsche. In 1933, Dr Porsche not only had an enviable reputation as a talented engineer, earned through his own consulting company, but had also been chief designer for Daimler-Benz and Auto Union.

In the summer of 1933, Porsche was summoned to the Hotel Kaiserhof in Berlin for a covert meeting with German dictator, Adolf Hitler, to learn of the Führer’s plans for a new German car. Hitler outlined his aspirations for a small four-seater car with a reliable and durable air-cooled engine capable of achieving 7.1l/100km (40mpg). This car would be called ‘Volkswagen’, and Hitler stipulated that it should sell below RM1000 (roughly equivalent to US$250).

This sounded like a tall order, as Porsche knew it would be virtually impossible to build a car for that price — it had even been beyond Henry Ford. What Porsche wasn’t aware of was that Hitler intended to use Volkswagen as a political promise to win Germans over to the National Socialist regime. Mussolini had made Italian trains more reliable; Hitler wanted to give the Germans a car, perhaps to disguise his larger misdeeds.

At the Berlin International Automobile Show less than a year later, in an emotional speech Hitler announced to the German people the promise of a small, low priced car. An official order was given to Porsche to produce three prototypes ready for testing within 10 months. The German Automobile Manufacturers’ Society had been ordered to provide component parts for the project, effectively ensuring the entire industry was supporting the project.

However, Porsche was still concerned that the RM1000 price limit was unachievable; but he also knew that no one dared challenge the orders of Adolf Hitler — so work began.

Volksauto

In actual fact, unbeknown to Hitler, Porsche had come up with a similar idea years earlier and had already designed and built a small car closely resembling Hitler’s Volkswagen in conjunction with NSU in 1932. But, because they never came close to the desired production cost, NSU and Porsche dropped the idea.

Even the name — Volksauto — was similar, and this rear-engined, air-cooled machine might just be what the German Chancellor was looking for. Porsche, a perfectionist by nature, refused to rush the project, choosing to resurrect and redesign the Volksauto in an established workshop in his own private garage. Coinciding with this project, Porsche was building race cars for Auto Union and eventually became more obsessed with beating the Italians than conforming to Hitler’s whim.

Of course, Hitler did not consider his idea a whim, and kept promising the German public their volkswagen in speech after speech. Behind the scenes there was relentless pressure on Porsche as the German Automobile Association started to hold back, reluctant to participate in a project that might eventually lead to their demise. However, Hitler was not to be denied.

By 1935 the major American car manufacturers were in full swing, producing cars in great quantities using specialist machine tools and body dies. This was all so different to European production methods.

Armed with a stopwatch, Porsche visited the US and toured General Motors, Packard and Ford assembly lines, taking notes on the processes and equipment they employed.

Strength Through Joy

By 1936 three prototypes were ready, and after rigorous road testing Porsche was satisfied with the final result. At the 1937 Automobile Show, Hitler announced that production of the German people’s car would soon commence. Hitler took firm control of the state economy, clamping down on all iron and steel allocations to other manufacturers.

Robert Ley, the malicious leader of the ‘Strength Through Joy’ movement, was recruited to set up the new factory and ruthlessly commandeered a private estate in Wolfsburg for the site. The Nazi finance machine now took a firm hold of the Volkswagen project.

Porsche required 30 completed cars before the factory was finished, and Daimler-Benz was ordered to fulfil the order for the hundreds of Storm Troopers who had been assigned to test the cars under the direction of Porsche’s son, Ferry.

Porsche recruited a team of German-speaking American engineers and technicians from the US for the new factory, and it wasn’t long before American mass production techniques were fully operational in Nazi Germany.

However, only two months before Hitler ceremoniously laid the cornerstone of the new Wolfsburg factory — a huge event witnessed by an estimated 70,000 people and 150 reporters, all controlled by the Nazi propaganda machine Germany had occupied Austria, and two days after the ceremony had given orders for the invasion of Czechoslovakia. Eleven months later the Nazi machine marched into Poland. The German people marched behind Hitler, and the Volkswagen propaganda exercise remained an unfulfilled promise.

With WWII now underway the Wolfsburg factory was commissioned to produce military vehicles. The car was redesigned by Porsche to accommodate a larger engine, strengthened transmission and upgraded suspension components for the open four-seater body. Basically, this was a rear-engined jeep; the advantage of the wartime VW was its incredible light weight of only 499kg.

This hugely versatile vehicle could serve on all fronts; from the muddy bogs of Poland to the sub-zero temperatures of Russia and the hot sands of the North African desert. A special amphibious model was also built with a propeller and rudder. It was capable of a steady 24kph in water and 80kph on land.

Occupation force

It was only after the war that Volkswagen finally fulfilled Hitler’s promise, but on a worldwide basis. After the cessation of hostilities, Germany was divided into quarters and, as the Wolfsburg factory was located in the British sector, it fell under control of the British. Major Ivan Hirst was brought in to assess the possibility of starting up production of the Beetle as transport for the occupying forces.

Hundreds of workers and refugees applied for jobs. The British authorities put them to work just to keep them busy, and eventually put the Volkswagen into production. Much of the machinery had survived the bombing, having been stored in the basement. Cars were put together with old stock and whatever parts could be found.

In 1946, 13 years after Hitler’s original promise, the factory was producing about 1000 cars a month, and this time it really was for the people. The cars went on sale; first in Germany, then throughout Europe. In 1948, former BMW designer Dr Heinz Nordhoff was appointed as director of Volkswagen, and began his new role with the remarkable statement — “The future begins when you cut every tie with the past.”

The company prospered even after it was returned to the West German Government, and Nordhoff remained at the helm. Production soared and by 1955 had exceeded one million cars, the first time in European automobile history that a single car had reached this significant milestone. Nordhoff continued to establish one of the world’s largest service organisations, including a spare parts and service infrastructure that helped put the humble Volkswagen on the world map.

Novel advertising campaigns and a lustrous reputation for reliability and durability during the ’60s and early ’70s helped production figures to exceed the levels of the previous record holder, the Ford Model T, when Beetle #15,007,034 was produced on February 17, 1972; by 1973 total production was over 16 million, and by 2002 over 21 million Beetles had been produced.

The final Beetles

However, by the mid ’70s the writing was on the wall as sales began dropping off in the US due to increasingly modern Japanese cars being offered to the market. Volkswagen had unsuccessfully attempted to replace the aging Beetle throughout the ’60s with the Type 3, Type 4 (411) and K70, and finally decided to switch the production lines at Wolfsburg to the new water-cooled Golf in 1974. By 2002 total production of the VW Golf, at 22 million units, overtook that of the Beetle.

Production of the Volkswagen Beetle continued on a much smaller scale in other German factories until 1978, when mainstream production shifted to Brazil and Mexico. The last Beetle was produced in Mexico in mid-2003, with a final batch of 3000 special edition Beetles badged as Ultima Edicions, boasting whitewall tyres, additional chrome trim and a choice of two special paint colours.

Production in Brazil continued until 1988, then restarted from 1993 until 1996. By 2003, Beetle annual production had fallen to 30,000 from a staggering 1.3 million in 1971. On July 30, 2003, the final original VW Beetle (#21,529,464) was produced at Pueblo, Mexico, some 65 years since its public launch in Nazi Germany, after an unprecedented 58-year production run since 1945. The last car was immediately shipped back to Wolfsburg to reside in VW’s museum.

Words: Ashley Webb Photos: Adam Croy