Photo: Volkswagen Archive
Volkswagen turns 85 years old today, but the German company has not marked the occasion in any way. To be specific, on May 28, 1937, the company called "Gessellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutchen Volkswagens mbH" was formally established. Its name was changed to "Volkswagenwerk GmbH" a year later.
While work on the first model in the VW lineup was already underway since 1934, the company that built them was set up later. In case you were wondering, the German name for the company that preceded Volkswagen, which you can read above between the quotes, translates to "Company for the Preparation of the German people's car Ltd." In 1938, on September 16, to be specific, the company was renamed "Volkswagenwerk GmbH," which translates to "People's car factory Ltd."
As you may be aware if you have any idea about history, the company in question was founded by the German Labour Front, which was an organization founded and controlled by the Nazis. The design of the first model was initially drafted by Ferdinand Porsche, and the VW Type 1 was one of the world's first passenger cars to be designed in a wind tunnel, which was state-of-the-art tech back in the day.
The idea with the Volkswagen brand, at least with its first model, was to have a vehicle that any German family could be able to afford, while also being capable of driving at 100 kph (62 mph) on the country's new network of highways, known as Autobahns.
The prototypes of what became the Volkswagen Type 1, commonly known as the Beetle, were called KdF-Wagens, and the city in which they were later built was called "Stadt des KdF-Wagens." (translation: city of the KdF cars). After WW2, the city was renamed Wolfsburg, and it still has a Volkswagen factory there, as that was the initial purpose of the establishment in the first place.
Despite all these ambitious plans, the first prototypes were built in Stuttgart, while the factory in Wolfsburg only made a few passenger cars by the time World War Two started, back in 1939. Since the VW facility was quickly shifted to military vehicle production, it was also bombed during the war.
At the end of WW2, in April 1945, the U.S. Army captured the plant, and handed it to the Brits, who were in charge of the zone that comprised it and the town. After a complicated start, which included a shortage of materials, parts, and labor, production took off.
Ironically, the British had offered possession of the Volkswagen factory, along with the brand, at no charge, to several companies in multiple countries. In short, the marque was refused by American, Australian, British, and French automakers.
The most famous of them is Ford, whose representatives considered that it was not worth anything, while Sir William Rootes, of the Rootes Group, predicted that the company would fail within two years. Ironically, it was the Rootes Group that did not live on, as it was acquired by Chrysler in the 1960s.
As you may be aware if you have any idea about history, the company in question was founded by the German Labour Front, which was an organization founded and controlled by the Nazis. The design of the first model was initially drafted by Ferdinand Porsche, and the VW Type 1 was one of the world's first passenger cars to be designed in a wind tunnel, which was state-of-the-art tech back in the day.
The idea with the Volkswagen brand, at least with its first model, was to have a vehicle that any German family could be able to afford, while also being capable of driving at 100 kph (62 mph) on the country's new network of highways, known as Autobahns.
The prototypes of what became the Volkswagen Type 1, commonly known as the Beetle, were called KdF-Wagens, and the city in which they were later built was called "Stadt des KdF-Wagens." (translation: city of the KdF cars). After WW2, the city was renamed Wolfsburg, and it still has a Volkswagen factory there, as that was the initial purpose of the establishment in the first place.
Despite all these ambitious plans, the first prototypes were built in Stuttgart, while the factory in Wolfsburg only made a few passenger cars by the time World War Two started, back in 1939. Since the VW facility was quickly shifted to military vehicle production, it was also bombed during the war.
At the end of WW2, in April 1945, the U.S. Army captured the plant, and handed it to the Brits, who were in charge of the zone that comprised it and the town. After a complicated start, which included a shortage of materials, parts, and labor, production took off.
Ironically, the British had offered possession of the Volkswagen factory, along with the brand, at no charge, to several companies in multiple countries. In short, the marque was refused by American, Australian, British, and French automakers.
The most famous of them is Ford, whose representatives considered that it was not worth anything, while Sir William Rootes, of the Rootes Group, predicted that the company would fail within two years. Ironically, it was the Rootes Group that did not live on, as it was acquired by Chrysler in the 1960s.
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