The Beetle was conceived in the early 1930s. The leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, decided there was a need for a people's car —an inexpensive, simple, mass-produced car—to serve Germany's new road network, the Reichsautobahn.

First model features: The Volkswagen Type 1 was designed to be as simple as possible mechanically, so that there was less to go wrong; the air-cooled 25 hp (19 kW) 995 cc (60.7 cu …

Prototypes of the car called the KdF-Wagen (from the German term Kraft durch Freude, meaning "Strength Through Joy") appeared from 1938 onwards. The first cars had been produced in Stuttgart. The car already had its distinctive round shape and air …

May 28, 2023 · Volkswagen was officially founded by the German Labor Front under Nazi rule on this day in 1937 at the command of Adolf Hitler. Work on the car had already began in the years prior, as Hitler as stern in his effort to mobilize his countrymen.

Feb 17, 2022 · Series production started in 1945, and 21.5 million first-generation cars were sold, making it the most popular car manufactured off a single platform of all time. A Vintage Volkswagen Beetle sits in front of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California.

The first modern car—a practical, marketable automobile for everyday use—and the first car in series production appeared in 1886, when Carl Benz developed a gasoline-powered automobile and made several identical copies. [10][11] In 1890, Gottlieb Daimler, inventor of the high-speed liquid petroleum-fueled engine, and Wilhelm Maybach formed ...

Dec 22, 2020 · On December 27, 1945 the serial production of the Volkswagen Limousine (Type 1) got started. This was the real beginning of the success story of the Volkswagen.

Dec 27, 2015 · It was shortly after the first post-war Christmas 1945 that the first of the Volkswagen Type 1 – the model which, as the Beetle, would subsequently be sold more than 21 million times – rolled off the production line.

Aug 17, 2023 · The world-famous Volkswagen Beetle was first called the KdF-Wagen. And it was Adolf Hitler who named it during a speech he gave at Germany’s Wolfsburg car factory.

Nov 13, 2009 · On May 28, 1937, the government of Germany—then under the control of Adolf Hitler of the National Socialist (Nazi) Party—forms a new state-owned automobile company, then known as Gesellschaft...