The Beetle marked a significant trend, led by Volkswagen, and then by Fiat and Renault, whereby the rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout increased from 2.6 percent of continental Western Europe's car production in 1946 to 26.6 percent in 1956.
The Beetle gave rise to multiple variants: mainly the 1950 Type 2 'Bus', the 1955 Karmann Ghia, as well as the 1961 Type 3 'Ponton' and the 1968 Type 4 (411/412) family cars, ultimately forming the basis of an entirely rear-engined VW product range. As Autobahn speeds increased in the postwar years, its output was boosted to 36, then 40 hp (26.8, then 29.8 kW), the configuration that lasted through 1966 and became the "classic" Volkswagen motor. The original 25 hp (18.6 kW) Beetle was designed for a top speed around 100 km/h (62 mph), which would be a viable cruising speed on the Reichsautobahn system. For example, in France it was known as the Coccinelle (French for ladybug). The car became widely known in its home country as the Käfer (German for " beetle", cognate with English chafer) and was later marketed under that name in Germany, and as the Volkswagen in other countries. Later models were designated Volkswagen 1200, 1300, 1500, 1302, or 1303, the first three indicating engine displacement, the last two derived from the model number. The car was then internally designated the Volkswagen Type 1, and marketed simply as the Volkswagen. With 21,529,464 produced, the Beetle is the longest-running and most-manufactured car of a single platform ever made.Īlthough designed in the 1930s, due to World War II, civilian Beetles only began to be produced in significant numbers by the end of the 1940s. The result was the first Volkswagen, and one of the first rear-engined cars since the Brass Era. The influence on Porsche's design of other contemporary cars, such as the Tatra V570, and the work of Josef Ganz remains a subject of dispute. Béla Barényi is credited with first conceiving the original design for this car in 1925, notably by Mercedes-Benz, on their website, including his original technical drawing, five years before Porsche claimed to have done his initial version. Lead engineer Ferdinand Porsche and his team took until 1938 to finalise the design.
Members of the National Socialist party, with an additional dues surcharge, were promised the first production, but the Spanish Civil War shifted most production resources to military vehicles to support the Nationalists under Francisco Franco. The need for a people's car ( Volkswagen in German), its concept and its functional objectives were formulated by the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, who wanted a cheap, simple car to be mass-produced for his country's new road network ( Reichsautobahn). The Volkswagen Beetle-officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German der Käfer (meaning " beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages-is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, intended for five occupants (later, Beetles were restricted to four people in some countries), that was manufactured and marketed by German automaker Volkswagen (VW) from 1938 until 2003.
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