VOLKSWAGEN
Volkswagen, pronounced folksvagen meaning: "people's car" (also known as VW) is an automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Germany in the State of Lower Saxony.
It forms the core of Volkswagen AG (VAG or VWAG), one of the world's four largest car producers.
ORIGINS IN 1930S GERMANY
Though the origins of the company date back to the 1930s, the design for the car that would become known as the Beetle / "Käfer" date back even further, as a pet project by car designer Ferdinand Porsche (1875–1951). Adolf Hitler's desire that almost anybody should be able to afford a car coincided with this design—although much of this design was inspired by the advanced Tatra cars of Hans Ledwinka.
Hitler's changes to the original design included better fuel efficiency (to make it more economical for the working man), reliability, ease of use, and economically efficient repairs and parts. The intention was that ordinary Germans would buy the car by means of a savings scheme ("Fünf Mark die Woche mußt Du sparen, willst Du im eigenen Wagen fahren" - "Save five Marks a week to drive in your own car"), which around 336,000 people eventually paid into. Volkswagen honored its savings agreements after World War II; Ford, which had a similar "coupon" savings system, reportedly did not. Prototypes of the car called the KdF-Wagen (German: Kraft durch Freude = "strength through joy"), appeared from 1936 onwards (the first cars had been produced in Stuttgart). The car already had its distinctive round shape and air-cooled, flat-four, rear-mounted engine, features similar to the Tatra. The VW car was just one of many KdF programs which included things such as tours and outings.
Erwin Komenda, the longstanding Porsche chief designer, developed the car body of the prototype, which was recognizably the Beetle we know today. It was one of the first to be designed with the aid of a wind tunnel; unlike the Chrysler Airflow, it would be a success.
The new factory in the new town of KdF-Stadt, now called Wolfsburg, purpose-built for the factory workers, only produced a handful of cars by the time war started in 1939. None were actually delivered to holders of the completed saving stamp books, though one Type 3 Cabriolet was presented to Hitler on his fiftieth birthday, in 1938.
War meant production turned to military vehicles, the Type 81 Kübelwagen utility vehicle (VW's most common wartime model) and the amphibious Schwimmwagen .
1945: BRITISH ARMY AND IVAN HIRST, UNCLEAR FUTURE
The company owes its postwar existence largely to one man, British Army officer Major Ivan Hirst (1916–2000). In April 1945, KdF-Stadt and its heavily bombed factory were captured by the Americans, and handed to the British to administer. The factory was placed under the control of Oldham-born Hirst. At first, the plan was to use it for military vehicle maintenance. Since it had been used for military production, and had been a "political animal" (Hirst's words) rather than a commercial enterprise, the equipment was in time intended to be salvaged as war reparations. Hirst painted one of the factory's cars green and demonstrated it to British Army headquarters. Short of light transport, in September 1945 the British Army was persuaded to place a vital order for 20,000. The first few hundred cars went to personnel from the occupying forces, and to the German Post Office. By 1946 the factory was producing 1,000 cars a month, a remarkable feat considering the factory was still in disrepair: the damaged roof and windows meant rain stopped production; the steel to make the cars had to be bartered for new vehicles.
The car and its town changed their Second World War-era names to Volkswagen and Wolfsburg respectively, and production was increasing. It was still unclear what was to become of the factory. It was offered to representatives from the British, American and French motor industries. Famously, all rejected it. After an inspection of the plant, Sir William Rootes, head of the British Rootes Group, told Hirst the project would fail within two years, and that the car "is quite unattractive to the average motorcar buyer, is too ugly and too noisy ... If you think you're going to build cars in this place, you're a bloody fool, young man." (In a bizarre twist of fate, Volkswagen would manufacture a locally built version of Rootes' Hillman Avenger in Argentina in the 1980s, long after Rootes went bust at the hands of Chrysler in 1978—the Beetle outliving the Avenger by over 30 years)
Ford representatives were equally critical: the car was "not worth a damn". In France Citroën started the 2CV on a similar marketing concept. In Italy it was the Fiat 500.
1948–1974: ICON FOR GERMAN REGENERATION
From 1948, Volkswagen became a very important element, symbolically and economically, of West German regeneration. Heinrich Nordhoff (1899–1968), a former senior manager at Opel who had overseen civilian and military vehicle production in the 1930s and 1940s, was recruited to run the factory in 1948. In 1949 Hirst left the company, now re-formed as a trust controlled by the West German government. Apart from the introduction of the Type 2 commercial vehicle (van, pickup and camper) and the Karmann Ghia sports car, Nordhoff pursued the one-model policy until shortly before his death in 1968.
On its entry to the U.S. market, the VW was briefly sold as a "Victory Wagon". Production of the Type 1 Volkswagen Beetle (German: 'Käfer', US: 'Bug', Mexican: 'Vocho', 'Vochito', French: 'Coccinelle', Portuguese: 'Carocha', Brazilian: 'Fusca',Colombian: 'Escarabajo' Danish: 'Boble, Folkevogn', Polish: 'Garbus') increased dramatically over the years, the total reaching one million in 1954. Despite the fact it was almost universally known as the Beetle, it was never officially known as such, instead referred to as the Type 1. Not until 1998 and the Golf-based New Beetle would the name be adopted by Wolfsburg.
During the 1960s and early 1970s, although the car was becoming outdated, American exports, innovative advertising and a growing reputation for reliability helped production figures to surpass the levels of the previous record holder, the Ford Model T. By 1973 total production was over 16 million.
VW expanded their product line in 1967 with the introduction of several Type 3 models, which were essentially body style variations (Fastback, Notchback, Squareback) based on Type 1 mechanical underpinnings, and again in 1969 with the relatively unpopular Type 4 (also known as the 411 and 412) models, which differed substantially from previous models with the notable introduction of unibody construction, a fully automatic transmission, electronic fuel injection, and a sturdier powerplant. In 1973, Volkswagen introduced the military-themed Thing (Type 181) in America, recalling the wartime Type 81. The military version was produced for the NATO-era German army (Bundeswehr) during the cold war years of 1970 to 1979. The US Thing version only lasted two years, 1973 and 1974, due at least in part to Ralph Nader's automobile safety campaigns.
1974: FROM BEETLE TO GOLF
Volkswagen was in serious trouble by the end of the 1960s. The Type 3 and Type 4 models had been comparative flops, and the NSU-based K70 also failed to woo buyers. The company knew that Beetle production had to end one day, but the conundrum of replacing it had been a never ending nightmare. The key to the problem was the 1964 acquisition of Audi/Auto-Union. The Ingolstadt-based firm had the necessary expertise in front wheel drive and water-cooled engines that Volkswagen so desperately needed to produce a credible Beetle successor. Audi influences paved the way for this new generation of Volkswagens, known as the Polo, Golf and Passat.
Production of the Beetle at the Wolfsburg factory switched to the VW Golf in 1974, marketed in the United States as the Volkswagen Rabbit in the 1970s and as the Golf in the 1980s. This was a car unlike its predecessor in most significant ways, both mechanically as well as visually (its angular styling was designed by the Italian Giorgetto Giugiaro). Its design followed trends for small family cars set by the 1959 Mini and 1972 Renault 5—the Golf had a transversely mounted, water-cooled engine in the front, driving the front wheels, and had a hatchback, a format that has dominated the market segment ever since. Beetle production continued in smaller numbers at other German factories until 1978, but mainstream production shifted to Brazil and Mexico.
FROM 1970S TO PRESENT
While Volkswagen's range of cars soon became similar to that of other large European car-makers, the Golf has been the mainstay of the Volkswagen lineup since its introduction, and the mechanical basis for several other cars of the company. There have been five generations of the Volkswagen Golf, the first of which was produced from the summer of 1974 until the end of 1983, sold as the Rabbit in the United States. Its chassis also spawned the Scirocco coupe and Jetta sedan. The second generation Golf hatchback/Jetta sedan ran from late 1983 to late 1991. In 1991, Volkswagen launched the third-generation Golf and it was third time lucky when the Volkswagen Golf was voted European Car of the Year for 1992. The previous two versions had lost out to the Citroën CX in 1975 and the Fiat Uno in 1984. This time the sedan version of the Golf was badged Vento in Europe (but Jetta in the USA). The fourth incarnation of the Golf arrived in late 1997, its chassis spawned a host of other cars within the Volkswagen group—the Volkswagen Bora (the sedan, still called Jetta in the USA), Volkswagen New Beetle, Seat Toledo, Seat Leon, Audi A3, Audi TT and Skoda Octavia. However, it was beaten into third place for the 1998 European Car of the Year award by the winning Alfa Romeo 156 and runner-up Audi A6. The current Volkswagen Golf was launched in late 2003, came runner-up to the Fiat Panda in the 2004 European Car of the Year, and has so far spawned the new generation Seat Toledo, Skoda Octavia and Audi A3 hatchback ranges as well as a new mini-MPV, the Seat Altea. The fifth-generation Golf is now available in Europe, and the GTI boasts a 2.0 L Turbocharged direct injection engine. The fifth generation Jetta, and the performance version, the GLI, are currently available in the United States and Canada.
The other main models have been the Polo, a smaller car than the Golf, and the larger Passat for the segment above the Golf. As of 2005, there have been four incarnations of the Polo: Mk 1 (1976), Mk 2 (1981, facelifted 1990), Mk 3 (1994, facelifted 1999) and the current Mk 4 (2002). The Scirocco and Corrado were both Golf-based coupés.
In 1998, Volkswagen launched the J Mays-designed New Beetle, a "retro"-themed car with a resemblance to the original Beetle but based on the Golf. Its genesis was secret and in opposition to VW management, who felt it was too backward-looking. It has been popular in the USA, less so in Europe. In 2002, Volkswagen announced two models taking it into market segments new to the company: the Phaeton luxury car, and the Touareg ("tour regg") SUV. The Phaeton was critically acclaimed but not well received in the marketplace. In 2005 VW announced its discontinuance on the US market for fall 2006, mainly due to the disappointing sales there and the need for major investments in the cars line of engines (W12 and V8) to meet new emission requirements. Also, Volkswagen has faced harsh criticism that the Phaeton had used up money that was better invested in their smaller cars. After rising significantly between 1998 and 2002, VW's North American sales began to fall sharply leading to a 2005 loss of roughly $1 billion (U.S.) for its operations in the U.S. and Canada. The reliability of the company's cars appears to bear some of the responsibility for this situation. By the early 00s, its models sat near the bottom of Consumer Reports and J.D. Power reliability rankings.
Volkswagen currently offers a number of its vehicles with an advanced, light duty diesel engine known as the TDI. While extremely popular in the European market, light duty diesels do not yet enjoy the same wide acceptance in the American marketplace, despite increased fuel economy and performance comparable to gasoline engines due to turbocharging. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 4 of the 10 most fuel efficient vehicles available for sale in the U.S. in 2004 were powered by Volkswagen diesel engines. They were a three way tie for 8th (TDI Beetle, TDI Golf, TDI Jetta) and 9th, the TDI Jetta Wagon. Sales of light duty diesel engine technology are increasing as gasoline prices rise. Products such as the Toyota Prius might have highlighted the economy of non-gasoline engines, but in reality, a Volkswagen TDI engine is often found to be more efficient than the Prius on the highway (although not so when driving in the city). In addition, all VAG TDI diesel engines produced since 1996 can be driven on 100% biodiesel.
CURRENT VOLKSWAGEN MODELS
- Golf ($16,030)
- GTI ($21,990)
- Jetta ($17,900)
- New Beetle/New Beetle Convertible ($17,180/$22,120) /
- Passat/Passat Wagon ($22,950/$25,225) /
- Phaeton ($66,700)
- Touareg ($37,410)
CULT STATUS OF THE BEETLE
Like its competitors, the Mini and the Citroën 2CV, the original-shape Beetle long outlasted predictions of its lifespan. More so than those cars, it maintains a very strong following worldwide, being regarded as something of a "cult" car, like the Delorean since its 1960s association with the hippie movement. Currently, there is a wide array of clubs that are concerned with the beetle. The fans are quite diverse. Looks include the resto-look, Cal Look, German-look, resto-Cal Look, buggies, Baja bugs, old school, ratlook, etc. Part of their cult status is attributed to being one of a few cars with an air-cooled, horizontally-opposed engine design and the consequent ease of repair and modification as opposed to the more conventional and technically complex watercooled engine design.
By 2002 there had been over 21 million Type 1's had been produced.
On July 21, 2003, the last Type 1 rolled off the production line in Puebla, Puebla, Mexico. It was car number 21,529,464, and was immediately shipped off to the company's museum in Wolfsburg, Germany. In true Mexican fashion, a mariachi band serenaded the last car in the 68-year-old history. The last car was nicknamed El Rey, which is Spanish for "The King". The last 3000 type 1's were called the "Ultima Edicion" or the last edition.
In the United States, most notably in California, Volkswagen enthusiasts frequent large Volkswagen-themed car shows, especially in the summer months. Many of these shows feature camping, a car show called a "show 'n' shine", drag racing, parts swap meet, raffles, and other events. Die-hard and loyal "VW-heads" attend these shows regularly, often travelling 500 miles or more to attend their favorite event.
In the winter, a group of drivers of the "split window" bus model (1951-1967 Microbusses, trucks, campers, and panel vans) drive from Guerneville, CA, to Mt. Shasta CA, entirely on unpaved jeep roads. This event is called the "Mt. Shasta Snow Trip Challenge" and is a good example of VW enthusiasts' trust in the durability of their often 40-year-old cars.
RELATIONSHIP WITH PORSCHE
The company has had a close relationship with Porsche, the Zuffenhausen-based sports car manufacturer founded in 1931 by Ferdinand Porsche, the original Volkswagen designer. The first Porsche cars, the 1948 Porsche 356, used many Volkswagen components including a tuned engine, gearbox and suspension. Later collaborations include the 1969/1970 VW-Porsche 914, the 1976 Porsche 924 (which used many Audi components and was built at an Audi factory), and the 2002 Porsche Cayenne (which shares engineering with the VW Touareg).
In September 2005, Porsche announced it was buying a 20% stake in Volkswagen at a cost of €3 billion, with the intention that the combined stakes of Porsche, Volkswagen and the government of Lower Saxony ensure that any hostile takeover by foreign investors would be impossible .
MOTORSPORT
In 1966 Volkswagen left the racing starting grid when Formula Vee - circuit racing with cars built from easily available VW Beetle parts - took off in Europe. It proved very popular as a low-cost route into formula racing.
In 1971 Volkswagen moved on to the more powerful Formula Super V, which became famous for hothousing new talent. In the 11 years it ran, until 1982, it produced a stable of world-famous Formula I drivers - names like Niki Lauda, Jochen Mass, Nelson Piquet, Jochen Rindt and Keke Rosberg. Volkswagen also notched up several victories and the championship in Formula 3.
In 1976 Volkswagen enter the under 2000cc Trans Am series with the Scirocco & they won the series outright.
In 1981, now based in Hanover and renamed Volkswagen Motorsport, VW racing took a new direction into rallying. With the launch of the first generation Golf, the sports department masterminded the development of rally cars. At home and abroad, the Golf GTI, in the capable hands of Sweeden's Per Eklund, Frenchman, Jean-Luc Therier and the Finn, Pentii Airikkala, took the racing world by storm.
1986 - VW's 20th anniversary in motor racing in 1986 was a double celebration when Sweden's Kenneth Eriksson won Volkswagen Motorsport the title of Group A World Rally Champions.
From 1997 the company was a big name in national rallying in the UK, taking the British Rally Championship crown with the Golf GTI, and again, two years later with the Golf GTI MkIV. The final chapters in Volkswagen Racing UK's rallying success story were the 'one-make' Castrol Polo Challenge, and the thrilling Polo GTI 'Super 1600' in 2001.
In 2000 Volkswagen starts a one make racing cup with the newly released to Europe New Beetle called the ADAC New Beetle Cup this takes over the ADAC Lupo Cup which was racing since 1998.
In 2001 the department was renamed Volkswagen Racing and since then has concentrated all its efforts on developing its circuit racing championship, the Volkswagen Racing Cup.
In 2003 VW replace the ADAC New Beetle Cup with the newly released Polo to become the ADAC Polo Cup.
In 2004 VW Commercial vehicles enter the European Truck racing series with the Titan series truck it became Back to Back champion for the 2004 & 2005 series.
The Dakar
In 1980 Volkswagen competed in the Paris to Dakar Rally with the Audi developed Iltis, It came 1st 2nd 4th & 9th overall.
In 2003 Volkswagen enters the Dakar once more to reclaim 1st spot and help promote the Touareg.
Volkswagen enlists the great Dakar Champion Jutta Kleinschmidt the 1st female to win the Dakar in 2001 with a Mitsubishi to help design and compete a Dakar Racer.
The 1st entry from the Wolfsburg based team is a FWD buggy named Tarek it placed 6th outright but took 1st in the 2WD & Diesel class.
In 2004 VW enters the newly developed Race-Touareg T2 which is similar to the Mitsubishi Pajero Evo Racers. The Race Touareg finishs 6th overall & 2nd in Diesel class.
In 2005 a updated Race-Touareg T2 with slightly more horsepower is entered, this Race-Touareg with driver Bruno Saby finishs in 3rd overall & 1st in the Diesel class.
In 2006 Volkswagen releases it most powerful Race-Touareg yet the Race-Touareg 2. VW races 5 of these with driver Giniel de Villers finishing in 2nd place overall & 1st in the Diesel class.
Volkswagen Racing all around the World
In China Volkswagen in the Rally scene raced Shanghai-VW Santana & VW Polo and a FAW-VW Jetta, the Polo Cup was even a support to the 1st Shanghai Grand Prix in 2005.
In South Africa Volkswagen in the Rally scene raced Polo,Polo Playa,Citi Golf & Golf. In the circuit scene VW raced the early 1990's Polo Derby/Classic sedan also VW now support the A1 racing series with a A3 vehicle powered by VW. There is also a GTI engined F3 style racing series there to.
In France a French based Volkswagen team entered the 2000 & 2001 Le Mans series with there 2.0 Turbo racer which produced around 356kW/485hp.
In Brazil VW raced all the generations of Gol also the 1980's Voyage & the VW Caminhoes(Trucks) in rally. In circuit racing VW raced the Gol and the Hillmann Avenger rebadged to 1500 also the Trucks were raced as well.
In Australia VW has a very close relationship with Motorsport it was the REDeX and Mobil Trials of the 1950's that propelled VW to be a sales success. In 1999 & 2000 VW won the F2 Australian Rally Championship with the Golf GTI. In 2001 & 2002 VW raced the New Beetle RSI in the GT Performance series, it was close to the top of the board both seasons. In 2003 VW Aust. was the 1st to race and develop the R32 Golf in the 2004 GT Performance series it come 2nd overall.
In Japan VW started a Golf GTI racing series for the newly released MkV Golf in 2005.
In Poland VW races the 2005 Golf V TDI in its own Cup.
Information contains excerpts from Volkswagen Racing UK's website.
CORPORATE STRUCTURE
Main article: Volkswagen Group
Volkswagen is part of the Volkswagen group, along with:
- Audi (the former post-WWII Auto Union/DKW)—bought from Daimler-Benz in 1964.
- NSU—bought in 1969 by Volkswagen's Audi division, a brand not used since 1977
- SEAT—majority owned since 1987
- Škoda—bought in 1991
- Bentley—bought in 1998 from Vickers along with Rolls-Royce -cannot produce cars using the Rolls-Royce marque because the trademarks went to BMW
- Bugatti—name bought in 1998
- Lamborghini —bought in 1998
From July 1998 until December 2002, Volkswagen's Bentley division also sold cars under the Rolls-Royce name under an agreement with BMW, which had bought the rights to that name. From 2003, only BMW may make cars called Rolls-Royce.
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