Wikipedia Tour: Essential Cars (3 of 20)
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Volkswagen Beetle
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The Volkswagen Type 1 is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen (VW) from 1938 until 2003. The car was originally known as Käfer, the German word for "beetle," from which the popular English nickname originates. It was not until August 1967 that the Volkswagen corporation itself began using the name Beetle in marketing materials in the US.
In Britain, VW never used the name Beetle officially. It had only been known as either the "Type I" or as the 1100, 1200, 1300, 1500, or 1600 which had been the names under which the vehicle was marketed in Europe; the numbers denoted the vehicle's approximate engine size in cubic centimetres. In 1998, many years after the original model had been dropped from the lineup in most of the world (production continued in Mexico until 2003), VW introduced the "New Beetle" (built on a Volkswagen Golf Mk4 platform) which bore a cosmetic resemblance to the original.
Its peculiar styling, underpowered motor, rough ride, and high noise levels compared to modern vehicles might have made it a market failure. In its day, though, it was more comfortable and powerful than most European small cars, and ultimately the longest-running and most-produced automobile of a single design (a record that will not take long to be beaten by its younger "cousin" the Type-2 Bus or Kombi, which is still in production in Brazil, with the same basic characteristics of the first series). It remained a top seller in the US, even as rear-wheel drive conventional subcompacts were refined, and eventually replaced by front-wheel drive models. The Beetle car was the benchmark for both generations of American compact cars such as the Chevrolet Corvair, and subcompact cars such as the Ford Pinto and Chevrolet Vega. In the international poll for the award of the world's most influential car of the twentieth century the Beetle came fourth after the Ford Model T, the Mini, and the Citroën DS.
Contents
- 1 History
- 1.1 "The People's Car"
- 1.2 The military Beetle and production up to 1945
- 1.3 Conflict with Tatra
- 1.4 Post-war production and boom
- 1.5 Diesel
- 1.6 Introduction to the UK
- 1.7 VW Beetle 1967
- 1.8 The Super Beetle and final evolution
- 1.9 The Beetle Cabriolet
- 1.10 Decline and fall
- 1.11 The Beetle in other countries
- 1.12 Beetles In Australia
- 2 Beetle customization
- 3 Beetles in motorsport
- 4 New Beetle
- 5 Phase-out of the original Beetle
- 6 Alternative uses for VW Beetle engines
- 7 Media references, pop culture
- 8 The many names of the Type 1
- 9 References
- 10 See also
- 11 External links
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