VW Beetle : A car that lived through the ages
The VW Beetle is one car that all of us love and is also one of the best products to have come out of Nazi Germany. This car is not just a car but an emotion to many around the world . Featuring in several films until 2008 , this car was just too good and hardly disliked . It was a car that was contemporary yet met the present day demands . The journey of this car began in Nazi Germany in 1938 , it saw the rise and fall of the Berlin wall , the rise of Arab oil riches , Independence of several colonies , and the end of all bad just to enter into an era of peace , indeed it was a good charm to earth.
The need of this kind of car that would travel through several decades was formulated by Adolf Hitler. Hitler wanted a car that could seat two adults and three children , travel at 100kmph and yet consume only 7litres of fuel for 100kms. To create such an engineering masterpiece, he contracted Ferdinand Porsche to creat a simple , cheap , yet appealing car that could be mass produced for the growing autobahn of Germany. Ferdinand Porsche took several influences from contemporary cars like the Tatra 570 and the result was one of the first rear engined cars of its time .
For the first time in 1933 3 prototypes of the car were built by Porsche but were destroyed in the war . In 1936 the first batch of 38 cars were commissioned for the German Afrika Korps but this time was built by Daimler Benz for Porsche . These cars code named the W30 were built over the Type 1 originally designed by Porscheand it set foot on African soil to support the German Afrika Korps . The cars were so light that they could float on the water. The W30 had a distinctive round shape and had a rear mounted air could straight four engine. The German government saw the demand for the car in its people and began first production in 1939. The car was renamed the Type 166 and was in production until the American army bombed the production facility in 1944.
Later in 1945 the America began withdrawing its troops in Germany and gave all that it possessed to the British Government.
The British government commissioned a troop headed by Hirst to retrieve an unexploded bomb . Major Ivan Hirst saw the economic boom this car would give to the German nation and began its production . Hirst persuaded the British army
The VW was being sold in several countries and sales proved to be extremely successful . Beginning from the 1960s Japanese cars had become a serious threat for the sales of the Beetle. The Japanese had perfected the art of rear engined vehicles and cost of production was much lesser in Japan. To compete in the market VW began attempts to boost the power of the air cooled motor for better highway speeds , then abide to the new pollution control rules , all this caused problems for reliability and fuel efficiency that ruptured the reputation the car had built over the years.
By now VW had added few more cars to their lineup like the Golf and Polo. Both Polo and Golf didn't cause much trouble to the Beetle. The production of the Beetle continued in small numbers in German factories until January 1978 . Mainstream production of the Beetle had now shifted to Brazil and Mexico . Beetle sedans were produced for US markets until 1977 and European markets until 1981, with private companies importing cars from Mexico until 1985.
Brazil stopped production of the Beetle in 1986 and once began in 1993 only to end again in 1996. All this while Beetles were still being produced in Mexico and sub variants called SuperBugs were being sold. Beetle by now was proving its name as it was a very common sight in Mexico , right from taxis to cop cars were all Beetles.
By 2002 a record breaking 21 million Beetles were produced breaking the 16 million mark which was previously in the name of the Ford Model T . But by 2003 production had dropped to 30,000 per annum . In July 2003 the last batch of Beetles were produced. These were named as the Ultima Edicion (Final Edition). These 30 cars were perfect replicas of the Type 1s that were produced in 1930s.
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| Ultima Edicion Beetle Type1 |
The very last that car rolled out of the production line at Puebla , Mexico VW Beetle (No. 21,529,464) was sent to the Museum of Volkswagen . The car had become an emotion for the people of Mexico that ads to bid farewell were being telecasted. In one of the ads was a very small parking space , which other big cars tried to use , but could not fit , finally a message appeared saying "it is incredible such a small car an leave such a big void ".
The story of the Beetle is one such story where the car is assumed to be an emotion
more than a thing .
And once again in 2005 the New Beetle went back into the Puebla factory in Mexico , its home the place where it belonged , yet again to captivate hearts of the people.
By Vaibhav Krishna
