Building Beetles
Producing the "People's Car" of Germany
Alex Q. Arbuckle
1945-1960
In 1934, looking to put a motorized vehicle in the garage of every German family, Adolf Hitler contracted automotive engineer Ferdinand Porsche to develop a “people’s car,” practically called a Volkswagen.The Volkswagen would need to be capable of carrying a family of five at sustained speeds of 62 miles per hour, with a fuel efficiency of 32 miles per gallon. It would also need to be inexpensive to fix and replace worn-out parts.Ferdinand Porsche developed several prototypes of a model called the “Type 60.” Featuring a rear-mounted, air-cooled engine and a distinctive bulbous shape, the prototypes were test-driven for nearly 2 million miles. A factory was built in Fallersleben (later renamed Wolfsburg) to mass produce the cars, with Hitler himself laying the cornerstone in 1938. During World War II, the factory was devoted to producing military transport vehicles.After the war’s conclusion in 1945, British Army Major Ivan Hirst was tasked with controlling the bombed-out factory. He convinced the British military to order 20,000 cars, and soon the factory was producing 1,000 per month. The Volkswagen came to be known as the “Beetle” for its rounded appearance. In the following decades, production of the Beetle ramped up, and it became one of the most popular and recognizable cars in the world. By the time the last Beetle rolled off the assembly line in 2003, over 21.5 million had been built. These pictures show the efficient and productive process which made the Beetle ubiquitous on streets worldwide. They also show a company at the height of its reputation, long before its current scandal cheating emissions standards.
