50 Fun Facts About Volkswagen

In which German city is Volkswagen headquartered?

The town was purpose-built for the factory's workers in 1938 and originally called Stadt des KdF-Wagens.

What does the name Volkswagen mean in German?

The Volks- prefix was also stuck on other products of the era, such as the Volksempfänger radio.

Which organisation established Volkswagen in 1937?

It was part of the Strength Through Joy leisure programme, which also ran tours and outings.

Which designer built the 1933 Volksauto prototype that led to the original Volkswagen?

His car had an air-cooled rear engine, torsion-bar suspension and a rounded 'beetle' shape for aerodynamics.

The 1934 specification called for a car carrying two adults and three children at what speed?

It was to cost 990 Reichsmarks, about the price of a small motorcycle at the time.

Roughly how many Germans paid into the pre-war savings scheme to buy a KdF-Wagen?

Not one of them received a car; a lawsuit settled in the 1960s gave savers a discount on a new VW instead.

The pre-war Volkswagen was known by what name, from the Nazi leisure programme?

Prototypes appeared in 1938 with the round shape and air-cooled flat-four engine already in place.

Who developed the body of the prototype that became the recognisable Beetle?

It was one of the first cars shaped with help from a wind tunnel, a technique borrowed from German aircraft design.

What was Volkswagen's most common wartime model?

The amphibious Schwimmwagen was the other military variant built for German forces.

Which British Army officer took control of the bombed factory in 1945 and restarted production?

He repainted a wartime car green, showed it to Army headquarters, and won an order for 20,000 vehicles.

How many cars did the British Army order from the factory in September 1945?

Production stopped whenever it rained because of roof and window damage, and cars were bartered for steel.

Which American company was offered Volkswagen free of charge in 1948 and turned it down?

Chairman Ernest Breech told Henry Ford II the offer wasn't 'worth a damn'.

Which former Opel manager was recruited in 1948 to run Volkswagen and pursued a 'one-model' policy?

He kept the focus on the Type 1 saloon until shortly before his death in 1968.

How many Volkswagens were sold in the United States in 1949, the first year they were offered there?

The car was briefly marketed in America as the Victory Wagon.

In which year did total production of the Type 1 reach one million?

Volkswagen of America had been formed in April that year to organise US sales and service.

Which New York advertising agency created Volkswagen's famous 1960s campaigns?

Art director Helmut Krone and copywriters Julian Koenig and Bob Levinson made the ads as popular as the car.

What was the Beetle's official factory designation, since VW never officially used the nickname?

The Type 2 was the van, pick-up and camper.

Whose production record did the Beetle break on 17 February 1972?

The 15,007,034th car sold that day made it the most-produced single make of car in history.

Volkswagen's first limited-edition Beetle, sold in the US in 1972, was named after which race?

The 'Baja Champion SE' came in Marathon Blau metallic paint with magnesium-alloy wheels.

Which company did Volkswagen acquire in 1964, giving it the dormant Audi brand?

NSU followed in 1969; merging the two created the modern Audi and brought VW front-wheel-drive know-how.

The 1971 Super Beetle differed from the standard car mainly by adopting which front suspension?

The change, plus a longer nose so the spare tyre could lie flat, gave more front luggage space.

The military-styled Type 181 of 1973 was sold under which name in America?

It recalled the wartime Type 82 and lasted just two model years in the US.

The 1973 Passat, first of VW's water-cooled generation, was a fastback version of which car?

It was sold in the US as the Dasher and shared many body and mechanical parts with its Audi twin.

Which Italian designer styled both the Scirocco and the first Golf?

The Scirocco was built at Karmann because Volkswagen's own plants were full.

Under what name was the first-generation Golf sold in the United States and Canada?

The name came back for the fifth generation in 2006-2009; in Latin America the car was the Caribe.

The 1975 Polo began life as a rebadged version of which car?

The Audi original was discontinued in 1978 while the Polo went on for generations.

Near which Pennsylvania town did Volkswagen build Rabbits from 1978 to 1988?

Chairman Carl Hahn closed the Westmoreland plant on 14 July 1988 as US sales slid.

VW's first-generation hatchback lived on for decades in South Africa under what name?

It used tooling shipped from the closed Pennsylvania plant.

Which Spanish carmaker did Volkswagen take a majority stake in during 1986 and buy outright in 1990?

A cooperation agreement had been signed four years earlier in 1982.

Which designer's 1994 Concept One led to the New Beetle?

The concept sat on the Polo platform, but the production car moved up to the Golf's.

The 1995 Sharan MPV came from a joint venture with which company?

The same project produced the Ford Galaxy and SEAT Alhambra.

The 1999 '3-litre' version of which city car was billed as the world's most fuel-efficient?

It could cover 100 km on three litres of diesel, about 78 mpg (US).

Volkswagen's first SUV, the Touareg, was developed in partnership with which brand?

The Porsche Cayenne and Audi Q7 share its chassis, and all three are built at the same plant in Bratislava.

The Routan minivan of 2008 was a rebadged version of which vehicle?

VW had no van for North America after deciding not to export the T5.

In which US city did Volkswagen complete a new assembly plant in May 2011?

It was VW's first American factory since Westmoreland closed in 1988, and it started with the Passat B7.

Which US body issued the 2015 notice of violation that began the diesel emissions scandal?

About 11 million cars worldwide carried software that switched emissions controls on only during lab tests.

By what factor could affected VW diesels exceed their test-bench NOx output in real-world driving?

The June 2016 US settlement of up to $14.7 billion was one of the largest consumer class actions in American history.

Volkswagen's all-electric I.D. R set an all-time course record in 2018 at which event?

Romain Dumas covered the course in just under eight minutes.

In March 2021 Volkswagen briefly claimed it was renaming its American division to what?

The stunt turned out to be a hoax, but the Associated Press and others reported it as real.

Which off-road brand did Volkswagen confirm it was relaunching as an EV maker in May 2022?

It is the first time VW has created a new brand based solely in the US market.

Above what price did the 2008 Porsche short squeeze push VW shares, briefly making it the world's most valuable company?

Porsche held 42.6% of shares plus options on 31.5% more, leaving hedge funds almost nothing to buy back.

The 1999 Car of the Century poll ranked the Beetle fourth. Which car came first?

The Mini and the DS took second and third.

Which driver won four consecutive World Rally Championships (2013-2016) in the Polo R WRC?

Co-driver Julien Ingrassia shared all four titles.

Which single-seater series, started in the US in 1963, was built from cheap Beetle parts?

Its Formula Super Vee successor launched the careers of Niki Lauda, Nelson Piquet and Keke Rosberg.

Which German football club is owned by Volkswagen?

The club plays in the company's home town.

Which American war correspondent drove a captured Volkswagen for a few days in Tunisia in May 1943?

VW admitted in 1998 that it used 15,000 slave labourers during the war; historians estimate 80% of its wartime workforce was forced labour.

What name did the US market use for the Type 3 Variant estate introduced in 1961?

The four Type 3 models of 1961 were the Karmann Ghia, Notchback, Fastback and Variant, all on new Type 3 underpinnings.

Which model was Volkswagen's best-selling globally according to its 2022 annual report?

By 2019 every fourth Volkswagen delivered was an SUV, and the company aimed for more than 30 SUV models by 2025.

Which VW model of 2003 was Brazil's first full flexible-fuel car, running on any petrol-ethanol blend?

The Gol 1.6 Total Flex restored consumer trust after Brazil's pure-ethanol fiasco, helped by over 30,000 fuelling stations from the Pró-Álcool programme.

In which Algerian town did Volkswagen launch a factory announced at a 2016 Merkel summit?

The plant builds the Golf Mk7, Polo, Caddy, SEAT Ibiza and Škoda Octavia for the local market.