Adolf Hitler was the one who had
idea to build beetle. In order to overcome
Germany's unemployment problem, the Government would build special roads for motor vehicles. He would also produce a people’s
car (car for everyone) which the average man in the street would be able to
purchase. In February 1933 the Nazi party took over the power, and at the very
first cabinet meeting Hitler raised the issue of the special roads. In
September 1933, Work began on these roads. The designs for the Volkswagen were not finished until
1938 and the Volkswagen finally saw the light of day in 1939, unfortunately the
World War 2 caused the production of the Volkswagen stop.
In 1934, Ferdinand Porsche was given the important task of designing
this special car within 10 months. Hitler had certain criteria the car must
meet. The criteria included top speed of 62 mph, fuel consumption of 42 miles
per gallon, air-cooled engine and be able to transport 2 adults and 3 children.
The price should be no more than £86. It was for the latter
reason that Ferdinand Porsche decided on a rear engine- car, then the car was
then known as the Type 60. He experimented with various engine designs; flat
four, vertical four cylinder, two cylinder but none of them proved adequate.
In 1935 an Austrian engineer, who had been working for the
company for less than a year, came up with a design for a flat four engine
within two days of working on the project. After the accountants had checked it
it proved to be the most financially viable option.
The same engine design has driven the Volkswagen Beetle for
the last 60 years.
Ferdinand Porsche had been working on various other cars for
other manufacturers before the Volkswagen and incorporated some older designs
within this new project. Other vehicle designs were utilized for this project, the
backbone chassis and the idea of independent front and rear suspension came
from one and the torsion bar front suspension patented by Porsche back in 1931. The body styling dates back to 1931, to a car called the
Wanderer which never reached production and the only prototype
built was used by Ferdinand Porsche for his personal
transport.
Hitler also had plans for the styling of the Volkswagen, he
is reputed to have said "It should look like a Beetle, you have to look to nature to find out what streamlining is.",
hence the name Beetle. He
also sketched his own design for the Beetle. The designs were completed by 1938, now a factory was needed
to build it.
An area was selected and building commenced early 1938.
Hitler announced the Volkswagen's new name the KdF-Wagen
(Kraft durch Freude-strength through joy car) and the town being built for the factory
workers would be called KdF-Stadt (strength through joy town) named after the leisure section
of the Nazi party.
In
August 1938 it was announced by the head of the German Labour Front that the
basic KdF-Wagen would cost £85 while one fitted with a cloth sunroof would
cost another £5 and the only way to buy one was through instalments. But instead of receiving the car upon the first instalment
you received it after the final one.
By early 1939 the factory was the largest motor factory in
Europe capable of producing 150,000 cars per year, with plans for expansion by 1942 the production
rate potential was 1.5 million cars per year.
Then war broke out and the factory was handed over to the
German Air Force. By this time 630 cars had been built with most of them going
to Nazi officers and Adolf Hitler.
