The actual birth oft he VW Beetle, the well-known predecessor of the Porsche 356, is even before the 2nd WW, however the real production of one of the most iconic cars everstarts after the 2nd WW. After a rather slow start and minor production capacity, the Wolfburg factory increases efficiency, with as a direct result an increases production capacity too. As soon as 1953 the total production number of 500.000 VW Beetle’sis reached, just 2 years later the 2 million mark can be shown to the world. The simple design of a car with the flat-4 engine is a truesuccess, in the end even beating the production numbers of the other early mass production car, the Ford T.
Nowadays it is hard to imagine what the mass-production of a car meant back in the fifties. Everybody knows about the highly computerized and sophisticated production environments of the recent cars, but 60 years ago that was a completely different story. Is there a better way to make you experience the spirit of the early of the VW Beetle, than showing you the pictures of the factory, the production lines, and the people who build them.
Delius Klasing
2013-10
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