German Invasion: Remembering the First Volkswagen Beetle Sold in the U.S

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Volkswagen has ranked as the world's second-best selling automaker for three years running, trailing only Toyota with between 8.2 million and 9.3 million vehicles sold each year between 2020 and 2022. The Volkswagen group now includes 10 European brands including Porsche, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, and Ducati. However, the company almost didn't surviveWorld WarII. The auto group got its start and name from Adolf Hitler in May of 1937. He wanted a "people's car" and enlisted Ferdinand Porsche to design the brand's first model. In 1938, Hitler established the city ofStadt des KdF-Wagens ("City of the KdFWagon"), now called Wolfsburg, which was home to the Volkswagen factory there.

During the war, the factory was used to make bombs and military vehicles. When the plant was capturedby Allied forces in April of 1945, nearly 8,000 forced laborers were freed. The damaged factory and city were then handed over to the British after U.S. troops withdrew following Hitler's suicide and Germany's surrender.

British Maj. Ivan Hirst took command of the factory and convinced his superiors that Vollkswagens would work well as light transport. The British Army then responded with an order of 20,000 vehicles - including 1,785 Type Is - in 1945.

The Type I was the car eventually dubbed the Beetle. It would become the most-produced model in automotive history, surpassing the Ford Model T in 1972. According to Autoweek, the Brits found the Type I obnoxious and "quite unattractive to the average motorcar buyer." They even tried to give Volkswagen away to Ford, but Ford's board chairman Ernest Breech declined, saying, "I don't think what we're being offered here is worth a damn!"

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