Most of us are familiar with the most prominent car brands since our childhood, which doesn't mean we know their stories and their secrets half as well as we think we do. Style Auto pre-owned car dealership in Laval, your car dealer from Laval, near Montreal and Saint-Jerome, wants to let you know about some secrets of a mythical brand: Volkswagen.
The car of the people
Volkswagen is mostly known for having invented the car made for the people with its legendary Beetle. Since then, the brand diversified into several distinct models, including luxury's.
Adolf Hitler's idea
Although Adolf Hitler is universally despised today, he's the man behind the creation of Volkswagen in 1937. He wanted to make this brand more popular in Germany where cars were still fairly uncommon.
Porsche behind Volkswagen
In order to execute Hitler's idea, Ferdinand Porsche -- that we know today for his famous brand of the same name -- built the Beetle.
In the justice court
In 1936, a Czechoslovak car manufacturer sued Porsche's team for plagiarizing its design made by Hans Ledwinka. The case was only settled 25 years later, in 1961.
An official name
It's only in 1938 that the company adopted the name Volkswagenwerk GmbH. The first factory was opened at Kdf-Stadt, city that would be renamed Wolfsburg in 1945.
The VW Beetle: a legend
This car was produced for 65 years (from 1938 to 2008) due to its extraordinary popularity worldwide. Volkswagen sold 21 millions cars from this model that had its only major facelift in 1998.
An international name
The Beetle's name changed from a country to another to adapt to the national language. One of these names were the Bug, the Coccinelle, the Cucaracha and the Pulga.
Think small
In 1959, the Beetle became even more famous with its slogan "Think small". According to Medium, this slogan changed everything for Volkswagen.
Beetle's babies
Empowered by its success, Volkswagen launched in 1964 a campaign called "Bonds for Babies Born in Beetles". The manufacturer was literally offering money to children born in one of its cars!
The most produced car
In 1972, Volkswagen won the title for the most produced car worldwide, taking the crown from Ford with over 15 millions units.
A wake-up call Beetle's sales started to decline in 1973, forcing Volkswagen to innovate, which led the company to introduce the Passat, Golf, Scirocco and Polo's models.
A fake rumor
The rumor saying that Volkswagen cars were inspired from the wind is false. The manufacturer denied it.
Beatles and the Beetle
The famous music band used a white Beetle with the license plate LMW 281F on the back of one of their albums.
A success on the stock market
In 2008, Volkswagen was the best stock on the market for a day. Because of the climate of uncertainty, its value peaked at 370 billions dollars.
A vehicle that made its time
The old Microbus Type 2 from the 50's was produced until 2013. That makes it the vehicle with the longest uninterrupted production period ever (63 years).
The fastest car
The fastest car sold by Volkswagen (through its subsidiary Bugatti) is the Veyron Super Sport that can reach 430 km/h!
A gigantic group
Since its creation, Volkswagen bought several other brands (12) and now sells its cars under different banners like Porsche, Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Skoda. In fact, 1 in 10 cars sold worldwide is from the Volkswagen group.
A tremendous success
Thanks to its perseverance and its boldness, Volkswagen beat for the first time (in 2016) its competitor Toyota and took the crown of the best-selling car manufacturer with 10.31 millions vehicles sold.
Style Auto pre-owned car dealership in Laval, near Montreal and the North Shore, knows a lot more about Volkswagen than what you just read. You should pay a visit to its welcoming and expert team from Monday to Friday, between 9 AM and 9 Pm, or on Saturday from 9 AM to 5 PM. And enjoy our in-house financing services.
Posted in on Feb 25, 2018
