1950s VW Beetle Automobile

The first Beetle VWs were produced during the 1930s as part of the Nazi party’s plan for every German family to own their own car.

With Germany defeated in World War II, and the vast bulk of German industry destroyed the future of Volkswagen and the Beetle looked uncertain.

Yet by 1955 the one millionth VW Beetle had been rolled out – a special gold coloured edition.

Following the end of hostilities VW Beetles were built for the occupation British forces. And under the leadership of VW chief Heinz Nordhoff the future of the Beetle for civilian use appeared safe as production rocketed up to 46,000 by the end of 1949.

The VW Beetle of the early 50s had a top speed of 71 mph and could accelerate from 0 to 60 in 27.5 seconds, making it superior to comparable cars. And in 1951 a Beetle powered by a 1.3l diesel engine was tested at the Nurburgring.

Image by Stahlkocher and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

The popularity of the VW Beetle grew beyond the borders of post-war Germany. The car was exported throughout Europe and to the cockpit of world car production, the United States.
 
The Beetle was also assembled outside Germany, the first overseas operation starting in Ireland in 1950.  And in 1953 production started in Brazil.

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