The history of Volkswagen

The “people’s car” was born back in May 1937 and since then it has grown into one of the most instantly recognizable brands in the whole motoring industry. With cars and vans now on sale around the world, the VW logo has been stamped on a wide range of vehicles, and the brand now own the likes of Audi and Ducati to boot!

With its headquarters in the German city of Wolfsburg – a city created for the workers at the plant prior to the Second World War – and at the end of the war it started producing the Type One. Or, as we would come to know it, the Beetle. This is just one vehicle in the range that can be bought from Volkswagen Mission, TX and other dealerships in the US, because the Beetle captured the imagination of the whole world for its unique styling.

Original sales of the Beetle could’ve gone better it’s safe to say, but between the mid-1940s and mid-1950s, sales surpassed the one million mark. By 1972, it had sold more than 15 million and those in charge decided that it was time to add to the range. Since then, the brand has grown and grown, with more cars rolling off the production line and global success following.

In 1974, they produced the first Golf, the Mark One as it is now known. Unlike the Beetle, this was an instant hit, although the name used in the US and Canada wasn’t quite so successful – it was known as the Rabbit. Later in the same year, VW released their first version of a sports car, the Scirocco. The unique styling and sporty nature of the German machine was another instant hit and the name was soon traveling around the world.

Throughout the 1980s, the focus was on enhancing the reputation of the Volkswagen brand and they began to acquire other manufacturers to help achieve this. They bought out the Spanish manufacturer Seat and also the Czech-based Skoda. When the 1990s arrived, the VW-owned Audi brand was now in direct competition with some of the other big guns, in Germany and around the world, in BMW and Mercedes. This forced Volkswagen’s hand and it was back to the drawing board for a new range of vehicles to help to maintain their strong position in the market.

Eventually, new models were released including their first major off-road vehicle, the Touareg, and new, updated models of the Golf and Scirocco.