24 What is VW's heritage?
Description
This article is from the Watercooled VWs General FAQ, by Jan Vandenbrande with numerous contributions by others.
24 What is VW's heritage?
A: [By Jan & Rauhut]:
VW was founded by the controversial Adolf with the goal to make
an affordable and reliable car available to everyone.
That's also where the name came from, Volkswagen litterally meaning
"People's car". There were other similar efforts, such as the "Volks" radio,
but only the car remained until now.
In May 1938 VW built the first factory nearby Fallersleben, which
is now Wolfsburg. Prof. Ferdinand Porsche designed the first Beetle in
the thirties. The beetle was presented by the Nazis as "Kraft durch Freude"
"Strength through Joy" car, which was a part of the Nazis philosophy. Due to the
WWII VW did not sell much beetles until 1945. After WWII VW sold altogether
15.235.200 Beetles.
VW produced some other air cooled, rear-wheel drive cars. The VW 1500,
VW 1600 were produced from 1961 until 1973. They looked like a long
beetle, VW managed to sell 2.583.015 units. The VW 411, VW 412 were
produced from 1986 until 1974, 355.200 units were sold.
In the late 60s, VW realized it needed to diversify its product
line and acquired a number of companies such as NSU (1970) and
Audi (1969). Audi (Audi NSU Auto Union) was summary of the companies
Audi, part of NSU, DKW and Auto-Union. In the early 80's VW acquired the
Spanish SEAT (pronounced Say-Ath), and in the late 80's Skoda after the
Berlin wall came tumbling down.
NSU had a few interesting products such as the K70 and Ro80.
The K 70 was developed by NSU, Neckarsulm, in 1969, and VW
sold the K 70 as the VW K70 from 1970 until 1974. Altogether
210.082 units were sold.
The K70 was sold with two different engines: 1.6l with 75 hpwr and
1.8l with 100 hpwr. The VW K70, developed by NSU, was the first VW with
a water cooled engine and first front-wheel drive car.It resembled a
boxy version of the first Jetta.
Another one of NSU interesting products was the Ro80, probably the
first production car with a Wankel (rotary) engine. The Ro80 was sold
from 1967 until 1974, 33910 Units were sold. The Ro80 had a 0.5l(!) engine
with 115 hpwr. Its production was stopped due to persistent problems,
but was at the time a very innovative and modern looking car.
Probably the most lasting influence to the VW product line was made
by Audi whose Audi 50 become the start of their new line of cars.
The Audi 50 become known as the first VW Polo, and many of the drive
train components are shared between VWs and Audis to this date.
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