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Rewind: 60 Years Ago This Week, Volkswagen Hit One Million Cars

  • The one-millionth Volkswagen was manufactured on 5 August 1955
  • At that time, only Beetle, Beetle convertible and the Transporter were being produced

The one-millionth Volkswagen was manufactured ten years after the war ended. At that time this was a respectable record, but in 1963 Volkswagen celebrated their ten millionth vehicles, and a success story without parallel had begun.

As on Volkswagen reached one million August 5, 1955, the company celebrated with a huge party. The star of this anniversary festival at the factory stadium was a golden Beetle, decorated with rhinestones on the chrome parts and the standard oval rear window. Thousands of workers and their guests gathered at the celebration, and were treated to a show with performances from all exporting countries.

Few had believed in such a success, as the production had only started in late 1945. But there was plenty of visionaries among machine operators and executives who gave everything for their product. In just ten years the first million was cracked- Most of which was due to the success of the Beetle (Type 1) and its convertible offshoot, the remainder coming from the Transporter (Type 2). The brand’s meteoric rise was not without downsides, and a young distribution network left Volkswagen dealers suffering from long delivery times.  This was in part rectified with a boost in production output, helping Volkswagen to achieve their ten millionth car just 8 years later.

1973-1975 triggered modern, front-wheel drive vehicles – Polo, Golf, Scirocco and Passat- and the success story continued to break records with an ever-widening model portfolio.  Today Volkswagen is a global company, with more than 200 million vehicles produced.

The post Rewind: 60 Years Ago This Week, Volkswagen Hit One Million Cars appeared first on VWVortex.



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