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VW Celebrates 150,000,000

On Thursday, August 24, a blue Golf GTE rolled off the line at Wolfsburg. Normally, that wouldn’t be cause for celebration, but this GTE was the 150,000,000th car ever produced by VW.

“150 million vehicles – that means we have made the dream of owning a car come true 150 million times for customers all over the world,” said VW CEO, Dr. Herbert Diess. “You and your day-to-day work are the basis for this success. My colleagues on the Board of Management join me in thanking all Volkswagen employees – at all our sites. This anniversary would not have been possible without your commitment.”

It took VW 80 years to reach that milestone. With the first Beetles rolling off the same line in 1945. Eventually 21 million of the bugs would be made, helping considerably in the quest to make this many cars. But it wasn’t the biggest help. Amazingly, the Golf had outsold the Beetle by 2007, and now more than 37 million have been produced in total.

Really, though, it’s the whole lineup that helped bring VW to this point. With 20 million Passats in the world, 19.5 million Jettas, and 17 million Polos all contributing to bring VW to this point. Wolfsburg alone, as the oldest VW plant, has contributed more than 44 million vehicles to the brand’s total.

“[150 million] is a truly incredible number,” said Bernd Osterloh, head of the VW union. “It is 150 million Volkswagens that have taken their drivers hundreds of thousands of kilometers, commuting to work, enjoying leisure time, going on vacation, or traveling on business. This anniversary proves our colleagues have done a splendid job for generations. Here at Volkswagen, we build top-quality cars. And we will continue to do so in future. Our workforce has every reason to be proud of that.”

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