Volkswagen is a German car manufacturer that is based out of Wolfsburg, Germany. The origins of this company date all the way back to the early 1930s. Volkswagen has a very interesting history that not many people are aware of. In 1930s Germany, Adolf Hitler had a very keen interest in cars despite the fact that he could not even drive. Shortly after taking over as the leader of Germany, Hitler contacted his good friend Ferdinand Porsche to help him design a new model car. Ferdinand Porsche had designed a 1931 automobile, Hitler like it very much, but he had some modifications in mind that could be made. He thought that the original 1931 model could be made so it was better suited for the working man. This is how the very first Volkswagen Beetle, with Volkswagen parts in it came into existence.
Porsche decided to name this as the Peoples Car for Hitler.
One of the first changes that they made to the automobile to make Volkswagen parts was to increase and make for better fuel efficiency. They also increased the overall reliability, ease of use, and made the Volkswagen parts much more economically sound for repair purposes. The intention of making these types of modifications was to encourage the people in Germany to save more money and eventually, close to 400,000 people paid into this idea. At this point, the Volkswagen Beetle already had its distinctive round shape and air cooled, flat four, rear mounted engine. The guy who is credited for designing and developing the car body which is recognizable as the Beetle we know today is the longstanding chief designer, Erwin Komenda.
They began building a brand new factory which commenced on May 26, 1938 and was in a new town which is now known as Wolfsburg. This factory was purpose built for the workers, but it only manufactured a handful of cars by the time the war started in 1939. Now of these cars were actually delivered, but one Type 1 Cabriolet was given to Hitler on April 20, 1938 which was his 49th birthday. The war impacted many different aspects of life in Germany as well as many other parts of the world. For the car manufacturing industry, this meant that the production changed to military vehicles. This turned out to be very profitable for the Volkswagen company and for many other car manufacturers as well.
