Germany’s Regeneration
By 1946 the factory was producing 1,000 cars a month, a remarkable feat considering it was still in disrepair. Due to roof and window damage, rain stopped production and steel to make the cars had to be bartered for new vehicles. From 1948, Volkswagen became a very important element, symbolically and economically, of West German regeneration. Heinrich Nordhoff, a former senior manager at Opel who had overseen civilian and military vehicle production in the 1930s and 1940s, was recruited to run the factory in 1948. Apart from the introduction of the Type 2 commercial vehicle (van, pickup and camper) and the Karmann Ghia sports car, Nordhoff pursued the one-model policy until shortly before his death in 1968. Volkswagens were first exhibited and sold in the United States in 1949, but only sold two units in America that first year. On its entry to the U.S. market, the VW was briefly sold as a "Victory Wagon". Volkswagen of America was formed in April 1955 to standardize sales and service in the U.S. Production of the Type 1 Volkswagen Beetle increased dramatically over the years, the total reaching one million in 1955.
Modern Volkswagen
Volkswagen began introducing an array of new models after Bernd Pischetsrieder became Volkswagen Group CEO (responsible for all Group brands) in 2002. The GTI, a "hot hatchback" performance version of the Golf, boasts a 2.0 L Turbocharged direct injection engine. VW began marketing the Golf under the Rabbit name once again in the U.S. and Canada in June 2006. (The GTI had arrived to North America four months earlier.) The fifth-generation Jetta, and the performance version, the GLI, are also available in the United States and Canada. The sixth-generation Passat and the fifth-generation Jetta both debuted in 2005, and VW has announced plans to expand its lineup further by bringing back the Scirocco by 2008. Other models in Wolfgang Bernhard's (Volkswagen brand CEO) "product offensive" include the Tiguan mid-sized SUV in 2008 and a Passat Coupé. In North America, VW faced many challenges. After rising significantly between 1998 and 2001, VW's North American sales began to fall sharply leading to a 2005 loss of roughly $1 billion (U.S.) for its operations in the U.S. and Canada. Volkswagen is recognized as one of the leading small diesel engine manufacturers, and is partnering with Mercedes and other companies to market BlueTec clean diesel technology. Volkswagen has offered a number of its vehicles with a TDI (Turbo Direct Injection) engine, which lends class-leading fuel economy to several models. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, four of the ten most fuel-efficient vehicles available for sale in the U.S. in 2004 were powered by Volkswagen diesel engines.
All in all, you can see how well Volkswagen’s reliability, fuel efficiency, and sale make up a good chunk of all of North America’s car sales. You can also see that VW is an international company that has been international since the 1940’s.
