BBC Top Gear Magazine

BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO VOLKSWAGEN

Who’s VW, and when did it start making cars?

h come on, you all know the story by now. Back in the Thirties Hitler enlisted Ferdinand Porsche’s help to develop a ‘people’s car’ – literally a – that would help get Germany moving. The car was finished and production began, but then had to be halted almost immediately when war broke out in 1939. British army officer Ivan Hirst is credited with reviving the company after the war and kickstarting mass production of the car that would come to be called the Beetle. Things snowballed, and nowadays VW Group is one of the biggest car companies in the world. It builds cars, motorcycles, vans and trucks

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