50 years ago, the Volkswagen Beetle became "World Champion".
17-02-2022 20:55 - EVENTS
At approximately 1:45 pm on February 17, 1972, the Beetle number 15.007.034 broke the production record previously held by the Ford Model T. To celebrate the achievement, the Volkswagen created a special series of the Beetle, called Der Weltmeister (the world champion, in German). The remarkable sales figures of Volkswagen par excellence, they made it possible to invest in the future and write a new history of success with the 1974 Golf.
At the beginning of the 70s, the then Volkswagenwerk AG was in a phase of renovation. The company had to overcome great challenges: competition increasingly fierce, saturated markets and the new needs of customers led to a market environment hard. The House of Wolfsburg stood countering the first signs of crisis with cost reduction measures in operations in progress. On the other hand, the company was also investing heavily in a new range of models that, with the Golf as the leader, he should have put Volkswagen back on the road to success. Instead of the proven air-cooled boxer engine, the new generation of models would have been equipped with water-cooled front engines. A true revolution in the Wolfsburg car production.
This investment in the future, including the change in design philosophy, was made possible by a single model: the Beetle. In that big time renovation, shortly before leaving the automotive stage to his heir, the Golf, the Beetle reached a notable milestone: in hall 12 of the Wolfsburg plant, a Beetle 1302 S rolled off the production line around at 1.45 pm on February 17, 1972. It was specimen number 15.007.034 assembled in series, which thus broke the production record of the Model T, built by Ford Motor Company from 1908 to 1927.
Mass-produced since December 1945, the Beetle thus became the new “champion of the world ”in terms of the number of units. A remarkable achievement for a model for the which international automobile experts had not foreseen a long future after the end of the Second World War. Heinrich Nordhoff himself, who took over the Volkswagen factory in January 1948, he was initially skeptical of the Beetle. Designed in the 1930s, the Volkswagen par excellence still had a number of outdated flaws, but these they were downplayed by constant model improvements. Volkswagen, a lot as reliable as it was cheap, it quickly became a bestseller not only in Germany western, but also a symbol of the German economic miracle in many markets of export. Already on August 5, 1955, the production anniversary of one million was celebrated of units. In November 1958, a jury of representatives of the top five American engineering associations awarded Ferdinand Porsche (posthumously), as well as to Heinrich Nordhoff and the entire workforce of the Volkswagen factory, the Elmer Prize Sperry for their contributions to design, manufacture and distribution of Volkswagen. Never before has this award for outstanding achievements in the field transportation had gone to non-Americans or industry representatives automotive.
Nine years later, on November 29, 1967, the ten millionth Beetle rolled off the line production and on February 17, 1972 the milestone of 15 million was passed. This day work became a party: the final assembly line and the Beetle 1302 S record blue were decorated with flowers and the then Prime Minister of Volkswagen Board Rudolf Leiding gave a speech to celebrate the great result.
Customers were also able to celebrate, with a special model Der Weltmeister (the world champion, in German) launched especially for the occasion: how thanks from Volkswagen, the limited series was offered in sales promotion from February 19 to March 31, 1972. The orders proved right to the idea: more than 6,000 customers took advantage of the offer. The wide range of features of the Beetle Der Weltmeister was truly remarkable. The Colors department e Fabrics had gone to great lengths to create a special color tone, to which the designer Gunhild Liljequist gave it a very apt name: Marathon metallic.
Further strengths compared to the basic 1302 version were the Lemmerz sports rims Weltmeister, the halogen headlights, the double horn, the reversing lights, the heated rear window, the seats in black corduroy, the dashboard upholstery, but also practical extras such as footwell mats and protective rubber bands on the bumpers. As bonus, buyers of the "world champion" received a fascinating selection of celebratory items: in addition to a factory certificate, there was a sticker, a keychain, a pendant and a gold medal with the inscription Der Weltmeister.