It was during the years of the 1940’s, with the German economy suffering from the effects of the Great Depression that hit Europe, when the charismatic political leader, Adolf Hitler, released a command to Ferdinand Porsche to implement alterations on his 1931 car model. The resulting design was intended to be sold to German workers and laborers who were going to avail of the cars by way of “coupons” and financial schemes. This was the time when standard production automobiles were still relatively new and owning one was a novel experience reserved for the rich and the powerful. Thus, cars were notoriously expensive for the pockets of average individuals earning average salary rates. So that when the notion of building cars solely and deliberately with them in mind came out, it was thought by many to be a great idea. Hopes for the emergence of such a vehicle were high until the war started, when a number of private factories and plants came under military supervision and directive. As Hitler caused carnage and devastation all across continental Europe and beyond, German car production immediately turned to military vehicles and trucks. It wasn’t until the post war years, with Porsche chief engineer Erwin Komenda’s considerable skills in car body design that significant developments on the car body construction of the Beetle, which is still recognizable today, would finally arrive.

In the 1950s, campaigns for the VW Beetle were underway and gaining remarkable success in American markets. But by the end of the decade, with newer cars and fresh car designs inundating the market, the Beetle, although made popular still by advertising and marketing brilliance, was fast loosing the market to many of its competitors that emerged over the years, especially to aggressive Asian automotive companies like Toyota and Honda who were able to offer consumers with cars that catered to the new generation that was becoming the main base of the market.

In 1961, a number of Type 3 vehicles were produced by Volkswagen that were, in all actuality, simply semi-variants of the Type 1 platform that Volkswagen had already previously used. The production was part of the company’s intended expansion program. Eight years after, Volkswagen would introduce Type 4 vehicles, resulting to the 1969 VW engine parts that brought unibody construction to the market. On a comparative note with other VW models and VW parts manufactured over the course of the company’s operations, the difference that these 1969 VW parts bore from its forebears, aside from the unibody construction, were the transmission that was completely on automatic, electronic fuel injection feature and a powerplant that was plenty sturdy. Thus, the available 1969 VW parts were thought capable to pull the company out of the mire.

But the Type 3 and Type 4 didn’t succeed in capturing the market. For one, the design was outmoded and consumers now had the money to spend on cars that looked better and cruised just as smoothly. It was the profit conscious 1970s and 1980s that blew the top of Volkswagen’s tradition of conservative car body designs so that they either had to keep up or step out. It seemed trouble was to be inevitable until the answer came in with Volkswagen’s purchase of the Audi/Auto Union. Tagging styling influences from Audi, the new batch of Volkswagen rides, employed better, improved and advanced looks that, unlike the 1968 and 1969 VW cars with their corresponding 1969 VW parts, finally managed to be noteworthy of a chunk of the consumer market.

Image from www.livingbeing.com

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