Q Is For Quantity

That air-cooled Volkswagens were a resounding international success from the 1950s to the 1970s is a matter of record. But for the real records, a proper look at the quite astonishing quantities is called for

- Richard Gunn / Hans Klapp

One of the most extraordinary things aboutair-cooled VWs is how comprehensivelythey spread across the globe. What was,at the end of World War Two, effectively a ruined factory building cars many regarded as utterly worthless had become a thriving conglomerate within a decade, exporting these same vehicles - and more besides - all over the world. And this was only the start. By the 1960s, VWs were sold in 136 different countries and built in 12 of them, in addition to Germany. It was a remarkable achievement for VW, and while it was the Beetle that spearheaded such impressive quantities, it was ably supported by the many other machines to bear the VW roundel

There were lots of factors involved in Volkswagen’s supremacy, not least planning, organisation, foresight, efficiency, quality, imagination, inspiration… and quite a large dollop of luck. But nothing quite tells the story like the numbers.

From summer 1945, with the war finally at an end, the Wolfsburg factory was under the control of the British Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. It had been extensively bombed and was barely capable of turning out anything at all. Nevertheless, the officer in charge, Major Ivan Hirst saw potential in both the plant and its product; he demonstrated a wartime Beetle to his army bosses who were impressed enough to place an order for 20,000 of these strange little things. Post-war VW manufacture was underway. That first year, amid the bomb craters, shattered windows, caved in roofs, material shortages and general shortages and poverty, 1,785 Beetles somehow made it out of the doors. The next year, 1946, was the first full year of production - with the magic 10,000 just broken (the actual tally was 10,020). This was despite work having to stop whenever it rained, as the factory was so decrepit.