Week 10 EOC- Volkswagen

Volkswagen Beetle, which was originally called Kafer.

Hitler was responsible for giving the order for the Volkswagen to be produced in 1933.

The Volkswagen Beetle was started by Hitler to be 'The People's Car'. Looking at the way it has changed over the years and the fondness people have for the cute car; would stand to prove Hitler's goal was actually reached.

A Stuttgart based design company, owned and run by Ferdinand Porsche, in April 1934 was given the important task of designing this special car within 10 months.

The price was to be kept as low as possibly, in order to make the car affordable to the masses.

In 1937, the Volkswagenwerk GmbH was created. Volkswagen literally means "car of the people".

In the 1930s, Hitler had forced all Germans to enroll in the German Labor Front, and made them pay membership dues. 10% of those dues went to a branch of the front called "Strength Through Joy," or "Kraft dutch Freude." The branch was in charge of recreation and sports. In Hitler's view, that covered motoring, so funds from Strength Through Joy (KdF) were funneled to build an automobile plant.

At the meeting Hitler was very optimistic but had a few demands before being willing to sign a contract. These were: The car should be able to carry two adults and three children. It should have a cruising speed of 100 km/h. The fuel consumption should not exceed 0,8 liter per 10 km. The engine had to be air cooled. The car should also be able to carry three soldiers and a machine gun!! The price should be less than 1.000 RM.

1955, August 20. 1 million cars produced.

1981, May 15. The 20 millionth bug rolls off the assembly line in South America.

In Mad Men they talked about the Volkswagen Bug Ad for 15 minutes. They mentioned how honest Volkswagen was being about the car being a lemon. In the episode the men mentioned that they didn’t know if they should make fun of Volkswagen for their ad or if they should laugh at the car itself, because it was so small and ridiculous. They did not understand why people were being the car but I think they realized that because Volkswagen was so honest and left their ad layout design so simple that people were buying it. The Volkswagen Beetle was also very affordable to everyone. Volkswagen didn’t need a overly done up ad that distracted the customer from the ad. The simplicity of the ad allowed to actually read what was written on the ad itself. You were able to make a decision on the car just buy looking at the ad. Volkswagen wasn’t trying to hide anything and I think that may be the reason Drapper and the other men were able to have a 15 minute conversation on one car ad. They weren’t sure if they liked it at first because it was different than what they were used to.