Volkswagen means 'people's car' and in the 1930's a lot of effort was made in Germany to produce a car that the general population could afford. Along came Ferdinand Porsche, who started his own automotive design company. He produced a number of designs for different manufacturers, but none took off. Not until he met Adolf Hitler, who also had a passionate desire for such a car. Gradually, the 'Beetle' arrived, prototype by prototype. For many years, these prototypes proved inefficient or unreliable and at one point all SS officers were ordered to drive them just to prove to the populace that they were ok.
There was a system in which tickets were bought, collected and exchanged for one of these machines, but the factory producing them turned its production to Military vehicles, particularly the German equivalent of the jeep, which was based on the fledgling people's car. People sued for their cars. After the war, the British took over the factory and built it up to a point where it was producing 10,000 cars in a year. It was the British who named the company Volkswagen and they eventually gave control to the German government in 1949 after offering it to Ford and the French government.
Apart from building 'Beetles', which they were now known as, the company started building transporters. It wasn't long before Volkswagen were exporting: a dealership in the UK, sales to the rest of neighbouring Europe, a factory in South Africa and finally an importer in New York.
Today, the company is renowned for its quality, has produced a new Beetle and has had the incredible success of the Golf.
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Check Volkswagen insurance groups - select a model to start
Whether you currently own a Volkswagen or you are considering buying a model from
the Volkswagen range, it helps if you understand insurance groups and how they affect
your premium.
Insurance group ratings take into account performance, security, damage and parts costs, new
car values, availability of body shells and repair costs and times. What you'll typically
find is that cars in lower insurance groups attract a lower premium, whilst cars in higher
insurance groups attract a higher premium - usually because they are high performance models
or have high repair or replacement costs. Just choose a model to check its insurance group ratings.