Volkswagen has three cars in the top 10 list of best-selling cars of all time compiled by the website 24/7 Wall St: the Volkswagen Golf, the Volkswagen Beetle, and the Volkswagen Passat. With these three cars, Volkswagen has the most cars of any automobile manufacturer in the list that are still being manufactured.[1] Volkswagen ranks third in spending the most money of any automaker on research and development as of 2011.[2]
Volkswagen means "people's car" in German. Its current slogan is Das Auto ("The Car").
The Volkswagen Beetle, officially called the Volkswagen Type 1 (or informally the Volkswagen Bug), is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen (VW) from 1938 until 2003. The car was conceived as a cheap simple car, and it was commissioned by Adolf Hitler and designed by Ferdinand Porsche.[6] With over 21 million manufactured (21,529,464)[7] in an air-cooled, rear-engined, rear-wheel drive configuration, the Beetle is the longest-running and most-manufactured car of a single design platform, worldwide.
The Volkswagen New Beetle is a compact car, introduced by Volkswagen in 1997, drawing heavy inspiration from the exterior design of the original Beetle. Unlike the original Beetle, the New Beetle has its engine in the front driving the front wheels, with luggage storage in the rear. Many special editions have been released, such as the Malibu Barbie New Beetle.[1] In May 2010, Volkswagen announced that production of the current body of the New Beetle would cease in 2011.[2]
The Volkswagen New Beetle was the car that started the retro-futurist design craze. It was a modernized version of the legendary VW Beetle and struck a chord