Volkswagen Beetle

The Beetle was a subcompact car marketed by Volkswagen from the fifties to seventies. It was the company's first car. It was first built by Ferdinand Porsche for Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler as the "Volk's Wagen", or "People's Car", aka an automobile that anyone could afford. Ironically in the fifties onward the car became phenomenal worldwide, especially in sixties-seventies America. The Beetle became popular amongst college students for its small size and great gas mileage, handy during the Oil Crisis of 1973.This made the car especially popular with the hippies of the day. Because of World War II the Beetle's design resembled that of thirties cars. In the seventies a more powerful Super Beetle model was introduced. The Beetle was competitive in touring car racing, including the under two liter category of the Trans Am Series. The Beetle's popularity led to it being used in a film known as The Love Bug, in which a couple purchases a Beetle and proceeds to use it in racing, only to discover it has a mind of its own and helps them become phenomenally competitive. The film was a success and spawned a few also successful sequels. The series was revived decades later, but those movies flopped. The Beetle formed the basis for the Italian-designed Volkswagen Kharmann-Ghia. The Beetle was discontinued in the seventies but was continued in Mexico until the eighties. A "New Beetle" was created in 1997, albeit much different. It only vaguely resembled the original. It was also front-engined instead of the rear-engined original. It was not barebones like the original, also meaning it was more expensive. It was also a compact car, not a subcompact (i.e. it was larger). Overall it was just a gimmicky-looking Golf. The word "New" was also kept even after it had been marketed for several years. Eventually the word was dropped. Volkswagen has now dropped the New Beetle, with the media calling it the dropping of the "iconic Beetle" despite this Beetle being an entirely different car.