75 years of the VW Beetle in Switzerland
04/29/2023
On April 29, 1948, AMAG signed the import contract for the "Volkswagen". The first 25 VW Beetles rolled into Switzerland from Wolfsburg at the beginning of May and soon rolled across the nation. A success story took its course. However, there was no question of a plague like the spread of the bark beetle. The picture above shows how, 15 years later, tons of Volkswagens were still being delivered from Wolfsburg to Schinznach. By March 1983, a total of exactly 320,637 Beetles had crawled into Switzerland.
It was foreseeable early on that there would be great demand for new cars in Switzerland. And it was equally certain that the VW Beetle was the ideal car for the mountainous country. So fertile ground awaited the Beetle in Switzerland, and its excellent reputation had long preceded it. The development of the design with its air-cooled rear engine, platform frame and streamlined all-steel body had been followed with interest. One advertising slogan was particularly apt and highlighted the advantage of the air-cooled engine in mountainous regions: "Air doesn't boil, air doesn't freeze."
If you look at photos from the 1950s today, you will notice that whether in cities, on mountain passes or on the shores of lakes, there is one car you will see again and again: the Beetle. There are often dozens of Volkswagens on the most beautiful promenades in Switzerland. The visual impression is not deceptive. As early as 1954, VW achieved a market share of 30 percent with just a single model. This figure later rose to as much as 35 percent. The popularity of the Volkswagen becomes all the clearer when you consider that practically every car manufacturer in the world was represented in Switzerland.
Switzerland was an open market at the time, and the brands competed for the favor of buyers with numerous models. Most of these were won by the VW 1200 in its export version with chrome trim and luxurious interior - a model that played a dominant role for over ten years. In 1954, more than 10,000 vehicles were sold in one year for the first time.
