




1934 First exposé on the construction of the German Volkswagen by Ferdinand Porsche. Construction of the first prototypes and test drives by Porsche. 1937 Foundation of the ‘Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Volkswagens’ GeZuVor. Laying of the foundation stone of the factory near Fallersleben in 1938. Designation as ‘Kraft durch Freude Wagen’, KdF-Wagen. 1940 Start of production of the Kübelwagen. 1940-1945 Production of armaments, Kübelwagen and Schwimmwagen and approx. 650 VW saloons. From the end of 1945, production of the Type 11 (Beetle) begins under British management. Renaming of the site to Wolfsburg. 1948 Appointment of civilian management with VW Director Dr Heinrich Nordhoff. VW exports to Holland and Belgium from 1947 and to Switzerland from 1948. 1949 Handover of the plant to the federal state of Lower Saxony. Export model and cabriolet (Karmann and Hebmüller). 1950 Start of VW Type 2 Transporter production. 1954 Establishment of VW's own sales organisation in the USA. 1955 Debut of VW Karmann-Ghia and celebration of one million Beetles. 1956 Opening of a Transporter plant in Hanover. 1961 Presentation of VW Type 3, VW 1500. 1964 Opening of an assembly plant in Puebla Mexico. 1964 Takeover of Auto Union from Daimler-Benz. Re-introduction of the Audi brand in 1966. 1969 Takeover of NSU. 1972 VW Beetle becomes the most-built car in the world ahead of the Ford T. Launch of the VW Golf in 1974, which replaces the Beetle as the bestseller. 1998 Takeover of Bentley. 1999 Presentation of the Lupo 3 litre and 2001 of the VW Phaethon with W12 engine. In 2008, Porsche Holding attempted to acquire a majority stake in Volkswagen. After failure, VW takes over the car manufacturer Porsche AG in 2009. 2017 Presentation of an electrification programme for the vehicle fleet in the wake of the diesel scandal. Debut of the ID family in 2019.