The VW Beetle Story

The KdF car, a German acronym for Strength Through Joy, was conceived by Adolf Hitler's Third Reich as a true German 'people's car'. There is precious little in the legacy of 1930s Nazi Germany that is positive, but after the Second World war - and with a little help from the British - the Volks Wagen really did help put the average man on the road in a car, designed by the great Ferdinand Porsche, that was reliable and well-built. First it set benchmarks for customer satisfaction across Europe, and sales soared.