For Love Of The Automobile: The Volkswagen Group

When I was growing up, my father drove a pale yellow 1967 Volkswagen Beetle. He taught three out of my four brothers how to drive in it--it was named Herbie or "the Bug." My whole family has a lot of fond memories of that car, so when it was unexpectedly stolen out of a local parking lot, we were all devastated.

My fondness for German engineering has continued since then. There is a surprising number of brands that come to us out of the Continent, with some of the most famous names in the auto industry specifically being imported to the United States from Germany.

Names such as Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, BMW (which stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke--yeah, I like it shortened, too), Smart, and the old-timer Opel all come from Germany, along with Volkswagen Group (which is technically called Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft).

Audi, Bentley Motors, and Lamborghini are all names which are covered by the umbrella company that is the Volkswagen Group, and they are soon to be joined by the Porsche line. This automotive powerhouse is based in the city of Wolfsburg in the province of Lower Saxony.

But despite all of these luxury brands integrated into the Group, the Volkswagen brand itself has the highest sales by volume. The translation of "Volkswagen," is "people's car," and their current slogan--"das auto"--simply means "the car," in German.

I am particularly fond of a former catch phrase which read "Aus Liebe zum Automobil," which means, roughly translated, "For Love of the Automobile," but admittedly, the shorter phrase is the catchier of the two.

The history of the Volkswagen Group is a particularly interesting one. The infamous Adolf Hitler had an intense interest in motor vehicles, though he avoided driving himself.
After he ascended to his leadership position in Germany in 1933, he developed a relationship with Ferdinand Porsche in order to make some crucial design changes to Porsche's original 1931 model to make it friendlier to the common man.

By 1938, the Volkswagen Beetle was born! In German, it is called the Volkswagen Type 1 or the VW Kafer--which is, of course, the German word for beetle. The major improvements from Porsche's initial design included better fuel economy (yes, they were concerned about it even then), better reliability, and more efficient parts and cheaper repairs.

Today, VW offers a wide variety of new models that boast high fuel economy and efficiency. The Touareg is a luxury mid-sized SUV which burns on clean diesel; there are even hybrid models now. This is not to mention all of the other popular import models produced by the VW group--and it's all for the love of the automobile!