Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ix

Chapter One

Birth of a Menace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter Two

Beetles in Warpaint. . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Chapter Three

The Factory and its Survival . . . . . . 77

Chapter Four

Britain Meets the Beetle . . . . . . . . 117

Chapter Five

Assessment by the Americans . . . . 155

Chapter Six

The French Nearly Prevail . . . . . . . 189

Chapter Seven

Australia, Belgium, Russiaand Other Contenders . . . . . . . . . . 221

Ferdinand Porsche opened an auto de-sign office in 1930 in Stuttgart. Page 3

In 1940 the KdF works received con-tracts to manufacture bombs. Page 44

The elegant structural design of the factory featured high and well-litproduction halls. Page 86

The factory was heavily damaged by wartime airstrikes. Page 99

BATTLEBEETLEfor the

Chapter Eight

America Rides to the Rescue . . . . . 249

Chapter Nine

Britain Chances Her Hand . . . . . . . 289

Chapter Ten

The Making of a Non-Decision . . . 337

Chapter Eleven

Epilogue for a Battle . . . . . . . . . . . 369

Afterword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

Art Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459

About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

The first car the VW factory produced after the war featured a Beetle body on a Kübel chassis. Page 110

Roy Fedden’s admiration for the VW car and factory was reflected in thedesigns for his own cars. Page 311

VW introduced its Export model in mid-1949. Page 361

Henry and Edsel Ford each responded to the challenge of the VW. Page 254

established 1950Automotive Reference™

Bentley Publishers, 1734 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-1804 USATel: 617-547-4170 • Toll Free: 800-423-4595 • Fax: 617-876-9235http://www.bentleypublishers.com/contact-us

Battle for the BeetleThe untold story of the post-war battle for Adolf Hitler’s giant Volkswagen factory and the Porsche-designed car that became an icon for generations around the globeby Karl Ludvigsen

Price: $39.95Bentley Stock Number: GVBPPublication Date: 2000.02.01ISBN: 978-0-8376-1695-7Softcover, 6-1/8” x 9-1/4”Case quantity: 1472 pages, 219 photos and illustrations

After World War II what was to be the fate of the odd bugshaped Volkswagen Beetle and its colossal bomb-battered factory? Legend has it that the victors underestimated the potential of the car that would become the automotive icon of several generations, indeed the world’s most-famous and most-produced automobile. Karl Ludvigsen’s interviews and researches in British, German, American, Australian and Belgian archives prove the contrary. His hitherto-untold story of why and how they didn’t get the factory makes revealing and engrossing reading.

History buffs and followers of World War II and its aftermath will relish the way Ludvigsen depicts afresh the creation of the VW by renowned and “untouchable” engineer Ferdinand Porsche, the building of its factory by Hitler crony Robert Ley, “a notorious womanizer who drank too much,” and the wartime career of the huge Wolfsburg plant as the prime contractor for the jet-powered V-1 flying bomb, the world’s first successful cruise missile.

Car enthusiasts who consider themselves well-read will be absorbed by Ludvigsen’s disclosures of the national and company mindsets that affected their respective attitudes toward the radical Volkswagen. Most astonishing are his revelations of the deep interest of Ford in the VW factory. Far from rejecting the VW plant, Ford proposed that it be merged with its existing German operations. But the executive charged with the mission (Ludvigsen reveals his identity) failed to follow through. Ludvigsen traces the Beetle’s impact on the world of autos, from the Chevrolet Corvair and Hino Contessa to rear-engined Fiats, Skodas and Hillmans. We learn why the most startling decision made by VW chief Heinz Nordhoff was not to change his car’s design. And we are brought right up to the 1998 launch.

For those who wish to comprehend its amazing impact on the auto market, Battle for the Beetle is the essential source.

Inside the Frankfurt Show in 1951 Volkswagen erected a spectacular display that used, as its dramatic signature, the distinctive design of its Wolfsburg factory.Chapter Ten: The Making Of A Non-Decision

One of several rear-engined prototypes built for Henry Ford.Chapter Eight: America Rides To The Rescue

BentleyPublishers.com

2000 Best Automotive Book of the Year! Awarded by the Society of Automotive Historians.

bentley_gvbp_new.product.announcement.pdf

Prototype VWs at the time of the Berlin Auto Show in February 1939.Chapter Four: Britain Meets The Beetle