Volkswagen: a Car for the People - a Success Story - 2nd Edition

By: Marc Nonnenkamp

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

This is the second edition of "Volkswagen: a Car for the People - a Success Story." The first edition was published in 2011 and has been read by more than 39,000 people from 185 countries. It has been most popular among air-cooled Volkswagen enthusiasts. The book tells the fascinating story of the history behind Volkswagen, especially behind the original air-cooled Volkswagen Beetle Sedan and its many derivatives. The history began with Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, Sr., his contemporary Dr. Hans Ledwinka and with their unique engineering ideas including horizontally-opposed cylinders (the "boxer motor" still manufactured by Porsche and by Fuji-Subaru), air-cooling (still manufactured by Tatra of the Czech Republic), swing-axle suspension and the central tube chassis. Tatra (Hans Ledwinka) is one of the oldest vehicle manufacturers in the world whereas Volkswagen (Ferdinand Porsche) is one of the most prolific. This book tells the story behind the Volkswagen Type 1 (Beetle, Karmann-Ghia, Thing, Kübelwagen, Schwimmwagen, Kommandeurwagen and many more), the Volkswagen Type 2 (Samba Microbus, Bay Window Bus, Wedge or "Vanagon" Bus, Eurovan and Multivan), the Volkswagen Type 3 (Notchback, Squareback, Fastback and Razor Edge Karmann-Ghia) and Type 4 (411, 412, Porsche 912 and Porsche 914). It also tells the story of their successors which saved Volkswagen from what would have been an early demise - water-cooled cars inspired by Volkswagen's Audi subsidiary which they purchased from Daimler-Benz of Germany in 1964-1965. The A-Class succeeded the venerable Type 1 - these included the Volkswagen Rabbit, Scirocco, Golf, Jetta and Corrado. The C-Class succeeded the mid-sized Type 3 range - cars such as the Volkswagen Dasher, Quantum and Passat. The range of luxury cars succeeded the Type 4 - cars bearing the Audi brand name and others such as the Volkswagen Phaeton (other VW Group luxury brand names include Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti). The premium SUV is the Volkswagen Touareg / Porsche Cayenne. The second edition of "Volkswagen: a Car for the People - a Success Story" is published in full color with 96 illustrations compared to the first edition which was published in Black & White with just 21 illustrations.