Ferdinand Porsche

Volkswagen Type 1 Sedan

designed 1938 (this example 1959)

Steel, glass

Not on view

In the mid-1930s Adolf Hitler charged German automakers with designing an inexpensive Volkswagen, or “people’s car,” as part of his larger aspirations to get as many Germans on the road as possible and drag his country into the auto age. The result was the Type 1 Sedan, which in the years after World War II transcended its inglorious origins and lived up to its name by becoming the choice for millions of car owners around the globe. Better known today as the Beetle, the Type 1 surpassed Ford’s Model T as the best-selling automobile of all time in 1972.

Publication excerpt from

Automania, 2020

Manufacturer Volkswagenwerk AG, Wolfsburg, West Germany
Medium Steel, glass
Dimensions 59 1/4 × 61 × 160 1/2" (150.5 × 154.9 × 407.7 cm)
Credit Acquired with assistance from Volkswagen of America, Inc.
Object number 257.2002
Department Architecture & Design

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