Henry Ford did build a successful universal car, to sell at a low price, but his Model T with its 2.9-litre engine was by no means a small car, nor was the Model A that followed it. When it was in production in the late 1920s, small "proper" cars in Germany ranged from the 700-cc DKW to the 1-litre Opel, with small Adlers, the BMW Dixi (a license-built Austin Seven) and the NSU-Fiats to come. These stimulated desire rather than a year's wage for an average worker. This prompted motorcycle manufacturer Zundapp to commission a low-cost car design from Dr. Ferdinand Porsche's new design studio. The project did not get far, but a Porsche-designed NSU that reached that prototype stage in 1933 accurately foreshadowed the Volkswagen.

The idea of a people's car appealed to Porsche, and it fascinated Adolf Hitler. When the Nazi Party came to power in 1933, one of his pet notions was the concept of mo

Concept I was the sensation of the Detroit Show in January 1994 when Volkswagen executives quite clearly stated that it was not the forerunner of the production model. By the next motor show, at Geneva in March 1994, the strong public reaction had led to corporate change of mind, and chairman Ferdinand Piech decided that it would be developed as a production model. Beetle had never been an official VW name, but the public inevitably saw Concept I as "Beetle II", and on the Volkswagen stand at the 1996 Geneva Motor Show it was presented as "the new Beetle". The aim was 1998 production for sale in the United States first with models arriving in European show rooms in the autumn.

It is possible that Porsche received too much credit for the design of the Volkswagen, for most of the technical elements had been seen before in the work of such men as Ledwinka, Rumpler, Rabe and Nibel. The Volkswagen reflected the Porsche Buro's earlier designs, but it was to reach production and eventually succeed beyond the wildest limits of the Thirties dream.

It is safe to predict that sales will never match the staggering Beetle totals, but there is little doubt that its successor will secure a positive place in the markets from 1998 and on into the 21st century.

In 1931, the Porsche independent front suspension was patented. It interested many manufactures, and was to be important to the Volkswagen. It was devised around torsion bars, not new as such, but in this arrangement the two transverse bars were housed in tubular cross members, with a lower trailing link at each end, and an upper link pivoted to the frame and combined with a friction shock absorber. This was lighter than the then-common transverse leaf spring arrangement, but it meant that the wheels rolled with

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1199
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)