Download or read book Thinking Small written by Andrea Hiott and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2012-01-17 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sometimes achieving big things requires the ability to think small. This simple concept was the driving force that propelled the Volkswagen Beetle to become an avatar of American-style freedom, a household brand, and a global icon. The VW Bug inspired the ad men of Madison Avenue, beguiled Woodstock Nation, and has recently been re-imagined for the hipster generation. And while today it is surely one of the most recognizable cars in the world, few of us know the compelling details of this car’s story. In Thinking Small, journalist and cultural historian Andrea Hiott retraces the improbable journey of this little car that changed the world. Andrea Hiott’s wide-ranging narrative stretches from the factory floors of Weimar Germany to the executive suites of today’s automotive innovators, showing how a succession of artists and engineers shepherded the Beetle to market through periods of privation and war, reconstruction and recovery. Henry Ford’s Model T may have revolutionized the American auto industry, but for years Europe remained a place where only the elite drove cars. That all changed with the advent of the Volkswagen, the product of a Nazi initiative to bring driving to the masses. But Hitler’s concept of “the people’s car” would soon take on new meaning. As Germany rebuilt from the rubble of World War II, a whole generation succumbed to the charms of the world’s most huggable automobile. Indeed, the story of the Volkswagen is a story about people, and Hiott introduces us to the men who believed in it, built it, and sold it: Ferdinand Porsche, the visionary Austrian automobile designer whose futuristic dream of an affordable family vehicle was fatally compromised by his patron Adolf Hitler’s monomaniacal drive toward war; Heinrich Nordhoff, the forward-thinking German industrialist whose management innovations made mass production of the Beetle a reality; and Bill Bernbach, the Jewish American advertising executive whose team of Madison Avenue mavericks dreamed up the legendary ad campaign that transformed the quintessential German compact into an outsize worldwide phenomenon. Thinking Small is the remarkable story of an automobile and an idea. Hatched in an age of darkness, the Beetle emerged into the light of a new era as a symbol of individuality and personal mobility—a triumph not of the will but of the imagination.

Download or read book The People s Car written by Bernhard Rieger and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-16 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the Berlin Auto Show in 1938, Adolf Hitler presented the prototype for a small, oddly shaped, inexpensive family car that all good Aryans could enjoy. Decades later, that automobile—the Volkswagen Beetle—was one of the most beloved in the world. Bernhard Rieger examines culture and technology, politics and economics, and industrial design and advertising genius to reveal how a car commissioned by Hitler and designed by Ferdinand Porsche became an exceptional global commodity on a par with Coca-Cola. Beyond its quality and low cost, the Beetle’s success hinged on its uncanny ability to capture the imaginations of people across nations and cultures. In West Germany, it came to stand for the postwar “economic miracle” and helped propel Europe into the age of mass motorization. In the United States, it was embraced in the suburbs, and then prized by the hippie counterculture as an antidote to suburban conformity. As its popularity waned in the First World, the Beetle crawled across Mexico and Latin America, where it symbolized a sturdy toughness necessary to thrive amid economic instability. Drawing from a wealth of sources in multiple languages, The People’s Car presents an international cast of characters—executives and engineers, journalists and advertisers, assembly line workers and car collectors, and everyday drivers—who made the Beetle into a global icon. The Beetle’s improbable story as a failed prestige project of the Third Reich which became a world-renowned brand illuminates the multiple origins, creative adaptations, and persisting inequalities that characterized twentieth-century globalization.

Download or read book Volkswagen History to Hobby written by Bob Cropsey and published by . This book was released on 2005-06 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Large size hardcover book covering everything about Volkswagen and their vehicles. 550 Complete History facts, 100 Herbie The Love Bug facts, The famous VW Advertising Campaign with 402 ads, Year to Year breakdown of the Beetle 1945 and the Bus 1949, 65 Fun facts of things done with VWs all over the world, VWs used in 40 movies.

Download or read book VW Golf written by Laurence Meredith and published by Sutton Publishing. This book was released on 1999 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This pictorial history features photographs of the Volkswagen Golf. It looks at the Golf's conception, its continuous development and long career and the author describes how the Golf became an extraordinary success. The author recalls the first Golfs of the early 19702, the Golf GTi that created a trend in hot hatchbacks, and looks at how the Gold attracted success and enthusiasm. Meredith also looks at the economical, powerful, and well made design of the vehicle. It should be a good introduction for Golf enthusiasts everywhere.

Download or read book Getting the Bugs Out written by David Kiley and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2002-11-04 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the informative story of the rise, fall, and re-birth of Volkswagen - both the company and the car. It explains how VW lost its focus for decades and then regained it through a better understanding of its core market, marketing, advertising, and solid manufacturing and design.

Download or read book Faster Higher Farther written by Jack Ewing and published by Corgi. This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A shocking expose of Volkswagen's fraud by the New York Times reporter who covered the scandal. Updated with a New Afterword by the Author. When news of Volkswagen's clean diesel fraud first broke in September 2015, it sent shockwaves around the world. Overnight, the company long associated with quality, reliability and trust became a universal symbol of greed and deception. Consumers were outraged, investors panicked, the company embarrassed and facing bankruptcy. As lawsuits and criminal investigations piled up, by August 2016 VW had settled with American regulators and car-owners for $15 billion, with additional fines and claims still looming. In Faster, Higher, Farther, Jack Ewing rips the lid off the scandal. He describes VW's rise from "the people's car" during the Nazi era to one of Germany's most prestigious and important global brands, touted for being "green." He paints vivid portraits of Volkswagen chairman Ferdinand Piech and chief executive Martin Winterkorn, arguing that their unremitting ambition drove employees, working feverishly in pursuit of impossible sales targets, to illegal methods. With unprecedented access to key players and a ringside seat during the course of the legal proceedings, Faster, Higher, Farther reveals how the succeed-at-all-costs culture prevalent in modern boardrooms led to one of corporate history's farthest-reaching cases of fraud-with potentially devastating consequences. As the future of one of the world's biggest companies remains uncertain, this is the extraordinary story of Volkswagen's downfall.

Download or read book Volkswagen Beetles and Buses written by Russell Hayes and published by Motorbooks. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This illustrated history celebrates the 75th and 70th anniversaries of Volkswagen's two most iconic vehicles, from the first Beetles spearheaded by Ferdinand Porsche in the 1940s to the buses that became synonymous with a generation. Volkswagen is one of the most beloved brands in motoring history, thanks largely to two instantly recognizable vehicles: the Beetle (a.k.a. Bug) and the Bus. More than 23 million VW Beetles have buzzed into the world since 1945, while the VW Bus presaged the minivan by thirty-plus years. Volkswagen: Beetles and Buses examines and celebrates all aspects of the vehicles and the many cultural associations that have swirled around them for more than seven decades. The diminutive rear-engined and easily mass-produced Beetle became the most popular imported car in America during the 1960s. Its success was due to its familiar face, its wildly clever ad campaigns, and the sheer numbers produced. The equally compact yet spacious Bus (a.k.a. Kombi, Microbus, Type 2, Transporter, and simply “van”) has won millions of fans around the world with its practicality, simplicity, and design. In this beautifully illustrated and authoritatively written celebration, author Russell Hayes looks back at the vehicles while focusing on the classic air-cooled VWs that ran into the late 1970s. Along the way, readers witness the Beetle and Bus at work and at play and learn about vehicle development and growing roles in popular culture, including star appearances in films like The Love Bug, Little Miss Sunshine, Footloose, Fight Club, The Big Lebowski, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, as well as television shows like Lost and Once Upon a Time and on the covers of the Beatles’ Abbey Road and Bob Dylan’s Freewheelin’ album. The story is brought up to date with coverage of the New Beetle and plans for the VW Buzz, a modern electric version of the iconic Microbus due in 2022. Volkswagen: Beetles and Buses deserves a place in the motoring libraries of VW owners, automotive enthusiasts, and those simply interested in pop culture. It's the ultimate illustrated history of these beloved vehicles.

Download or read book VOLKSWAGEN GOLF STORY written by RUSSELL. HAYES and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Patina Volkswagens written by Mark Walker and published by David and Charles. This book was released on 2022-01-07 with total page 475 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Patina Volkswagens is the first book to look at how and why Volkswagens with original paint and patina have become so popular. The book explores the many different facets of this trending hobby, from the cars themselves, to the owners and the global scene surrounding them.

Download or read book The Extraordinary Life of Josef Ganz written by Paul Schilperoord and published by Rvp Publishers. This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The astonishing biography of Josef Ganz, a Jewish designer from Frankfurt, who in May 1931 created a revolutionary small car: the Maika¤fer (German for "May bug"). Seven years later, Hitler introduced the Volkswagen. The Nazis not only "took" the concept of Ganz's family car-their production model even ended up bearing the same nickname. The Beetle incorporated many of the features of Ganz's original Maika¤fer, yet until recently Ganz received no recognition for his pioneering work. The Nazis did all they could to keep the Jewish godfather of the German compact car out of the history books. Now Paul Schilperoord sets the record straight. Josef Ganz was hunted by the Nazis, even beyond Germany's borders, and narrowly escaped assassination. He was imprisoned by the Gestapo until an influential friend with connections to Gaoring helped secure his release. Soon afterward, he was forced to flee Germany, while Porsche, using many of his groundbreaking ideas, created the Volkswagen for Hitler. After the war, Ganz moved to Australia, where he died in 1967.

Download or read book Place of Remembrance of Forced Labor in the Volkswagen Factory written by and published by . This book was released on 1999-12 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The VW Beetle written by Ryan Lee Price and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2003 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world's most popular car, Volkswagen-or "the People's Car"-has earned its place in history. The VW Beetle chronicles the development and rise to worldwide popularity of the famed "punch-buggy," invented in Germany in the 1930s. This peculiar history includes the makings of all models, engines, and body styles through 1967-and the key people responsible for its development.

Download or read book The Volkswagen Golf Story written by Russell Hayes and published by . This book was released on 2014-05-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Faster Higher Farther How One of the World s Largest Automakers Committed a Massive and Stunning Fraud written by Jack Ewing and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2017-05-23 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A rich history of a company whose cars, for better and worse, have touched millions of lives, a character study of a brilliant but deeply flawed leader, and a case study in how a corporate culture can turn toxic.” —Bethany McLean, New York Times Book Review Faster, Higher, Farther chronicles a corporate scandal that rivals those at Enron and Lehman Brothers—one that will cost Volkswagen more than $22 billion in fines and settlements. Through meticulous reporting, New York Times correspondent Jack Ewing documents why VW felt compelled to install “defeat devices” in diesel vehicles that unlawfully lowered CO2 levels during emissions testing, and how the fraud was committed, covered up, and finally detected. Faster, Higher, Farther is a briskly written account of unrivaled corporate greed. Updated with the latest information and a new afterword by the author.

Download or read book The VW Camper Story written by Giles Chapman and published by History PressLtd. This book was released on 2011 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his new book, well-known motoring writer Giles Chapman tells us the complete story of the VW Camper, from its origins to its enduring appeal. The history and development of the Camper is explored here, alongside ninety colourful images. This is a light-hearted romp through the world of Campers, and is full of juicy snippets and fascinating quotes which will be of great interest to anyone who loves this iconic vehicle.

Download or read book Thirty Years of the Volkswagen Golf Rabbit written by Kevin Clemens and published by Enthusiast Books. This book was released on 2006-04-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early 1970s, Volkswagen was in deep trouble. Its venerable rear-engine air-cooled Beetle could no longer meet upcoming government regulations and its once phenomenal sales numbers had begun to slide. Something new was needed and the Giugiaro-designed Volkswagen Golf rose above all of the other concepts and designs. The Golf (called the Rabbit in the U.S.) was a modern car so different from the ancient Beetle, and in fact so different from anything else on the market that in Europe it's not called the "compact" class or "hatchback" class; it's called the "GOLF" class. This book covers the fascinating transition from Beetle to Golf and the subsequent development of the car that became Volkswagen's new icon. Included are Volkswagen archival photographs of early development projects and details about the people who built these charismatic cars. The story is more than facts and figures. It is an adventurous tale of a company whose future rested on the fenders of a hatchback economy car - a car that ultimately became a favorite of car enthusiasts around the world.

Download or read book Volkswagen Chronicle From the Beetle to a Global Player written by Manfred Grieger and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-21 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: