Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: When was Volkswagen first introduced in the U.S.?
Volkswagens were first exhibited and sold in the United States in 1949, but sold only two units in America that first year. On entry to the U.S. market, the VW was briefly sold as a Victory Wagon. Volkswagen of America was formed in April 1955 to standardise sales and service in the United States. Production of the Type 1 Volkswagen Beetle increased dramatically over the years, the total reaching one million in 1955.
He enjoyed great success in expanding Volkswagen's dealership network and increasing sales figures in America, and Volkswagen had a tremendous advantage in marketing the Beetle's front-wheel-drive replacement, the Rabbit (known as the Volkswagen Golf in Europe) when it was introduced in January 1975. By 1976, however, Perkins was at odds with the company's plans to build Rabbits in the United States when it seemed a questionable idea due to logistical problems. He was further agitated when the job of running Volkswagen's new Westmoreland Assembly Plant, was given to James McLernon, a manager from Chevrolet, whose cars were distinctly different from Volkswagen's.
On April 10, 1978, VWoA dedicated Westmoreland Assembly by driving its first car off the line, a two-door white Rabbit (in "Rabbit C" or mid trim level, as with all the initial production) — which had actually been assembled the week before and was shipped after the plant dedication to Volkswagen's Wolfsburg headquarters for its museum. Toni Schmücker, Richard E Dauch, James McLernon, U.S. Treasury Secretary Michael Blumenthal, Pennsylvania Governor Milton Shapp and 1,200 employees were on hand the day the first car came off of the line. In his remarks, Schmücker, CEO of Volkswagen AG, paraphrased Neil Armstrong remarks when stepping onto the moon, saying "this may be one small step for America, but it is a giant step for Volkswagen."
James W. McLernon (born 1927, in Kenmore, New York) is a retired automobile company executive who worked for Chevrolet while at General Motors as an engineer. In 1976, he became the first president of manufacturing at Volkswagen of America, the U.S. division of Volkswagen AG. He was assigned to get VW's Westmoreland Assembly Plant, the first factory in the United States operated by a non-American automaker, up and running in 1978 and then became president of VW's entire American division. His role at Volkswagen was controversial, due to the softening of the Volkswagen Rabbit (known in Europe as the Golf), to make the car appeal to a mass market. He was fired by Carl Hahn when Hahn became the chairman of Volkswagen AG in 1982.
The Volkswagen Beetle (also sold as the Volkswagen Coccinelle, Volkswagen Maggiolino, Volkswagen Fusca in some countries) is a small family car manufactured and marketed by Volkswagen introduced in 2011 for the 2012 model year, as the successor to the New Beetle launched in 1997. It features a lower profile while retaining an overall shape recalling the original Volkswagen Type 1 Beetle.
In May 1974, Volkswagen presented the first-generation Golf as a modern front-wheel-drive, long-range replacement for the Volkswagen Beetle. Later Golf variations included the Golf GTI (introduced in June 1976 with a fuel-injected 1.6-litre engine capable of ), a diesel-powered version (from September 1976), the Jetta notchback saloon version (from October 1979), the Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet (from January 1980) and a Golf-based pickup, the Volkswagen Caddy.
The Volkswagen Tiguan is a compact crossover vehicle (CUV) manufactured by German automaker Volkswagen. Introduced in 2007, the first generation model uses the PQ46 platform of the B6 Generation Volkswagen Passat. All first generation (5N) Tiguans featured two row seating and transverse mounted four-cylinder engines.
The Golf Mk3 was also the predecessor of the "diesel craze" that swept through Europe in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when Volkswagen introduced the direct-injection system with the Golf TDI in 1993.
The Volkswagen Group B platform is a mid-size automobile platform from the Volkswagen Group. It has been used for saloon cars/sedans, estate cars/station wagon, and coupés - under the Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, Porsche, SEAT and Škoda marques over the years.
More recently, Volkswagen Group have introduced a new alphanumeric nomenclature for car platforms. The platform code is composed as follows:An additional + suffix indicates a long-wheelbase variant.
19741988. An Audi derived platform, the first Volkswagen Passat was nearly identical to the Audi 80 (Audi Fox in US), sharing much of its mechanical systems, including its longitudinal engine placement.19801996. The BX platform, developed by Volkswagen's Brazilian subsidiary (Volkswagen do Brasil), again borrowed heavily from the Audi 80 (Fox/4000) of the day. The BX platform was used for the Brazilian Volkswagen Gol, Voyage (Gacel or Senda - In Argentina, and Fox in the U.S.), Parati (Amazon in U.S.), Saveiro (pickup) and Furgão (van) models. The Gol/Fox was quite unique in that it started life with a four-cylinder Volkswagen air-cooled engine (borrowed from the Volkswagen Beetle), and eventually ended up with a more modern water-cooled engine, being sold in the US for the first time as a 1987 model. The VW BX family was restyled in 1987 and 1991.
The Volkswagen Caddy is a leisure activity vehicle (M-segment) produced by the Volkswagen Group since 1980. It is sold in Europe and in other markets around the world. The Volkswagen Caddy was first introduced in North America in 1980 and in Europe in 1982. The second generation also had a pick-up variant.
A similar, but larger G60 became available in the Volkswagen Corrado during the early 1990s, and was also available in limited numbers in the Volkswagen Passat and Volkswagen Golf. The G60 won International Engine of the Year when it was introduced in 1989.
The Volkswagen Golf Mk3 is a small family car, the third generation of the Volkswagen Golf and the successor to the Volkswagen Golf Mk2. It was launched in mainland Europe in August 1991, in the United Kingdom in February 1992, and in North America in the spring of 1994. The delay in North America was due to Volkswagen's decision to supply U.S. and Canadian dealerships with Mk3 Golfs (and A3 Jettas) from the VW plant in Puebla, Mexico. Quality control problems led Volkswagen of America to reject Golfs and Jettas from Mexico; shortly thereafter labor unrest at the plant delayed production there even further. The third-generation Golf and Jetta first appeared in North America as 1993 models in the San Diego, California area and in Canada, then in the autumn in the rest of North America as 1994 models. The Mk3 Cabrio replaced the Volkswagen Cabriolet, which continued the original Golf until 1993, although the original Golf, sold as Rabbit in the United States and Canada ceased sales in 1984. The Mk3 Cabrio continued until the 2002 model year, when Volkswagen replaced it with a convertible version of the Volkswagen New Beetle. Like the previous two generations, it was supposed to be built at the TAS factory in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, but when the car was released, the Yugoslav War broke out, leading to the destruction of the factory, and the bankruptcy of TAS in 1995, which meant it was the only Golf before the Mk4 not to be built in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Mk3 was sold in Japan alongside the Polo, where both vehicles were in compliance with Japanese Government dimension regulations that encouraged sales. A 1993 UK advert featured the Bluebells song Young At Heart which resulted in a 4-week spell at Number 1 thanks to the popularity of it.
The Volkswagen Type 2, known officially (depending on body type) as the Transporter, Kombi or Microbus, or, informally, as the Bus (US) or Camper (UK), is a forward control panel van introduced in 1950 by the German automaker Volkswagen as its second car model. Following – and initially deriving from Volkswagen's first model, the Type 1 (Beetle) – it was given the factory designation Type 2.
Most of the Volkswagen Group's compact executives are produced by Audi which in 1965 introduced its first competitor, the Audi F103 – derived from the DKW F102. It was succeeded by the Audi 80 in 1972 before the A4 name began, of which there have been five generations. Contemporary Audi's compact executive models are A4 and A5. Volkswagen introduced the upmarket CC to sit above the family-biased Passat in 2007. In 2017 Volkswagen discontinued the CC in favour of the fastback Arteon.
Between 1950 and 1980, Beetle sales in Ireland averaged at 3,000 - 4,000 units per annum peaking in 1972 when 5,288 units were sold. In 1953, O'Flaherty acquired the Volkswagen franchise for the United Kingdom, which he sold to the Thomas Tilling group in 1957. In 1956, Volkswagen sales were high enough to cause concern in Dáil Éireann that it was adversely affecting the balance of payments. The Volkswagen Golf Mk1 was introduced in 1975 and the Beetle ceased to be sold in 1980.
Formed in October 1955 in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, to standardize dealership service in the United States, it grew to 909 Volkswagen dealers in the US by 1965 under the leadership of Dr. Carl Hahn. Under him and his successor as president of Volkswagen of America, J. Stuart Perkins, VW's U.S. sales grew to 569,696 cars in 1970, an all-time peak, when Volkswagen captured 7 percent of the U.S. car market and had over a thousand American dealerships. The Volkswagen Beetle was the company's best seller in the United States by a wide margin.
The Volkswagen Passat (B8) is a mid-size car manufactured by Volkswagen that is available in a 4-door saloon and a 5-door estate body style sold as "Variant" in some markets. It was first introduced at the Volkswagen Design Center Potsdam on 3 July 2014. The B8 is the eighth-generation model in the Volkswagen Passat series and the first passenger vehicle of Volkswagen Group to be based on a stretched version of the MQB platform.
The Karrier Bantam Lucozade Van (411) was introduced in August 1958 and featured a sliding plastic door, yellow paintwork and adverts for Lucozade energy drink on the side. This model was updated in May 1962 to become the Dairy Produce Van (435) now painted pale blue and white and with a 'Drive Safely on Milk' advert on the side. A Volkswagen van (433) was introduced in December 1962 finished in two tone red and white along with the Volkswagen Kombi (434) which was finished in green and white paintwork. A rare promotional version of the van was produced for the Dutch department store Vroom & Dreesman. In February 1963 the basic Volkswagen van was updated with Trans-o-lite headlamps as the Volkswagen Toblerone van (441). It was painted pale blue and finished with transfers along the sides advertising Toblerone chocolate bars. In March 1964 a Volkswagen Pick Up (432) was introduced to the range which came complete with a plastic canopy, and in December 1966 the pick up was converted to become the Volkswagen Breakdown Truck (490).
VfL Wolfsburg also became the first Bundesliga club to play in an LED-lit stadium when the Volkswagen Arena was equipped with a new LED floodlight system at the start of 2017. The old floodlighting of the Volkswagen Arena consists of more than 170 elements with lamps, each weighing about 35 kilos. They were all mounted under the roof and together produce about 1,500 lux. The 84 speakers in the stadium, which weigh 120 kilos each and are likewise mounted under the roof, produce a total of 600 watts. There are also two video walls covering an area of 53 square metres in the stadium. The pitch is covered in hybrid grass, which is natural grass that is reinforced with synthetic fibres, thus improving its weatherability. The Volkswagen Arena was the first Bundesliga stadium to introduce such a system. From the outset, the pitch has been heated so that matches can be played regardless of ice and snow.
The Touran introduced electro mechanical steering, a first in its class and for Volkswagen. It is able to vary the weight of the steering depending on the road speed. Due to the lack of energy consumption in idle it also improves the overall efficiency of the vehicle. The Touran was the first vehicle to use Volkswagen's 2.0 TDI engine.
The Volkswagen Eos is a sport compact cabriolet coupé produced by the German automaker Volkswagen from 2006 to 2015. Assembled at AutoEuropa in Portugal, it was a convertible only compact coupé introduced as the successor of the Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet. It was Volkswagen's first production coupé since the Volkswagen Corrado, which ended production in July 1995.
The Volkswagen Crafter, introduced in 2006 is the largest 3 to 5 tonne van produced and sold by the German automaker Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. The Crafter officially replaced the Volkswagen LT nameplate first launched in 1975, although it is known as the LT3 as its production plant code.
The first mechanically controlled (non-LED), glare-free high beam was Volkswagen's "Dynamic Light Assist" package, which was introduced in 2010 on the Volkswagen Touareg, Phaeton, and Passat. In 2012, the facelifted Lexus LS (XF40) introduced an identical Bi-Xenon system: Adaptive High-beam System.
The first generation Fabia (given the internal type code "6Y") was officially presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 1999 and production of this model started in October the same year. The estate version Fabia Combi was introduced in September 2000 at the Paris Motor Show. It was the first model to use the Volkswagen Group's A04 platform, which it shared with the Volkswagen Polo Mk4 and SEAT Ibiza. In the United Kingdom, for 2000, this car won "What Car?"'s "Car of the Year".
The range started with the 1.0 8v Classic (which was cheaper than Volkswagen's smaller 3-door 1.0 Lupo when on sale) to the 1.9 PD TDi VRS.
This suspension is commonly used on a wide variety of front wheel drive cars (mainly compacts and subcompacts), and was almost ubiquitous on European superminis. Rear torsion-beam axles were introduced and popularised by Volkswagen when they changed from rear engined RR layout cars to front wheel drive FF layout cars in the 1970s. The design was applied in the Audi 50 / Volkswagen Polo, Volkswagen Golf and Scirocco, all introduced in 1974.