Volkswagen

Volkswagen began developing prototypes to replace the Beetle as early as the 1950s, but real momentum didn’t build until 1968, when Kurt Lotz succeeded Heinz Nordhoff as Director General. Pressure was mounting: domestic rivals Opel and Ford had launched new compact models - the Kadett in 1962 and the Escort in 1968 - that directly targeted Volkswagen’s core market. As a result, Volkswagen’s share of the German car market fell sharply, from 45% in 1960 to just 26% by 1972. In 1969, Lotz and Volkswagen’s Italian importer, Gerhard Gumpert, visited the Turin Auto Show. After picking their six favorite models at the show, they discovered that four of them were designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and his Italdesign studio. Impressed, they invited Giugiaro to Wolfsburg in January 1970 to work on development project EA337. The result was a sharply styled design characterized by clean lines and flat surfaces - a hallmark of Giugiaro’s aesthetic. Giugiaro would later call the Mk1 Golf the most important design of his career. The Golf went on to become Volkswagen’s best-selling model and remains one of the top three best-selling cars worldwide, with over 35 million units sold.