The Volkswagen Beetle

Other manufacturers were content to target the wealthy American could buy, not even considering the middle or lower class. Ford developed a design and a method of making the cars that steadily and continuously reduced the cost of the car, the car being the Model T. Instead of pocketing the money from the cars Ford used it to make better and more efficient ways to build a car. As a result, Ford Motor Company sold more cars and steadily increased its earnings. Henry Ford somehow managed to change people from the looking at an automobile as a luxury, and more like a convenience

With the success of the assembly line, Ford was very please however he had a bigger goal set. Ford wanted to produce cheap cars for the common people to use. Ford made many different types of cars and experimented with each of them. They were all good but not good enough. After many different models, Ford achieved his goal with his invention of the Ford Model T. The Model T was a fully functional compact automobile with a good transmission and torque as well as comfort and size. Apart from that, the most important aspect of the Model T was that is was extremely cheap. As Sobel states,”...the model T was only worth $290 in 1924.” This was a huge

In October of 1908 Henry Ford proclaimed “I will build a motor car for the common man, and that’s when the Model T was born. In the 19 years of the Model T’s existence, Ford built more than 15 million of the Model T and they were sold around the world. In fact in their time Model

something that everyone once dreamed of owning. Now after the war. they could finally own one. Automobiles of the 1940’s were dull and very plain. This was because designers were too busy designing tanks, planes, etc... for the ongoing war. The major event that took place that changed the way cars looked and how they performed happened on October 14, 1947. This was when Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier. From this point on everyone wanted to go faster.

In the early 1900’s there were very few car manufacturers in the United States and only the very wealthy owned a car. Henry Ford saw this as an opportunity to produce an affordable vehicle

It is hard to credit one single person for the invention of the automobile. There was over 100,000 people who created different versions of the automobile. The person who takes credit for the first is Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, a French military engineer who built the steam-powered tricycle for hauling artillery in 1769. Tricycle means it only had three wheels. The single front wheel performed both wheel functions and steering. It could drive at a speed of 2.25 miles per hour with four passengers within 15 minutes. Henry Ford is also given credit for the first automobile. Henry Ford invented the Model T the Model T changed the way people lived, worked, and traveled the way that Ford made this was through an assembly line. Also the assembly line made the Model T affordable to the majority of America. This way that the average working man could afford the car and not just a wealthy man. There was more the 15 Million Model Ts built in Michigan. The Model T was built from 1908 until 1927. This was made so that it is a affordable transportation for the common man. This became very popular for the very low price, durability, versatility, and easy to maintenance. The use of the assembly line saved the cost from in 1908 of $850 all the was to $300 in 1925. Even before it lost popularity to larger, or more powerful, and more comfortable cars, it was known as “Tin Lizzy” and “flivver.” These had became American folkloric symbol, Ford's goal was to democratize the automobile. The Model T was offered in several different body styles. One of the cars was a two seater runabout car. Another car was a five seater car. The last one was a seven seat town car. All of these bodies were put onto a 100 inch wheelbase chassis. It was usually available to have a color of your choice but from 1913 through 1925 the only color they had manufactured was black. The fuel tank also held ten gallons. If the Model T was driven fast it would be less comfortable because of it rattling. People don't usually get in a car and think wow i wonder how this car was made. They will just go throughout the motion that they always do and think nothing about it. The only time you ever take a look and think about how it was made is when something bad happens.

These early automobiles were loud, uncomfortable, and often dangerous, but that didn’t stop the dreamers and innovators from pushing forward. Henry Ford was one such visionary. He knew early on the automobile industry was going to change America. He strategically positioned himself to be at the forefront of this new invention sweeping the nation.

Henry Ford made the Model T Ford. It was made on the Piquette Avenue plant in Detroit. On October 1, 1908 and 1927, 15 million Model T cars were made. Henry Ford’s Model T changed the world of automobiles.

Ford was able to market the Model T to the general public because of his advanced production technology. The Ford Motor Company's plant in Highland Park, Michigan, Ford introduced the first assembly line in 1913, which drastically reduced production time. As a result, more automobiles were made available at a lower cost. Ford also instituted the $5.00/day minimum wage, which he claimed increased productivity.

He created this steam-powered toy for the Chinese Emperor Chien Lung. There is no recorded information about the vehicle itself, only the event. This marked the beginning of the steam-propelled era. The first full size automobile able to move by its own power was built in 1769 by Nicholas Joseph Cugnot. This vehicle was powered by a steam engine and mainly used as a military tractor. Because of its weight, it could only accelerate to 2.5 miles per hour. Then during 1885 and 1886, the first gasoline vehicle was designed and built by Karl Benz in Germany; this was the first true automobile (Bellis- “The History of the Automobile”). Others before tried to build a full-sized vehicle that could move under its own power, but none succeeded until Benz. Although Benz built what is considered the first true automobile, it had mechanical errors and there were no suitable roads to drive on. Another seven years passed before the first successful gas-powered car was built in America by Frank and Charles Edgar Duryea in 1893. They later set up the first car manufacturing plant in America to produce identical automobiles (Bruno).

The prices of Volkswagen cars is changing by the customers needs. Volkswagen has products for every type, every price, every power of engine and for every options. However the prices of Volkswagen are quite cheaper than the other components. Of course the prices are changing by the engine and the performance of cars. Each car types has different marketing strategies for presenting and specialize it in different countries. These are the countries, factory names and model Specialization You can see it in that

Volkswagen is a German-based company started in 1937 and owns a range of subsidiaries including

In 1992, Ford Motor Company decided to produce a world car, that is, a car that would be produced and sold internationally with little variation in the vehicle between markets. This world car was named the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique for the North American market and the Ford Mondeo for the European Market. All of these models were built with a 90% similarity due to body design differences, local conditions and mandates.

In 1943, industrialist Henry J. Kaiser asked Fuller to develop a prototype for a smaller car, and Fuller designed a five-seater; the car never went into the development or production stages.

Ferry Porsche designed the firm’s first car, the Porsche 356. Although its body was an original design many Volkswagen parts were used to save costs. The original car was fast and very light weight, gaining attention by taking first place in the Innsbruck city race. Production was transferred from Austria to Stuttgart in 1950. The firm focused on performance and continued to reengineer and refine the car. By the late 1950’s the Porsche 356 utilized far fewer parts from Volkswagen. Figure 3 shows a 1951 split windshield 356 Cabriolet.