<Li> Volkswagen Gol (as successor in Latin America) </Li> <Li> Volkswagen New Beetle (as successor in design) </Li> <P> The Volkswagen Beetle--officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German the Käfer (literally "beetle"), in parts of the English - speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages--is a two - door, rear - engine economy car, intended for five passengers, that was manufactured and marketed by German automaker Volkswagen (VW) from 1938 until 2003 . </P> <P> The need for a people's car (Volkswagen in German), its concept and its functional objectives, was formulated by the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, who wanted a cheap, simple car to be mass - produced for his country's new road network . Lead engineer Ferdinand Porsche and his team took until 1938 to finalise the design . The influence on Porsche's design of other contemporary cars, such as the Tatra V570, and the work of Josef Ganz remains a subject of dispute . The result was the first Volkswagen, and one of the first rear - engined cars since the Brass Era . With 21,529,464 produced, the Beetle is the longest - running and most - manufactured car of a single platform ever made . </P>

When did the first volkswagen beetle come out