Wolfsburg, surprisingly, has a written history going back to 942. Surprising because for Wolfsburg it all seems to happen from 1937 onwards. In that faithful year, the Nazis started the construction of the factory that would become the home of Volkswagen AG, the largest motoring concern in Europe. A model city was erected to house the factory workers and to the present most of Wolfsburg is in one way or another related to Volkswagen.
It all started with fanfare – Hitler wanted the Germans to be mobile and ordered the motoring industry to design a car that would be simple and cheep to build. Fancying himself quite the engineer, Hitler was personally involved in selecting the design of Ferdinand Porsche of the Volkswagen (“Peoples Car”). Back then, credit worked the other way round – people bought stamps to save up the sum necessary to pay the car in full prior to delivery. Although the manufacturer was known as Volkswagen since 1938, the car was named after a Nazi slogan: Kraft durch Freude (Strength through Joy), commonly shortened to KdF. Not surprisingly, this name had little marketing appeal outside Nazi Germany and in the export market the car was soon dubbed the Beetle, a name only adopted by Volkswagen during the 1960s. In Mexico, where the last ones were produced, on July 30, 2003, everyone calls it a Vocho although it was always formally known as the Sedan.
A few cars had actually been delivered to customers before the outbreak of the Second World War but as soon as war started, all deliveries were for the military only and the car was adapted for military use. As faith would have it, after the Second World War, Wolfsburg was a few kilometers inside the Western zone, which would allow it to prosper with the rest of West Germany. The factory was offered to Ford, whose representatives thought the car was "not worth a damn." Henry Ford glanced at the map, saw Wolfsburg’s close location to the inter-German border, and walked away from the car that would become the most sold German-built car in the USA. The factory was less damaged than many of the allies thought. Although the broken windows and missing roof sheets occasionally halted production, Volkswagen was back in business after the British army placed an order for 20,000 cars. The VW Beetle, with 21,529,464 units produced worldwide became the bestselling car ever.
Volkswagen continues to dominate the economy of Wolfsburg to the present day. It is the largest employer by far and the city is well aware of its dependence on the continued welfare of the concern. In 2003, to coincide with the launch of the new VW Golf, since the 1970s by far the most popular car in Germany, the city officially changed its name to Golfsburg. For six weeks, all Ws in Wolfsburg name shields were covered by Gs. The initiative came from the town council and not the VW public relations division.
It is commonly said in Germany, and only half jokingly, that the most difficult job in the country is running an Opel dealership in Wolfsburg. There actually is a Ford dealership too although many claim that both are running at a lost and subsidized by the competition just to be a thorn in the Volkswagen flesh.