Volkswagen Golf. What comes to mind when you see and hear that name? It has been one of the most successful cars in Europe for decades, the example to follow, “THE CAR” for a large number of users and fans. But, the question is, what has happened to that car, that Volkswagen Golf, to become the reference for everyone? The Golf is, basically, the very representation of Volkswagen; It is a car imprisoned by its own success, while at the same time it has made the brand that gave it life captive. Today we are going to go back in time to find out how the Volkswagen Golf was born, , a car that turns 2024 years old in 50.
Our protagonist arrived at the market to replace the car that gave life to Volkswagen itself. A car that we all know as “Beetle” or “Beetle”, which is the same thing, but in English. It is also known as Käfer, which would be the translation of beetle into German. He Volkswagen Type 1, the original name of the model, was the first car manufactured by the company with the aim of putting the German people on wheels.

Volkswagen was born with that objective, despite the fact that it actually has little in the way of a “people's car” currently. When the Type 1, which went through many names, all with references to the displacement of its engine, began to decline in sales, the company's directors put their team to work. A substitute had to be developed that would be good enough to achieve the same success.
REPLACEMENT OF A MYTH
Surely no one had imagined that At that moment a new myth began to take shape., a car that would become one of the company's pillars and the reference in the compact segment. Nobody thought that they would popularize the sports compact segment, nor that would be in the brand's catalog for more than 50 years. And those who are still ahead, because the future electric era will not be an impediment for the Golf to continue on its path, since Volkswagen already promised that it would always be present.
The history of the Volkswagen Golf begins in the late 60s, when the life of Volkswagen Beetle He couldn't get enough of himself and sales had begun to decline. At that time, it was important to renew itself, tastes had changed, the needs of users were different and the traditional configuration of the Beetle, with the engine hanging behind the rear axle and cooled by air, had been largely surpassed. The trend towards front-engine front-wheel drive was clear and examples were beginning to arrive from all parts of Europe.
As the brand itself says, Expectations were very high and concern within the company was at the same level.. The replacement of the Beetle had to be faced radically and the company was willing to experiment with new solutions. The objective of continuing with the same path of success that had been followed with the Beetle, of which no less than 21.529.464 were sold from 1945 to 2003. A production that has already been surpassed by the Golf itself, which began to be manufactured in 1974 and from which, in its different generations, they have been manufactured, more than 30 million units.
HOW THE VOLKSWAGEN GOLF WAS BORN
Thus, the characteristics of the new model were clear: It had to be more dynamic than the Beetle, but also comfortable, safe and spacious, with a medium size, a rear hatch, front engine and traction. This meant turning its back on the rear engine and propulsion that characterized the Volkswagen Type 1. In the first meeting that was held to set the guidelines, the then Volkswagen CEO Kurt Lotzhe told Giugiaro, who would be in charge of its design: “We want you to design the successor to the Beetle. And we will be satisfied if the interior space is similar to that of the Beetle”.
Meanwhile, the engineers at Volkswagen, with the help of Audi and even Porsche, they were working on the features that this new car should have. The first prototype of the future model was the work of Porsche, known as EA 266, a car that represented a radical change compared to the Type 1: self-supporting body, liquid-cooled central engine, tailgate... It was even a fairly fast car, since could reach 187 km/h.

Compared to the Beetle, it was almost a sports car. However, this project was stopped in 1971. And everything was ready for serial production, even 50 examples had been manufactured for development, tests and other needs. It was Rudolf Leiding, who took Lotz's place, who stopped the project because manufacturing would have been too expensive.
NEW PROTOTYPE
Just because the project was stopped does not mean that everything was stopped. Volkswagen had developed another prototype, the EA 276, a car that already presented some features that the future model would have: front engine and traction, tailgate, torsion axle for the rear wheels... In addition, There was nothing in the design that reminded us of another model of the brand., everything had been created expressly, there was only one detail that did not fit with the initially planned objective: the engine. For vehicle development The old air-cooled boxer engine from the Beetle was used. Its presence was due to the need to save costs and ensure maximum reliability.
However, the arrival of Rudolf Leinding in 1971, who came from Audi and having worked in the Audi 80 y Audi 100, changed things. Both models had under their hood a 4-cylinder liquid-cooled engine and Leinding assigned it to the future Golf. Or, rather, he used the same propulsion concept and debuted it in a new prototype, the EA 337.
Then, Giugiaro, under the direction of Herbert Schäfer, design director of Volkswagen in those years, already had Volkswagen's proposal to design what would be the Volkswagen Golf and tells the experience like this: “Kurt Lotz visited the 1969 Turin show together with other members of the board of directors. The delegation made a list of the six vehicles they liked the most and I had designed four of them. Days later the phone rang from the then young company ItalDesing. The Italian general importer told me: 'they want you to go to Wolfsburg!', and I went there in January 1970.”.
GIUGIARO, THE CHOSEN
The Italian designer attended the Volkswagen call and, at that meeting, they gave him all the guidelines to create the design of the Volkswagen Type 1 replacement: “The new model should be a modern compact hatchback, in line with new trends. They showed me sketches and diagrams, where everything essential was already specified: two-volume design, the dimensions - wheelbase, total length, width and approximately also the height. Even the interior dimensions and engines were already defined. “From the beginning it was planned that the Golf would be a two- and four-door model.”, remembers Giugiaro.
We thus reach the final steps to learn how the Volkswagen Golf was born. “The project was to be presented internally on August 12, 1970. It was said that they would call me if the presentation went well, and with the punctuality of a Swiss watch, that afternoon the phone rang: 'we have chosen your model, come to Wolfsburg !' I was told", says Giorgetto Giugiaro. In any case, Some changes still had to be made to the design, basically for regulatory reasons., technical analysis and financial needs.
Designing a car is not exactly easy, there are so many variables and so many things that influence decisions, that it is very difficult to find a compromise. For example, The front of the car was about 10 centimeters longer, the pilots were smaller and the windshield was more inclined. The headlights were changed, Giugiaro had drawn rectangular ones in line with the pilots, for circular ones, which in those years were much cheaper to manufacture. Some front side indicators were also eliminated for cost reasons.
GOLF PRODUCTION BEGINS IN 1974
The new model soon became a sales pillar for the brand. The car was nice, drove very well, was of good overall quality and was practical and comfortable. It had everything that the brand's management was looking for, but, in addition, it also brought a series of other things, since The design had been developed to facilitate manufacturing. The production of a car is complex and the design of its elements can further complicate its manufacturing, which, in turn, increases costs.
Giugiaro tells it like this: “Making a beautiful vehicle is easy if you just make a few. But if you want to make thousands of them, you have to design a car that is easy to make.”. When the Golf was designed, the basic concept of reducing production steps was taken into account, which is why We opted for smooth surfaces, few welding points necessary, few individual components.... Even so, an investment of 2.500 million German marks was required between 1972 and 1975, about 1.279.821.026 euros without taking into account the CPI. This investment not only served for the production of the Golf, but also laid the foundation for the production engineering of Volkswagen's new product range.
Production of the Volkswagen Golf began on March 29, 1974, arriving at dealerships a month later. Its price was 7.995 marks, about 4.093 euros, which helped make it a resounding success. After only 31 months on sale, there were already one million Volkswagen Golfs circulating around the world and after the commercial life of the first generation, production reached 6,9 million copies.
EPILOGUE: THE NAME
The issue of its commercial name also required some discards. From the outset, it had been thought of calling it Blizzard, but was quickly discarded. The name of the car was always linked to sport, hence it had a golf ball in the gear selector, but also refers to the Gulf wind, which maintained Volkswagen's tradition of using wind names for its cars.
However, apparently, according to Joachin Zimmermann, former head of purchasing at Volkswagen between 1965 and 1995, They were also inspired by a horse called Gold, whose image was synonymous with “superior class, elegance and reliability”. Be that as it may, 50 years later The Golf name is one of the most powerful brands in the global automobile industry..