The Volkswagen Type 1, often referred to as the Beetle, Fusca, Coccinelle, Vocho, Bug, Volky or Käfer (German), is a renowned compact car that was produced from 1938 until 2003. Although the public adopted the names Beetle and Bug for the car, VW only began to use it in their marketing materials in August 1967. Before that, this vehicle had only been known as the "Type I" or the 1200 (twelve-hundred), 1300 (thirteen-hundred) or 1500 (fifteen-hundred), which were the names used to market the car in Europe prior to 1967. In 1998, well after the original car was dropped from many markets, VW introduced the "New Beetle" (built on a Volkswagen Golf platform), which bore great similarities to the original. In an international poll to recognize the world's most influential car of the twentieth century, the Beetle came in fourth place behind the Ford Model T, the Mini, and the Citroën DS.
The development of the Beetle began in 1925, when Béla Barényi submitted his concepts to the Maschinenbauanstant Wien. Later design influences came from the 1931 Tatra T97 and the 1931 Porsche Typ 12. In 1933, Adolf Hitler discussed the development of a low-cost "Volks-Wagen" ("People Car") with Ferdinand Porsche. This vehicle was to be capable of transporting two adults and three children at a speed of 100 km/h (62 mph), and it was to cost no more than 990 reichsmarks (at an average income of 32RM/week). An advertisement from around 1936 stated "Five mark a week you must put aside - If in your own car you want to ride!"
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