21,517,415th Golf

Volkswagen Golf production surpasses the original air-cooled Beetle

The venerable Beetle was Volkswagen's mainstay for over a quarter of a century, and in that time gained the honour of the highest production model in the world, but by the seventies was an albatross around VW's neck, now its replacement has inherited it's predecessors crown and surpassed the Beetles production, and is still going from strength to strength.

Record Breaker

On Tuesday, June 25th 2002, Volkswagen AG celebrated a very special production record. In the presence of the Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, Dr. Bernd Pischetsrieder, and the Deputy Chairman of the General and Group Works Council, Bernd Sudholt, the 21,517,415th Golf came off the line at the Wolfsburg factory. With this record vehicle, production of the Golf has overtaken that of the legendary Beetle, which is still being built at VW de Mexico. The ceremony was attended by a number of political figures, together with other members of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG and the Volkswagen brand board, the General and Group Works Council and Golf production employees.

The record vehicle, a Golf V5 Highline, finished in reflex silver metallic, with an output of 170hp, 5-speed gearbox and highline equipment including electronically-controlled air conditioner and parking distance control, is being delivered to a customer from Hamburg.

In his address, Dr. Folker Weißgerber, member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, said that the Golf stood for durability, dynamism and perfect technology. "It is a perfect example of functional discipline and custom work, an individual vehicle for everyone. It is the benchmark in its class, and represents the yardstick for automotive values," said Weißgerber. The Golf also played a central role in respect of employment, he said. Almost 40,000 people were deployed by Volkswagen for its production in six factories throughout the world. The company would continue the success story of the Golf, and go all out to consolidate the excellent market position of this model world-wide, said the VW Board member.

Sudholt in his speech called the Golf's success a fantastic performance by the Volkswagen workforce world-wide. "The success story of the Golf will go on, and it will remain, in the future too, a historic landmark in the development of the motor car, which others emulate, but never achieve! All the more so, because the General Works Council and IG Metall will do all in their power to ensure that Volkswagen and the Golf in future remain a synonym for social responsibility and secure jobs," said Sudholt.

Daily Golf production in six plants throughout the world is currently over 3,600 units. Volkswagen manufactures the model at the plants of Wolfsburg, Mosel, Brussels, Bratislava, Uitenhage/South Africa and Curitiba/Brazil.

In 2001 Volkswagen delivered a total of 865,500 Golf vehicles to its customers. In the first quarter of 2002 the figure was 205,600 units. Apart from Germany, the most important markets in Europe include Italy, France and Great Britain. Outside of Europe, the USA, Japan and South Africa are among the leading sales regions for the Golf.

Pete Frost

all Volkswagen communications and photos reproduced with permission of Volkswagen UK