VOLKSWAGEN GOLF CELEBRATES 50 YEARS

MARCH 29, 1974 saw Volkswagen commence production of the Golf, a record-setting model for the brand.

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But at the time Volkswagen hierarchy was more than a little edgy, as its new car was a small hatchback with a front, inline-engine and front-wheel drive. The complete opposite to the much-loved Beetle it was replacing. It was a big gamble.

In conjunction with VW Design, the Giorgio Giugiaro penned Golf is the most successful Volkswagen. The Beetle sold 21.5 million units, and so far, over eight generations, 37 million Golfs have been produced, with over 20 million at VW's main plant, in Wolfsburg, Germany. The other 17 million have been made at VW plants in Belgium, Brazil, China, Malaysia, Mexico, Slovakia and South Africa.