VW 1955-59

1955: Only 18% of the vehicle sales in Germany were to private buyers so much potential for growth. The Ghia Coupe was released this year (picture above). Total sales passed the 300,000 mark with domestic sales reaching 150,000 units. For the first time, export sales exceeded local. 

1956: A new plant in Hanover was built for the Transporter model, freeing up capacity at the Wolfsburg facility for the Beetle. Assembly of vehicles from kits started in South Africa. Sales outside of Germany passed 200,000.

1957: VW struggled to meet domestic demand with a waiting list extending to several months. Domestic sales passed 200,000 and total sales neared half a million.

1958: Exports surpassed 300,000 and globally 550,000. 3,650 Transporters are classified as made in Brazil, athough not yet offically a manufacturer.

1959: VW market share in Germany is just over 40%, the Beetle alone is over 30%! VW Brazil manufacturered 24,800 Beetles and tranporters and in Australia VW started vehicle assembly from kits. Exports reached 400,000 units. 

Data source: VW AG. For the last article in the series, simply click here.

As for overseas sales of exported vehicles, VW started releasing data from 1956. Europe was the largest but America took over as the biggest market in 1959. I'm not sure if that was just the USA. However, Germany is not included below and was still the largest market with 100,000 sales more than America.