VW Maggiolino Ricscaldamento, Ventilazione e Aria Condizionata

The second “Hunderttausender” meeting took place, a club specifically for Beetle owners whose cars had covered more than 100,000km on their original engine, attended by Nordhoff, he announced “ We are still convinced that I will say it over and over again, since again and again absolutely senseless rumors arise of a new Volkswagen – that blessing lies not in bolder and more magnificent new designs, but in the consistent and tireless redevelopment of every tiny detail until perfection is achieved, which is the mark of a truly astonishing car and which truly brings astonishing success.”

1954 also marked the birth of VW Mexico, who like the Brazilians, began production of CKD kits. The 1,000,000th Beetle was first made in 1955, and Nordhoff announced another price cut, the basic car was now 3790 DM, and the export 4700 DM with the range topping cabrio at 5990 DM. 279,986 Beetles were built in 1955, a gain of over 87,00 on the previous years production, 35,581 of these were sold to the US.

Some of the changes for the 55 model included larger brake light lenses, making use of the new twin filament bulbs (one for tail and one for stop lights). US market cars got flashing indicators, whilst all other markets still had semaphores or trafficators.

The 1956 model was largely unchanged from the previous years car, however all cars now featured tubeless tyres. Whilst production methods were getting more and more efficient, and VW’s workforce constantly growing, resulting in an annual production total of 395,690 cars, export sales were hit by the Suez crisis, with the canal being a major shipping route for export cars.

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