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50 free Volkswagen trivia questions with answers — technology quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Volkswagen trivia for Beetle owners, Golf GTI drivers, camper-van dreamers and anyone curious how a 'people's car' dreamed up in 1930s Germany became the badge on the world's biggest carmaker. The quiz starts with the origins: Ferdinand Porsche's design, the savings-stamp scheme that never delivered a single car, the purpose-built factory town later renamed Wolfsburg, and the British Army major who restarted the line in 1945 after Ford and Rootes both said the car was worthless. From there it follows the Type 1 past the Model T's production record, through the witty Doyle Dane Bernbach adverts, the Karmann Ghia, the Thing, and the water-cooled revolution of the Passat, Scirocco, Golf and Polo. Later rounds cover the New Beetle, the Touareg and Tiguan, the Chattanooga plant, the 2015 emissions scandal, the ID electric range, the Porsche short squeeze of 2008 that briefly made VW the world's most valuable company, and the marque's wins in the Dakar Rally and World Rally Championship. Questions run from easy to expert, and every answer was checked against a reference page and carries its source. See also our Ford, Porsche and cars quizzes.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which German city is Volkswagen headquartered?
Wolfsburg
The town was purpose-built for the factory's workers in 1938 and originally called Stadt des KdF-Wagens.
Q 02What does the name Volkswagen mean in German?
People's car
The Volks- prefix was also stuck on other products of the era, such as the Volksempfänger radio.
Q 03Which organisation established Volkswagen in 1937?
The German Labour Front
It was part of the Strength Through Joy leisure programme, which also ran tours and outings.
Q 04Which designer built the 1933 Volksauto prototype that led to the original Volkswagen?
Ferdinand Porsche
His car had an air-cooled rear engine, torsion-bar suspension and a rounded 'beetle' shape for aerodynamics.
Q 05The 1934 specification called for a car carrying two adults and three children at what speed?
100 km/h
It was to cost 990 Reichsmarks, about the price of a small motorcycle at the time.
Q 06Roughly how many Germans paid into the pre-war savings scheme to buy a KdF-Wagen?
336,000
Not one of them received a car; a lawsuit settled in the 1960s gave savers a discount on a new VW instead.
Q 07The pre-war Volkswagen was known by what name, from the Nazi leisure programme?
KdF-Wagen
Prototypes appeared in 1938 with the round shape and air-cooled flat-four engine already in place.
Q 08Who developed the body of the prototype that became the recognisable Beetle?
Erwin Komenda
It was one of the first cars shaped with help from a wind tunnel, a technique borrowed from German aircraft design.
Q 09What was Volkswagen's most common wartime model?
The Type 82 Kübelwagen
The amphibious Schwimmwagen was the other military variant built for German forces.
Q 10Which British Army officer took control of the bombed factory in 1945 and restarted production?
Ivan Hirst
He repainted a wartime car green, showed it to Army headquarters, and won an order for 20,000 vehicles.
Q 11How many cars did the British Army order from the factory in September 1945?
20,000
Production stopped whenever it rained because of roof and window damage, and cars were bartered for steel.
Q 12Which American company was offered Volkswagen free of charge in 1948 and turned it down?
Ford
Chairman Ernest Breech told Henry Ford II the offer wasn't 'worth a damn'.
Q 13Which former Opel manager was recruited in 1948 to run Volkswagen and pursued a 'one-model' policy?
Heinrich Nordhoff
He kept the focus on the Type 1 saloon until shortly before his death in 1968.
Q 21The 1971 Super Beetle differed from the standard car mainly by adopting which front suspension?
MacPherson struts
The change, plus a longer nose so the spare tyre could lie flat, gave more front luggage space.
Q 22The military-styled Type 181 of 1973 was sold under which name in America?
The Thing
It recalled the wartime Type 82 and lasted just two model years in the US.
Q 23The 1973 Passat, first of VW's water-cooled generation, was a fastback version of which car?
Audi 80
It was sold in the US as the Dasher and shared many body and mechanical parts with its Audi twin.
Q 14How many Volkswagens were sold in the United States in 1949, the first year they were offered there?
Two
The car was briefly marketed in America as the Victory Wagon.
Q 15In which year did total production of the Type 1 reach one million?
1955
Volkswagen of America had been formed in April that year to organise US sales and service.
Q 16Which New York advertising agency created Volkswagen's famous 1960s campaigns?
Doyle Dane Bernbach
Art director Helmut Krone and copywriters Julian Koenig and Bob Levinson made the ads as popular as the car.
Q 17What was the Beetle's official factory designation, since VW never officially used the nickname?
Type 1
The Type 2 was the van, pick-up and camper.
Q 18Whose production record did the Beetle break on 17 February 1972?
The Ford Model T
The 15,007,034th car sold that day made it the most-produced single make of car in history.
Q 19Volkswagen's first limited-edition Beetle, sold in the US in 1972, was named after which race?
The Baja 1000
The 'Baja Champion SE' came in Marathon Blau metallic paint with magnesium-alloy wheels.
Q 20Which company did Volkswagen acquire in 1964, giving it the dormant Audi brand?
Auto Union
NSU followed in 1969; merging the two created the modern Audi and brought VW front-wheel-drive know-how.
Q 24Which Italian designer styled both the Scirocco and the first Golf?
Giorgetto Giugiaro
The Scirocco was built at Karmann because Volkswagen's own plants were full.
Q 25Under what name was the first-generation Golf sold in the United States and Canada?
Rabbit
The name came back for the fifth generation in 2006-2009; in Latin America the car was the Caribe.
Q 26The 1975 Polo began life as a rebadged version of which car?
Audi 50
The Audi original was discontinued in 1978 while the Polo went on for generations.
Q 27Near which Pennsylvania town did Volkswagen build Rabbits from 1978 to 1988?
New Stanton
Chairman Carl Hahn closed the Westmoreland plant on 14 July 1988 as US sales slid.
Q 28VW's first-generation hatchback lived on for decades in South Africa under what name?
Citi Golf
It used tooling shipped from the closed Pennsylvania plant.
Q 29Which Spanish carmaker did Volkswagen take a majority stake in during 1986 and buy outright in 1990?
SEAT
A cooperation agreement had been signed four years earlier in 1982.
Q 30Which designer's 1994 Concept One led to the New Beetle?
J Mays
The concept sat on the Polo platform, but the production car moved up to the Golf's.