What was the Brazilian market name for the original Beetle?

The Brazilian market name for the original Beetle was Volkswagen Fusca.

Volkswagen began exporting the Type 1 to Brazil in 1953, initially bringing in parts from Germany. Local assembly moved to Volkswagen’s new São Bernardo do Campo plant in January 1959, and Brazilian content eventually became almost complete. In Brazil, the car was officially marketed as the Volkswagen Fusca rather than simply using the German Type 1 designation.

The name became deeply rooted in Brazilian car culture and was also used in Paraguay and Uruguay. Its origin is commonly linked to the German pronunciation of VW—“fau-vê”—which was adapted through local speech. The exact linguistic path is discussed in accounts of Brazilian Volkswagen history, but Fusca became the established canonical name.

Brazilian production first ended in 1986 after more than 3.3 million examples, then resumed in 1992 under the Itamar administration and continued until 1996. The later A5 Beetle was also sold in Brazil as the Fusca, but that should not be confused with the original air-cooled Type 1.