Which German company originally produced the Volkswagen Beetle?

The German company that originally produced the Volkswagen Beetle was Volkswagen.

The Beetle was officially known as the Volkswagen Type 1 and was manufactured by Volkswagenwerk, later commonly identified simply as Volkswagen. The company’s name translates roughly as “people’s car,” matching the original ambition of creating an affordable mass-market automobile for Germany.

Ferdinand Porsche and his engineering team developed the rear-engine, air-cooled design, but Porsche was not the production manufacturer. Volkswagen built the cars at its Wolfsburg plant and later expanded Beetle production to facilities in countries including Mexico and Brazil. Civilian series production began under British control after World War II in December 1945.

The Beetle became one of the world’s best-known cars, remaining in production in some market until 2003. More than 21.5 million original Beetles were built. A frequent mix-up is confusing Volkswagen with Volkswagen Group, the later corporate group that owns multiple brands, including Audi; the original Beetle manufacturer was the Volkswagen company itself.