1934 Adolph Hitler decided to open a state owned and operated factory to manufacture a car for every German family, using 1 of Ferdinand Porche’s designs adding in a few of his own ideas, that every family could afford.  at the time most families only owned a simple motorcycle to get around on. Cars were a luxury that only a handful in the population owned.  The idea to use an air-cooled engine was to get away from water that would freeze easily during the harsh winters of Germany.  The Volkswagen Beetle was the first vehicle Ferdinand Porche developed using a wind tunnel to increase its aerodynamics.  

Volkswagen started building the first beetle prototype in the 1930s with the first prototype rolling out in the fall of 1935.  In 1938 the newly operating factory in Wolfsberg, Germany made 210 beetles only for the workers of the factory. At this time Hitler’s forces were marching into Czechoslovakia kicking off WWII.