A wizard in Oz
It was during the 1950s that Volkswagens really started to spread across the globe, first to the European nations surrounding Germany and then slowly, but surely further afield.
One of Wolfsburg’s biggest challenges was to crack Australia, a country capable of testing even the Volkswagen’s legendary resilience and robustness. This was a place at the other end of the earth to Europe, and one that could be notoriously difficult for those who lived there, and the vehicles they drove. At least outside of the civilised cities.
With one third of its 2,974,581-square mile land mass classified as harsh, or semi-desert, where 10 inches of rain per year is unusual (by comparison, Manchester gets over 40 inches a year, and isn’t even Britain’s rainiest city), few might have given the VW any chance in Australia. Like America, this was a nation that loved its big-engined, US-influenced, practical ‘utes’ (pick-up), and where small-engined vehicles just weren’t considered suitable. Breaking down could mean being stranded for hours, days even, in an inhospitable place where every insect and reptile would try to kill you. Baden Baden it
