One of Volkswagen’s greatest accomplishments was breaking the USA.
Whatever its commercial triumphs elsewhere, the massive American market was a glittering prize for the German firm, with the potential for millions of vehicle sales. And they did eventually come from the late 1950s onwards until, by the mid-1960s and well into the 1970s, no US street scene seemed complete without at least a couple of Beetles and a Transporter hanging around somewhere.
However, the success didn’t just happen overnight. From 1949 to 1954, Volkswagen’s efforts to sell its vehicles over the other side of the Atlantic were largely a failure. And that was despite the involvement of the man generally regarded as the main catalyst for European cars gaining a foothold in the USA, Max Hoffman. The Austrian ex-racing driver was the business brain behind dealerships specialising in imports from Britain, Italy and particularly Germany. Firms like Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, BMW, Fiat and Alfa Romeo all became initially established Stateside thanks to Hoffman’s influence, acumen and occasionally dubious dealings, but when it came to the Beetles and Transporters from Wolfsburg, he failed to have anything like the same impact.
Hoffman was born just outside Vienna, Austria, in November 1904. The family name was actually Hoffmann, but the second
