The Volkswagen Golf is celebrating its birthday! VW’s iconic model began production on March 29, 1974, in Wolfsburg, Germany.
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In addition to being Europe’s most popular car, the Golf is also Volkswagen’s best-selling car of all time. Since the start of production of the Golf Mk1, over 37 million units have been sold.
The Golf’s mission was to replace the Beetle when Porsche developed the EA 266 prototype. However, the early models had a water-cooled engine hidden under the rear seat, making repairs and maintenance challenging. Because of this, the car was discarded.
After the project was canceled in October 1971, the EA 276 began to be designed in Wolfsburg with a front-engine layout and front-wheel drive. The EA 276 project was also abandoned because it was not fully functional.
Italian designer Giorgetto Giugiaro created the design for the EA 337 prototype, which was a public and critical success. Even after some changes to the original design, Giugiaro once said that the Golf was “the most important car of my career.”
As for the car’s name, Golf comes from the German word Golfstrom, the name of the ocean current “Gulf Stream.” 50 years later, VW still uses the iconic name for the eighth generation of its compact car.
