Volkswagen Beetle In 1999 there was a Car of the Century competition, to determine the world's most influential car of the 20th century. The competition involved a formal process of voting by both automotive experts and the public.The Volkswagen Beetle came in fourth, after the Ford Model T, the Mini, and the Citroën DS. This car has also been one of the most highly sold cars in the whole history of cars as well as having been considered a cultural icon during the 60s because of its strong association with the hippie movement. The Volkswagen Beetle (officially the Volkswagen Type 1) is a two-door, four passenger, rear-engine economy car manufactured and marketed by German automaker Volkswagen. The need for this kind of car and its functional objectives were formulated by the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, who wanted a cheap, simple car to be mass-produced for his country's new road network. Hitler contracted Ferdinand Porsche in 1934 to design and build it. Porsche and his team took until 1938 to finalise the design.The result was one of the first cars with the engine in the back. The Beetle is the longest-running and most-manufactured car of a single platform ever made. Although designed in the 1930s, the Beetle was only produced in significant numbers from 1945 on when the model was internally called the Volkswagen Type 1, and marketed simply as the Volkswagen (or "People's Car"). Later models were called Volkswagen 1200, 1300 and 1500 which refer to the engine displacement. The car didn't have a significant modifications until the year of 1997 when the company created the New Beetle. For this new car Volkswagen had a heavy inspiration from the exterior design of the original Beetle. Unlike the original Beetle, the New Beetle has its engine in the front, driving the front wheels, with luggage storage in the rear. Although the new features of technology, comfort and safety that the New Beetle offers, it has not been able to have the success of its predecessor. Who personally is my favorite car and also has left its mark on the history of the 20th century.