In all 9,541 Type 2s were produced in their first year of production. The Microbus was added in May 1950, joined by the Deluxe Microbus in June 1951. Only two models were offered: the Kombi (with two side windows and middle and rear seats that were easily removable by one person), and the Commercial. Volkswagen's new chief executive officer Heinz Nordhoff (appointed 1 January 1948) approved the van for production on and the first production model, now designated Type 2, rolled off the assembly line to debut 12 November. Simple changes such as splitting the windshield and roofline into a "vee" helped the production Type 2 achieve C d=0.44, exceeding the Type 1's C d=0.48. Īlthough the aerodynamics of the first prototypes were poor (with an initial drag coefficient of C d=0.75), engineers used the wind tunnel at the Technical University of Braunschweig to optimize the design. Engineers reused the reduction gear from the Type 82, enabling the 1.5 ton van to use a 25 hp (19 kW) flat four engine. Coincidentally the wheelbase was the same as the Type 1's. The stock Type 1 pan proved to be too weak so the prototype used a ladder chassis with unit body construction. When capacity freed up, a prototype known internally as the Type 29 was produced in a short three months. Production would have to wait, however, as the factory was at capacity producing the Type 1. He first sketched the van in a doodle dated 23 April 1947, proposing a payload of 690 kg (1,520 lb) and placing the driver at the very front. Pon visited Wolfsburg in 1946, intending to purchase Type 1s for import to the Netherlands, where he saw a Plattenwagen, an improvised parts-mover based on the Type 1 chassis, and realized something better was possible using the stock Type 1 pan. It has similarities in concept to the 1920s Rumpler Tropfenwagen and 1930s Dymaxion car by Buckminster Fuller, neither of which reached production. The concept for the Type 2 is credited to Dutch Volkswagen importer Ben Pon. This (after the 2002 termination of its T3 successor in South Africa) marked the end of the era of rear-engine Volkswagens, which originated in 1935 with their Type 1 prototypes. Like the Beetle, the van has received numerous nicknames worldwide, including the "microbus", "minibus", and, because of its popularity during the counterculture movement of the 1960s, "Hippie van/bus".īrazil contained the last factory in the world that produced the T2 series of Type 2, which ceased production on 31 December 2013, due to the introduction of more stringent safety regulations in the country. Japanese manufacturers also introduced similar vehicles, such as the Nissan Caravan, Toyota LiteAce and Subaru Sambar. Īs one of the forerunners of the modern cargo and passenger vans, the Type 2 gave rise to forward control competitors in the United States in the 1960s, including the Ford Econoline, the Dodge A100, and the Chevrolet Corvair 95 Corvan, the latter adapting the rear-engine configuration of the Corvair car in the same manner in which the VW Type 2 adapted the Type 1 layout.Įuropean competition included the 1947–1981 Citroën H Van, the 1959–1980 Renault Estafette (both FF layout), the 1952–1969 semi forward-control Bedford CA and the 1953–1965 FR layout Ford Transit. Following – and initially deriving from – Volkswagen's first model, the Type 1 (Beetle), it was given the factory designation Type 2. The Volkswagen Type 2, known officially (depending on body type) as the Transporter, Kombi or Microbus, or, informally, as the Bus (US), Camper (UK) or Bulli (Germany), is a forward control light commercial vehicle introduced in 1950 by the German automaker Volkswagen as its second car model. Transverse Front-engine, four-wheel-drive (T4-Present).Transverse Front-engine, front-wheel-drive (T4-Present). Longitudinal Rear-engine, four-wheel-drive (T3).Longitudinal Rear-engine, rear-wheel-drive (T1-T3).
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