500,000 Beetles

At a sprawling plant in Wolfsburg, Germany, one day this month, workers tightened the last bolts on a beetle-like sedan, and rolled it off the production line. It was the 500,000th Volkswagen to be produced since the war.

Smashed by allied bombs in World War II, the Volkswagen company has made an impressive recovery under the leadership of Managing Director Heinz Nordhoff, who in prewar days ran a General Motors subsidiary in Germany (TIME, Aug. 25, 1952). Nordhoff boosted Volkswagen production from 20,000 in 1948 to an estimated 170,000 this year, made Volkswagen the biggest auto plant in Europe and a potent continental competitor for British, French and Italian cars. To catch foreign markets, he set up assembly plants in Brazil, South Africa and Ireland.

With his daily output at 700 cars, up 165 from last year's average, Nordhoff has set a new goal. By adding a third production line, he hopes to boost daily output to 800 cars by year's end, is aiming for Volkswagen's millionth postwar car.

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