Volkswagen Beetle Replacement Was Nearly a Mid-Engine Porsche Design That VW Canceled

An Icon That Could’ve Been Replaced in the ’60sMuch has been said about the Volkswagen Beetle and its long and illustrious history. Anyone somewhat knowledgeable about automotive history would know that the Beetle story dates back to the Second World War. If it weren’t for British Major Ivan, who spotted a Type 1 prototype amidst the rubble of the Volkswagen plant, the entire German automotive industry probably wouldn’t have become the powerhouse it eventually became.The Type 1 would eventually be named Käfer, the German word for Beetle, and it became its official name by the late ’60s. However, there were already plans to build a successor long before that, and had any of those been approved, we probably wouldn’t be writing this story …