From People's Car to New Beetle: The Transatlantic Journeys of the Volkswagen Beetle.

CULTURAL relations; INTERNATIONAL relations; VOLKSWAGEN Beetle automobile; INTERNATIONAL trade -- Social aspects; IMPORTS; POWER (Social sciences); GERMANY-United States relations

GERMANY; UNITED States

The article presents an examination of the history of the Volkswagen (VW) Beetle in the United States and discusses how the U.S. came to be seen as an attractive leader in Europe by projecting American culture internationally as well as by establishing an openness to European imports. It explores how the U.S.'s cultural openness to Western Europe was viewed in Europe and discusses what the U.S.'s acceptance of the VW Beetle meant for cultural relations between the U.S. and the Federal Republic of Germany after 1945.