Volkswagen
Volkswagens were first exhibited and sold in the United States in 1949, but sold only two units in America that first year. On entry to the U.S. market, the VW was briefly sold as a "Victory Wagon". Volkswagen of America was formed in April 1955 to standardise sales and service in the United States. Production of the Type 1 Volkswagen Beetle increased dramatically over the years, the total reaching one million in 1955.
Volkswagen Group B platform
Still an Audi derived platform, this time based on the Audi 80/4000, again, including its longitudinal engine placement and, on some European models, the quattro four-wheel drive system, rebranded Syncro for Volkswagen cars. The Santana (facelifted) was produced until 2012 in China.The B3 Volkswagen Passat was the first B platform car to be called Passat in the United States. The B3 was also the first Passat with an independently designed platform: it did not share parts with Audi models. Instead, the design borrowed heavily from the Volkswagen Group A2 platform, being essentially a stretched version of it, and sharing the same transverse engine layout.The Volkswagen Corrado was an A2 platform car, but it borrowed heavily from the B3 Passat platform for ancillary components (the VR6 version borrowed some suspension components from the A3 platform too).