The Volkswagen Type 1, more commonly known as the Beetle or Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003. Although the names "Beetle" and "Bug" were quickly adopted by the public, it was not until August of 1967 that VW itself began using the name Beetle in marketing materials in the US. In Britain VW never used the name Beetle officially. It had previously been known only as either the "Type I" or as the 1100 (eleven-hundred),1200 (twelve-hundred), 1300 (thirteen-hundred) or 1500 (fifteen-hundred), which had been the names under which the vehicle was marketed in Europe ; the numbers denoted the vehicle's engine size in cubic centimetres. In 1998, many years after the original model had been dropped from the lineup in most of the world (production continued in Mexico until 2003), VW introduced the "New Beetle" (built on a Volkswagen Golf platform) and bearing a cosmetic resemblance to the original.

Speculation suggests that its peculiar styling, underpowered motor, rough ride, and high noise levels compared to modern vehicles should have made it a market failure. It was in its day, though, more comfortable and powerful than most European small cars, and ultimately the longest-running and most-produced automobile of a single design (a record that will not take long to be beaten by its younger "cousin" the Type-2 Bus or Kombi, which is still in production in Brazil with the same basic characteristics of the first series). It remained a top seller in the US even as rear-wheel drive conventional subcompacts were refined and eventually replaced by front-wheel drive models. The Beetle car was the benchmark for both generations of American compact cars such as the Chevrolet Corvair and subcompact cars such as the Ford Pinto and Chevrolet Vega. In the international poll for the award of the world's most influential car of the twentieth century the Beetle came fourth after the Ford Model T, the Mini, and the Citroën DS.