A silver Touran 1,9 TDI, which rolled off Volkswagen's Wolfsburg assembly line on Tuesday, is the 100 millionth car in the manufacturer's history to bear the "People's Car" badge.

A silver Touran 1,9 TDI, which rolled off Volkswagen's Wolfsburg assembly line on Tuesday, is the 100 millionth car in the manufacturer's history to bear the "People's Car" badge.

"Our past success is above all the achievement of our employees, combined with the diversity of our production plants. With their experience, we can master current start-ups and their creative ideas shape our future innovative products and processes," said Reinhard Jung, member of the Volkswagen Brand board of management responsible for production.

Volkswagen's success is rooted in the Beetle and Wolfsburg, where production of the little car began in 1945. One thousand eight hundred units were produced in the first year and five years later, the Beetle and Transporter T1 series had contributed to the company recording its 100 000th vehicle.

The range continued to grow and in 2002, after seven generations of Beetle, the Golf overtook the Beetle's production figures and set a new record for the brand. Now in its fifth generation, the Golf is still one of the manufacturer's strongest performers.

After first starting production in Wolfsburg, new plants were built to accommodate the expanding Volkswagen model range and Volkswagen of South Africa was established in 1956. The local subsidiary's production division has contributed more than 2,2 million vehicles to the total 100 million.

With a global workforce of more than 133 000, Volkswagen now has plants dotted across the globe offering customers a choice of 41 models ranging from the budget Citi Golf to the imposing Touareg SUV. The company delivered over three million cars to customers in more than 150 countries last year.

Original article from Car