Every air-cooled Volkswagen on this list went on sale new in the United States, starting with a single Beetle shipped to New York in 1949. Over the next three decades, VW added a bus, a sports coupe, family wagons and a military-derived runabout with removable doors. All seven used an air-cooled flat four.

For that reason, each entry below names its source. Where a model’s U.S. dates differ from its European ones, we use the American dates.

1. 1949–1979 Air-Cooled Volkswagen Beetle

The Beetle came first. According to Volkswagen of America, Dutch importer Ben Pon Sr. shipped a Type 1 Beetle to New York City in January 1949. However, sales started slowly. Hagerty’s Beetle buyer’s guide says only two cars sold in the U.S. that year.

Then advertising took hold. By 1968, VW’s 65th-anniversary release says, Americans were buying as many as 423,008 Beetles a year. The company counts more than 5.5 million Beetles sold in the U.S. across three generations. Meanwhile, Hagerty says the original’s convertible stayed on sale here through an extended 1979 model year.

2. Volkswagen Super Beetle, From 1971

For 1971, VW gave the Beetle a bigger sibling. According to Hagerty’s 1949–79 Beetle buyer’s guide, the Super Beetle used a 1600cc engine rated at 60 horsepower.

The real change sat up front, though. The Super Beetle got a new MacPherson strut front suspension. As a result, Hagerty notes, it gained trunk space under the hood. Hagerty sums it up as everything buyers loved about the Beetle, “but more of it.”

3. 1955–1974 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

The Karmann Ghia put a coachbuilt body on Beetle mechanicals. Italy’s Carrozzeria Ghia drew it, and Germany’s Karmann built it by hand, according to a Hagerty Marketplace listing for a 1974 car. That listing says production ran from 1955 to 1974.

Americans could buy one early on. In fact, Hagerty’s Karmann Ghia valuation story says it debuted in the U.S. at a base price under $2,400. Hagerty adds that it started with 30 horsepower and never made more than 60. By comparison, America never got the later Type 34 “Razor Edge” coupe, according to Hagerty UK.

4. 1968–1979 Volkswagen Type 2 Bay Window Bus

The Bay Window Bus arrived for 1968 and ran through 1979. According to GoWesty’s model overview, every one of them used an air-cooled engine. Early buses used a 1600cc upright Type 1 engine of about 50 horsepower.

Later buses, however, switched engines. GoWesty says the 1972–79 buses used the flat Type 4 “pancake” engine. It grew from 1700cc in 1972 to 1800cc in 1974, and then to a fuel-injected 2000cc from 1976 to 1979.

5. Volkswagen Type 3 Squareback and Fastback, From 1966

Next came the Type 3. According to ClassicCars.com’s Journal, it arrived in the U.S. for the 1966 model year. Its 1,585cc engine made 65 horsepower, which was 15 more than the Beetle’s smaller engine.

The Journal’s featured car is a 1969 Squareback, the wagon version. A year earlier, for 1968, the Type 3 “E” got Bosch D-Jetronic electronic fuel injection as standard. The Journal calls it the first German series-production car with electronic fuel injection as standard.

6. 1971–1974 Volkswagen 411 and 412

The Type 4 reached America in 1971, according to Curbside Classic. Meanwhile, according to Barn Finds, it sold as the 411 in 1971 and 1972 and as the 412 in 1973 and 1974. It also brought VW’s first four-door sedan body, plus a wagon.

For example, the 1973 412 wagon in that story uses a fuel-injected, air-cooled 1.7-liter flat four. Sales stayed modest, though. Curbside Classic says VW sold 368,000 Type 4s worldwide, and only 117,000 of them came to the U.S.

7. Volkswagen Thing (Type 181), From 1973

The Thing started as a military vehicle for West Germany. According to Volkswagen’s own history post, it reached the U.S. in 1973 at $2,750. In addition, it used a 46-horsepower Beetle engine and transmission.

Its American run was short. Hagerty says the Thing arrived in 1972 as a 1973 model. Then VW dropped it from the U.S. lineup in 1975, because it couldn’t meet that year’s tougher crash test standards.

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This article was created with the help of AI and was reviewed and edited by Fast Lane Only editors before publication.