The VW type 1 developed by Ferdinand Porsche, also known as the Beetle, was first mass produced at the end of 1945. Although its essential design features were retained, Volkswagen continually made improvements to the Beetle. Performance was improved, mainly by means of an increase in capacity. So from the late summer of 1966 a 1500cc version went on the market offering 44hp, which represented a 10% increase over its predecessor. Improvements were also made to the bodywork, in particular the attractive vertical headlamps of the 1500. The 1970 convertible also had an upholstered dashboard, larger Europa bumpers and reached a top speed of 125 km/h.