While the Italian and the French carmakers were enjoying great success with their Fiat 124 and the Peugeot 504, Volkswagen was stuck with the already dated Beetle.
Thus, the German carmaker was in great need of a new product to replace the famous people’s car.

Different prototypes were produced starting with early 1950s, but only one of the development projects was considered the basis of the new Golf, the EA337.

Kurt Lots, Volkswagen’s Director General, visited the 1969 Turin Auto Show and selected his favorite cars, 4 out of 6 being designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro.

Giugiaro was invited to work on the project EA337, VW providing him with the basic dimensions and the power-train options.

Giurgiaro’s “folded-paper” design featured sharp corners, flat panels, rectangular headlamps and wide tail-lamps. By the time the Golf I entered production, the definitive version featured round headlamps and narrower rear lamps.

Even though the Golf I was designed as a successor to the Beetle, the new model was actually completely different in terms of mechanicals: VW shifted from the rear-wheel drive and the rear-mounted air-cooled engines to a front-wheel-drive system and a water cooled powerplants. With the engine transversely mounted ahead of the front axle, the space created within the footprint of the car allowed maximum use.

While the Beetle had a traditional chassis and a body two-piece construction, the VW Golf I featured a monocoque design.

Two of the four available powerplants were borrowed from Audi, while the other 2 were part of the original EA111 development project. Their power ranged from 50 hp to 70 hp.