Background: Just a few months after the world premiere of the Passat, and shortly before the launch of the Golf that was new at that time, the successor to the Karmann Ghia marked the end of Volkswagens with boxer engines and rear-mounted engines in Europe. In parallel, the Scirocco contributed to general acceptance of a new production system – the modular principle that would soon cause a furor in the automotive industry. That is because much of what customers got a little later on the Golf was already on the Scirocco. World premiere in 1974 in Geneva The 3.85 meter long Scirocco debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in the year 1974. As described, it succeeded the Karmann Ghia – internally designated the Type 14 – that since 1966 had written automotive history with a fascinating design, proven Beetle technology and affordable prices. Like the Type 14, the Scirocco – developed under the code name EA398 – was created at Karmann in Osnabrück. While the Karmann Ghia tended to appeal to women customers, the Scirocco, designed by Italdesign in Turin, appealed equally to female and male car drivers. With its clear, defined edges, emphatic wedge shape, low belt line and taut rear end, the design originated from the same form language that Giorgetto Giugiaro also favored for the first Golf. At the same time, the car was clearly differentiated from the more baroque forms of its competitors from the German states of Nordrhein-Westfalen and Hessen. Classic sports car proportions The impression that the coupé communicated to its audience was one of a unified whole. Its wheelbase (2.40 Meter) was as long as possible, the extended hood and short fastback with integrated Bürzel spoiler created – together with its generous tread widths – classic sports car proportions. The Scirocco of Generation I conceptualized in Wolfsburg was also one of the first cars with integrated drip moldings, which fit in ideally with its overall very "clean", unpretentious appearance.