In 1934, Ferdinand Porsche received an order from Hitler to construct a Volkswagen (a vehicle for the people). The first five prototypes of the Beetle were constructed in the years 1935-36, the trial series – 126 VW 60 cars were constructed in the years 1936-39, in May 1938 the construction of a plant started, in October that year the Volkswagenwerke GmbH was established, and in February 1940 series production on – instead of the Beetle – the off-road VW Typ 2 Kuebelwagen designed for the army. In the years 1940-44, only 630 VW 1KdF-Wagen (began the original name of the famous Beetle) vehicles were manufactured. It was not until August 1945 that the production of the VW Beetle started for good and continued in Germany till 1980. Volkswagen has taken over the following companies: Auto Union, NSU, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Lamborghini – merged with Audi (1998) and, in 1998, the title to the Bugatti brand.