When you think of Volkswagen, you would logically think of the Beetle, Jetta, or any of other models it makes. But did you know VW’s best-selling item has absolutely nothing to do with cars? The carmaker started making its own currywurst sausage in 1973, and now pumps out more than 18,000 of them every day.
Transcript:
Volkswagen went viral across the US and it had nothing to do with cars. The German car-maker finally released its Gewürz ketchup to Americans to mark 75 years of Volkswagen on U.S. shores. But good luck getting your hands on it, because it’s already sold out.
OK, time out – back up. Volkswagen sells what?
Yep – the company famous for selling the minibus and the beetle has its own brand of ketchup. But hold that thought – we’ll get back to the ketchup in a minute.
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Want to take a guess what Volkswagen’s best-selling product is? It’s not the Jetta. Or the Golf. In fact, it doesn’t even have wheels.
VW’s best-seller is original part number 199 398 500 A: its currywurst sausage. And until recently, the company sold more of these sausages than it did cars on a yearly basis. Volkswagen started making its currywurst in 1973, and claims it now makes around 18,000 a day.
Zoom out over the course of a year and that’s more than 6.5 million sausages produced. In 2018 VW made 6.8 million sausages – more than the number of cars it delivered to customers.
And no, the VW employees making the sausages are not the same ones bolting down your steering wheel. There’s a team of butchers pumping out thousands of pounds of meat every day.
But this isn’t a product you can buy here in the states. You can’t even find it on Amazon. The currywurst is made for VW workers at its Wolfsburg factory – and they actually came really close to losing it.
In 2021, Volkswagen stopped producing the pork sausages and switched to a vegetarian option to reduce carbon emissions. And it turns out, people weren’t too happy about it. Even former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröeder voiced his displeasure. However, the ban only last two years, and the lunchtime staple was reinstated in 2023.
Now, you know what allegedly goes great with currywurst? Exactly.
Volkswagen first started producing its own ketchup in 1996, and the pair have gone hand-in-hand ever since. And while you may have missed out on getting a bottle – we were lucky enough to snag one.
This is James – he’s one of our writers here at TheStreet. He was one of the few to successfully order a bottle. And while we couldn’t get our hands on the sausage, we put it on something that definitely pairs well with ketchup.
James Ochoa: All right. Oh, God OK OK. I mean, I’m not expecting much, but let’s just say. OK I can understand why they do call it currywurst, because the it’s just tomato. And then the Curry kind of comes in a little bit. So I mean, it’s good. But I mean, I mean you don’t like normal ketchup?
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