Volkswagen struggled to replace the all-conquering Beetle and initial attempts, which retained the traditional rear-mounted horizontally-opposed air-cooled engine, were unsuccessful. A new product simply had to be developed for the 1970s and the architect of VW’s post war success, Heinrich ‘Heinz’ Nordhoff, created an internal product planning committee in 1967, one year before he passed away. This committee, led by new VW chief Dr Kurt Lotz, evaluated a number of plans including EA266, a Porsche-designed mid-engined hatchback. However, in March 1970, project EA337 came into being and on 12th August the first styling model by Ital Design was unveiled to VW engineers. The Golf story had begun.