Volkswagen might be known for its cars, but it also makes around 18,000 of its own sausages every day.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Volkswagen went viral across the U.S. and it had nothing to do with cars.
00:04The German carmaker finally released its Gewürzketchup to Americans to mark 75 years of Volkswagen
00:10on U.S. shores.
00:11But good luck getting your hands on it, because it's already sold out.
00:14Alright, time out.
00:17Back up.
00:18Volkswagen sells what?
00:19Yep, the company famous for selling the minibus and the Beetle has its own brand of ketchup.
00:24But hold that thought, we'll get back to the ketchup in a minute.
00:27Want to take a guess what Volkswagen's best-selling product is?
00:30It's not the Jetta or the Golf, in fact, it doesn't even have wheels.
00:34VW's best-seller is original part number 199-398-500A, its currywurst sausage.
00:42And until recently, the company sold more of these sausages than it did cars on a yearly
00:46basis.
00:47Volkswagen started making its currywurst in 1973, and claims it now makes around 18,000
00:52a day.
00:53Zoom out over the course of a year, and that's more than 6.5 million sausages produced.
00:58In 2018, VW made 6.8 million sausages, more than the number of cars it delivered to customers.
01:05And no, the VW employees making the sausages are not the same ones bolting down your steering
01:09wheel.
01:10There's a team of butchers pumping out thousands of pounds of meat a day.
01:13But this isn't a product you can buy here in the States, you can't even find it on
01:16Amazon.
01:17The currywurst is made for VW workers at its Wolfsburg factory, and they actually came
01:21really close to losing it.
01:23In 2021, Volkswagen stopped producing the pork sausages and switched to a vegetarian
01:27option to reduce carbon emissions.
01:30And it turns out, people weren't too happy about it.
01:32Even former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder voiced his displeasure.
01:36However, the ban only lasted two years, and the lunchtime staple was reinstated in 2023.
01:41Now, you know what allegedly goes great with currywurst?
01:45Exactly.
01:46This is James.
01:47He's one of our writers here at The Street.
01:49He was one of the few to successfully order a bottle, and while we couldn't get our
01:52hands on the sausage, we put it on something that definitely pairs well with ketchup.
02:19I mean, I'm not expecting much, but let's just see.
02:41Okay, I can kind of understand why they do call it currywurst, because, like, it's just
02:55tomato and then the curry kind of comes in a little bit, so, um, I mean, it's good, but
03:04I mean, I mean, you don't like normal ketchup?