How many Iltis vehicles were made?
Iltis” means “Polecat” in German, it’s an animal that was chosen to represent the new 4×4 due to its short, compact body and hardy build. The Volkswagen Iltis was built between 1978 and 1988 with just over 9,500 made in total, almost all for military use. Today they’re highly prized by enthusiasts and collectors. The Iltis was built to be a homegrown utility vehicle for use by the German army. It went into production in 1978 at Audi’s Ingolstadt facility, with a civilian model run beginning in 1979. All told, Volkswagen would build just over 9,000 military and civilian examples, skewed heavily toward military.The Iltis was built under license in Canada by Bombardier Inc. The vehicle was known for its off-road capabilities and was used extensively by the Canadian Armed Forces until the early 2000s, including in Afghanistan.
Is the Iltis a military vehicle?
The Volkswagen Type 183, more commonly known as the Iltis (German for polecat), is a military vehicle built by Volkswagen for use by the German military. The Iltis was formerly built under licence in Canada by Bombardier Inc. VW last built the Iltis off-road vehicle for the Bundeswehr between 1978 and 1988. Both VW and Porsche were also involved in armaments production during the Third Reich.