What year did Volkswagen start putting in automatic transmissions?

1967,

Officially called the Volkswagen Automatic Stickshift, this transmission was a three speed manual transmission connected to a vacuum-operated automatic clutch. When the driver put his/her hand on the gearshift the clutch would disengage by a 12 volt solenoid operating the vacuum clutch, allowing shifting between gears, once he/sheremoved his/her hand the clutch would re-engage automatically. The transmission was also equipped with a torque converter, allowing the car to idle in gear, like an automatic. The torque converter was operated by Transmission Fluid. This would allow the car to stop in any gear and start from a standing stop in any gear. This transmission was first available on the 1967 Volkswagen Beetle, and was made available on the Karmann Ghia in 1967. VW dropped the transmission option altogether in 1976.

Newer Volkswagens use a Tiptronic and DSG system