I googled it, and according to Wikipedia, well...
"Hank Cooper (Bruce Campbell) becomes the owner of Herbie in The Love Bug, the 1997 made-for-television movie. In it, it's revealed Herbie was created by a German engineer named Dr. Gustav Stumpfel. As he was building Herbie a picture of Dr. Stumpfel's wife fell into a vat of molten metal, giving Herbie life."
Ummm.