It’s the end of an era. Volkswagen has finally ceased production of its first-ever vehicle – the Beetle.
Conceived by Béla Barényi and realized by Ferdinand Porsche, the Beetle has been in production for 81 years – from 1938 to 2019.
The last unit rolled off the line at Volkswagen’s plant in Pueblo, Mexico on Wednesday – 10th of July. The last production Beetle received full honors by the plant’s workers as well as a traditional mariachi serenade.
Steffen Reiche – CEO of Volkswagen de Mexico commented:
“Today is the last day. It has been very emotional.”
The original people’s car
The Volkswagen Beetle is one of the most important cars in the history of cars. At the dawn of Nazi Germany, the automobile was a luxury item, available only to the privileged.
In 1934, Hitler instructed Porsche to create a “people’s car” – Volkswagen. The vehicle would need to transport two adults and three children at 62 mph, which was the speed limit of the newly-created Reichsautobahn.
The car had to be cheap and accessible with easily serviceable parts. The engine needed to be air-cooled because water would freeze during the winter and it needed to be efficient with a fuel economy of at least 32 mpg.
The iconic bug shape was designed for aerodynamic efficiency, allowing the 25 hp flat-four engine to propel a fully-loaded Beetle at the desired speeds.
Interestingly, the car used a rear-engine, rear-wheel drive layout until its replacement by the “New Beetle” in 1997.
By the end of the century the front-engine, front-wheel drive became the preferred layout with cars like the Golf becoming international top sellers. Thus, the New Beetle was designed over the same already successful architecture.
In 2011, Volkswagen introduced a new “Beetle”, returning the original nameplate and constructing the vehicle on top of the Jetta A5 platform.
There is no place for the Beetle in the modern car market
Despite its significance and massive worldwide success in the 1960s, the glory of the Beetle began to wane as more modern and technically superior models emerged on the market.
We should really praise Volkswagen for keeping the Beetle alive for as long as they did.
World trends inevitably shift and North America, which used to be one of the biggest markets for the Beetle has moved to SUVs and crossovers. In 2018, Volkswagen sold just 14,411 Beetles in the U.S and can no longer justify its production.
Despite its redesign, the Beetle no longer strikes a chord with consumers.
The last production unit from Mexico’s plant will go to the Automobile Museum Puebla. The facility will focus onto the upcoming Tarek model – a compact SUV slotting below the Tiguan in size.