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Volkswagen on Wednesday celebrated the coming end of production of its most iconic model, the Beetle.
(AP)
An event was held at the automaker’s Puebla, Mexico, factory as a denim blue Final Edition coupe rolled down the assembly line that is slated to be put on display at the company’s nearby museum.
However, a Volkswagen spokesperson said that production of the third-generation Beetle will continue into next week, before the facility is retooled to replace it with a subcompact SUV aimed at the North American market.
The Beetle was first built in Wolfsburg, Germany, but the car was manufactured in more than a dozen locations around the world over the years before production was consolidated in Puebla, Mexico.
It’s the second time the facility has hosted a grand farewell for the beloved Bug. The last of the 21.5 million original Type 1 cars was manufactured there in 2003, ending a run that stretched back to 1938 when it debuted in Germany under the Nazi regime.
The New Beetle was designed by American J Mays. (VW)
Puebla also produced the retro-modern New Beetle from 1998 to 2010, but it and the latest version were niche products compared to their mass-market predecessor, with a combined total of fewer than 2 million produced.
This will mark the first time since Beetle production was restarted in 1945 at the end of World War 2 that the nameplate won’t be in the company’s portfolio, and there are no plans to resurrect it in the foreseeable future.
Instead, VW will soon be launching an all-electric reboot of the classic Microbus minivan called the I.D. Buzz as its flagship heritage model, while a battery-powered dune buggy is under consideration.
