It runs and runs and runs ... and will continue to do so until the end of June 2019
At the end of June 2019, after 74 years, the last VW Beetle rolled off the production line in Puebla, Mexico. Out with the mouse. At the 24th International Automobile and Motorcycle Exhibition in Berlin, Adolf Hitler called for the construction of a "people's car" for everyone and Ferdinand Porsche was to design it. On January 17, 1934, Porsche announced the construction of a car for the German people.
The so-called Volkswagen was to be a functional car with four seats and an air-cooled 4-cylinder boxer engine capable of speeds of around 100 km/h. The first prototypes were built as early as 1935 with the designations V1, V2 and V3.
"Strength through joy" was born.
Construction of the plant in Wolfsburg began in May 1938, but at first, armaments rolled off the production line instead of cars. It was not until 1945 that the never-ending story of the road Beetle began. In Germany alone, 6.1 million of them were registered.
On May 5, 1948, the first 25 VW Beetles were imported from Germany to Switzerland. Here, too, this was the beginning of a success story. By March 31, 1983, 320,637 Beetles had been sold in Switzerland.
It ran and ran and ran, albeit with hopelessly outdated technology in the end. In the end, 21 million Beetles were built, making it the best-selling car in the world at the end of production in 2003. This record was only beaten by the Golf in June 2002.
It remained true to its name "Beetle" all over the world: in Holland it is called "Kever", in France "Coccinelle", in Italy "Maggiolino" and in Spain "Escarabajo".
The car became famous not only through its immense sales figures, but also through its starring role in Disney films such as "A Great Beetle", which filled movie theaters in 1968 and generated a lot of sympathy for the Beetle. By then at the latest, its legendary status was assured. A modern successor also made sense.
The "New Beetle" was born in 1994. As VW was looking for a concept car for the Detroit Motor Show, J. Mays from the VW Design Center USA in California created the "New Beetle" as a study with electric drive. The public showed great enthusiasm for this study at the time, so that it was further developed in order to go into series production.
A body in the familiar cuddly shape was placed on the base plate of the Golf lll, and the "new Beetle" became a reality, albeit now with a transversely installed water-cooled front engine and front-wheel drive instead of the longitudinally installed air-cooled rear engine with rear-wheel drive.
In Europe, however, the car was not a box-office hit, although it remained in the Wolfsburg range for over 21 years as a closed and open version ... but now it has finally come to an end.
