Two weeks back, Volkswagen announced that it will be retiring its famous Volkswagen Beetle. The last model will be called the Final Edition Series, and it’ll end production in July 2019.
Volkswagen made their decision due to rapidly declining sales on the Beetle models, but many say that they will miss what was easily one of the most recognizable and famous cars on the market for many generations.
The Beetle’s legacy began in 1931, when Ferdinand Porsche, the man behind the luxurious Porsche line was commissioned by Adolf Hitler to create a “people’s car”. The Beetle ended up entering North America far later in 1949, after World War 2.
Within the next two decades, it became wildly popular. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, colorful versions of the Beetle saw high sales, especially after Beetles were features in the 1968 Disney movie, The Love Bug. In fact, over the course of its existence, twenty-one million Beetles were produced and sold!
However, more recently, people searching for cars have tended to favor vehicles with more space rather than small and compact ones. This is leading to the decline in sales that have marked the end of the Beetle. However, the current chief of Volkswagen, Hinrich Woebcken left open the possibility that there may someday be another version of the Beetle, telling the press “I would also say never say never" in his statement regarding the retirement.