Volkswagen is discontinuing the Beetle
It is time to bid the legendary bug farewell; Volkswagen has confirmed that the current generation of beetle will be the last.
The beetle was originally designed to be a cheap and reliable car for the people of Germany. It was designed by Ferdinand Porche in the 1930s and housed an extremely reliable air cooled engine. Interestingly the engine was installed at the rear of the car making it one of the first of its kind in the new era.
The car became an icon around the globe following mass production after the second world war, and holds the record for the longest running and most produced car of a single platform ever. The beetle became a pop culture icon in the 1960s after it appeared in the 1968 Disney film The Love Bug. The classic was replaced with the “New Beetle” in 1997, which had a design inspired by the original classic but housed its engine in the front. The last generation came in 2011.
Unfortunately, it seems that the saying “all good things must come to an end” holds true in the case of the iconic bug. Frank Welsch, head of technical development at Volkswagen, has stated that after renewing the beetle for three generations the company has finally decided to end production.
Volkswagen has decided to look towards the future and plans to focus on its upcoming electric minibus; the microbus. Indeed, the beetle does seem slightly old and misplaced when compared to the hybrid cars of today, and it might be a good decision to give the classic car a break. The recent generations of the beetle also did not have the same charm as the older generations and interest and sales of the car were slowly dwindling.
Nevertheless, the Foxy will remain one of the most iconic cars of all time, and thousands of fans around the world will be sad to see the company stop production. However, all is not lost for beetle fans; Volkswagen’ focus on research and development and electric cars may lead to the development of an amazing new successor that can live up to the name of the iconic vehicle.
