Date:         Fri, 6 Jun 2003 11:24:05 -0700
Reply-To:     Ari Ollikainen <Ari@OLTECO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Ari Ollikainen <Ari@OLTECO.COM>
Subject:      End of the road for original "Beetle"
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

        More than 21 million produced...even 30k in Puebla last year.

        I always thought the Beetle taxis in Mexico City were a bit
        of a stretch...

Volkswagen to End Production of Beetle
Fri Jun 6,10:52 AM ET

BERLIN - Volkswagen said Friday it will stop making the original
rear-engine Beetle later this year, bringing the curtain down on the
nearly 70-year history of the classic "bug."

Production of the last old Beetles at the VW plant in Puebla, Mexico,
will "end this summer," spokesman Fred Baerbock said, adding that an
exact date was not set.

He said there had been sinking demand for the original model,
manufactured only in Puebla since 1978.

The first version of what would become known as the Beetle was
developed in 1934 under the guidance of Adolf Hitler, who wanted to
build a "people's car" - or in German, a Volkswagen. It first entered
mass production after World War II.

Over the decades, the VW became a favorite of both thrifty postwar
Germans and 1960s American hippies before competition from Japanese
compacts elbowed it aside.

Volkswagen sold more than 21 million of the cars over the decades,
but says it produced less than 30,000 at Puebla last year.

Puebla will continue to produce the New Beetle sedan, a modernized
successor to the cult car. The New Beetle hit the market in 1998 and
has a chassis based on the VW Golf.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030606/ap_on_bi_ge/vw_beetle_s_retirement_1



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