The last VW Beetles have rolled off the line in Mexico
This current version, introduced in 2011 as a 2012 model, did not live up to VW’s hopes and expectations. It replaced the “New Beetle,” which was key to restoring VW’s business in the U.S. after almost going out of business in the mid 1990s.
Ferdinand Porsche was a leading designer and engineer of the day in 1930s Germany and had long had an idea for a car that ordinary people could afford. The Type-1 Volkswagen would be Germany’s answer to Ford Motor Co.’s Model T. After the war, displaced German refugees began hand-building Volkswagens in what was left of the Wolfsburg, Germany factory. After a couple of years, a company was formed to begin building them on an assembly line.Volkswagens were seen all over Europe through the 1940s and 50s and 60s. The car also caught on in the U.S. with World War Two vets who knew how good the rear-drive, air-cooled, light-weight vehicles had been in Europe and South Africa.
But the return of a Beetle nonetheless reignited interest in the Volkswagen brand and is credited with saving the company’s bacon in the U.S.
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