The Volkswagon Beetle, the most popular car ever made was to cease production during the summer of 2003; 69 years and more than 21 million sales after Adolf Hilter's Third Reich first commissioned the durable, dome shaped, little "people's car".
Volkswagon officials said that the last Beetle assembly line in the world, in VW's massive plant in central Mexico, will close. Sales had fallen dramatically because the $6,800 workhorse could no longer compete with imported Fords and Chevys that are priced nearly the same but offer four doors, air conditioning, and engines that don't sound like can openers in distress.
Volkswagen will continue to make the stylish new Beetle , which it introduced in 1997.
Bibliography:
Kevin Sullivan,
Washington Post. The Miami Herald. June 24, 2003. 10A.
Frederick Bryant
Oct. 13, 2009