The original Volkswagen Beetle was the symbol of a generation, so beloved that VW revived the model after a two-decade absence to rekindle consumer passion for the brand. The New Beetle arrived as a 1998 model, and was replaced by the newest evolution, the A5 Beetle, in 2012. Now, after a 20-year run, Volkswagen has (once more) announced the end of Beetle production for July 2019.
By the early 1990s, Volkswagen had lost its way in the United States market. As Phil Patton relates in Bug: The Strange Mutations of the World’s Most Famous Automobile, sales were down — dropping as low as 50,000 units in 1993 — and quality control of Mexican-built Golf and Jetta models was a major problem. German Volkswagen executives even discussed pulling out of the American market, but some within the U.S. organization — namely, California studio design head J Mays — knew that the path to the company’s future could be found in its past.
VW discontinues the reincarnated icon of 1960s counterculture.
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