On this day in 2003, the last of 21,529,464 Volkswagen Beetles built since World War II rolls off the production line at Volkswagen鈥檚 plant in Puebla, Mexico. One of a 3,000-unit final edition, the baby-blue vehicle was sent to a museum in Wolfsburg, Germany, where Volkswagen is headquartered. The first production-ready Kdf-Wagen debuted at the Berlin Motor Show in 1939; the international press soon dubbed it the 鈥淏eetle鈥?for its distinctive rounded shape. During World War II, the factory in Kdf-stat (later renamed Wolfsburg) continued to make Beetles, though it was largely dedicated to production of war vehicles. Production was halted under threat of Allied bombing in August 1944 and did not resume until after the war, under British control. Though VW sales were initially slower in the United States compared with the rest of the world, by 1960 the Beetle was the top-selling import in America, thanks to an iconic ad campaign by the firm Doyle Dane Bernbach. In 1977, however, the Beetle, with its rear-mounted, air-cooled-engine, was banned in America for failing to meet safety and emission standards. Worldwide sales of the car shrank by the late 1970s and by 1988, the classic Beetle was sold only in Mexico.
It keeps up with traffic fine, but floor it and you'll be wishing for more grunt. There were a number of times in hectic Mexican traffic that it felt downright slow. Since the Beetle weighs in at just over 3,000 pounds, right in line with the Mazda and Toyota, it seems the transmission is to blame, which prioritizes smooth power delivery over speed, and tends to shift casually. A manual transmission would probably help it feel quicker, but as we mentioned, that hasn't been an option for a few years now. As for ride and handling, it generally feels like a softer version of the sixth-generation Golf with which it shared a platform, not the current seventh-generation. That's not necessarily a bad thing. The ride quality is good. It does a great job soaking up lumps and bumps, great and small. All of which we found in abundance around Puebla, Mexico, among potholes, speed bumps and bricks.
Steering is nicely weighted with just enough feedback to be engaging, though it's a somewhat slow helm. Turn-in isn't especially fast, and the chassis lacks the stiffness of the current crop of compact cars. The problem here is that, while the Beetle's dynamics aren't bad, they aren't exceptional, either. Other compact cars do the same in more practical packages, or offer zippier handling without much if any sacrifice in comfort. The obvious example is the current VW Golf. Then we come to the interior. As we mentioned before, this Final Edition gets an extra splash of pizazz thanks to the diamond-stitched upholstery in lovely beige hues. It goes nicely with the Beetle's trademark painted interior panels, vintage style glove box and the single round instrument binnacle for all the dials. The upholstery is the only change, though, and it's not enough to attract someone who wasn't already interested in a Beetle, since the car still suffers from a number of cheap plastics and severely diminished rear-seat room and cargo space. Part of the reason the Beetle 鈥?which isn't really that bad in isolation 鈥?is on the way out is competition inside and outside of the Volkswagen lineup.
The Golf's upright shape means it can hold much more, and it has the added advantage of two rear doors. It offers a much better dual-clutch transmission, plus a manual option for diehards. There are even wagon and all-wheel-drive variants. If you're on a budget or generally frugal, there's the Jetta. 2,000 less expensive than the Beetle, and it attains 40 mpg on the highway, while the Beetle gets just 33. And if you had to have two doors, you can find a solution outside VW with the Civic coupe. It offers up similar power and similar pricing, but with better fuel economy, a more spacious rear seat, and more modern, sophisticated driving dynamics. The other big obstacle the Beetle has to contend with is modern buyers, and this is the real killer for the round car. Changing tastes mean the two-door body style and retro design just don't appeal to modern buyers.
Other two-doors are long gone, like the Kia Forte Koup, Ford Focus, and even the Golf two-door hatchback. Retro cars, save Mini, are also not so hot now days. Fiat has struggled with overly retro design with its 500, but it's compensating with the 500X crossover. The Beetle is still just a budget retro coupe, which are three descriptors people aren't racing to buy anymore. Not only that, it's not fresh retro. We're not in 1998 when the country had been sans Beetles for nearly 20 years. The demand for the car has been satiated; if you wanted a modern one, you've probably already bought one. Now it'll be quite a number of years before you need or want another. And with the various practicality issues we've mentioned, there isn't much reason for someone just looking for a commuter car to buy it over something else. Is it the absolute end of the road for the Beetle, though? We doubt it. There's also the opportunity to do something fresh with the MEB electric platform, riffing off the upcoming Bus revival known as the I.D. Buzz, to make it more interesting for modern buyers. VW could make the Beetle rear-motor, rear-drive, pleasing die-hards and enthusiasts alike, and further broadening the market for the car. That's all speculation 鈥?there's no guarantee the Beetle will return. In the here and now, we're sad to see the Beetle go away for sentimental reasons. But we also know there's no way it could continue on as-is. The competition is better, and the public wants things the Beetle can't deliver 鈥?or something else entirely.
