The
Volkswagen Beetle, considered one of the most popular cars ever made, and ceased production completely in the summer of 2003. The last plant manufacturing it was in
Puebla in central
Mexico and shut down their production line, 69 years after
Adolf Hitler’s
Third Reich first commissioned the “
People’s Car.” Since the Puebla plant began production in 1964 more than 1.7 million Beetles have been built there.
Over the course of its life it has sold more than 21 million units. This is without and major restyling or changes in size, equipment or interior.
VW stopped producing the old Beetles in Germany in 1978 and in its second-biggest production line, in Brazil, in 1996.
The "new" Beetle's popularity does not compare to it's older brother's. Volkswagen has produced 625,000 New Beetles since 1997 in Puebla, its only plant in the world making that model. In addition a "new" Beetle Cabrio went into production this year.