R-34
07-20-2003, 11:45 AM
PUEBLA, Mexico (AP) — Gleaming with chrome trim, the "Last Edition" of the classic Volkswagen Beetle will usher out the world's oldest passenger car in production and close 70 years of automotive history.
Volkswagen unveiled the cult classic Thursday at its plant in the central Mexican city of Puebla to mark the end of its production of the Beetle, perhaps the best-known, best-loved and biggest-selling car of all time. Volkswagen plans to make 3,000 "Last Edition" models before officially ending production of the old Beetle on July 30.
Armando Pasillas, a 60-year-old factory worker who has been building bugs in Puebla since 1967, drove a "Last Edition" Beetle into a tent where journalists from around the world stood waiting.
"You feel a little sad because it's finally over," said Pasillas, who started at the plant three years after the bug made its debut in Mexico. "We knew this day was coming for years, and now it has arrived. All there is to do now is move forward."
Production for the U.S. market stopped in 1977 because the car's rear, air-cooled engine didn't meet safety and emissions standards. The plant in Puebla, 65 miles southeast of Mexico City, was the only place the old Beetle was still rolling off the assembly line.
Over the years, the rear windshield got wider, the tail lights and bumper got bigger and the frame became more compact to make the bulbous bug slightly more aerodynamic. But the model has otherwise changed little since designers pieced together the first prototype in Nazi Germany in 1934 and introduced it to the German market as "The Sedan" after World War II.
The "Last Edition" has a "retro" look, with chrome trim from bumper to bumper, whitewall tires and standard CD player, but it also stays true to the car's plain roots: It's still a four-cylinder, stick-shift that weighs less than 1,780 pounds.
It comes in only two colors, a reminder to drivers that when bugs first hit the streets, they were only available in "aquatic blue" and "lunar beige."
Jens Neumann, president of Volkswagen's North American region, said 2,999 of the cars will be sold for $8,000 each, slightly more than the Beetle's current $7,500 price tag. The last car will be sent to the old Beetle's birthplace in Wolfsburg, Germany.
Volkswagen marked the occasion by showing off decades-old piggy banks, ashtrays and candles shaped like the rounded car. There was also a replica of Herbie, the star of a string of wacky 1970s Disney movies, and a film with footage showing the car as a favorite among hippies and returning World War II veterans alike.
Neumann said the "Herbie" movies made the bug one of the only cars to ever become a star on the silver screen. He added "the real stars known when to retire, and the public knows that very well."
Company officials said Pasillas and about 300 other employees who worked on the old Beetle will be reassigned to new jobs at the Puebla plant, which also manufactures the Jetta and the new Beetle, introduced in 1998.
The bug remained wildly popular all over Mexico for decades, but its sales slipped as the North American Free Trade Agreement allowed competitors to flood the Mexican market with other cheap, compact vehicles.
Then, last year, Mexico City officials ordered all new taxis in the capital to have four doors. While the "vocho," Mexico's Spanish nickname for the bug, is not specifically banned, the rule effectively meant its demise.
The green-and-white taxis, usually with their front passenger seat ripped out, had been a symbol of the city.
But their heavy-polluting and outdated engines contributed to the capital's high smog. Kidnappers also liked them since assailants, who often pose as cab drivers, could effectively block the passenger door and victims couldn't escape.
Still, the Beetle will remain a fond memory for most Mexicans.
Carlos Sanchez, a 23-year-old taxi driver, said the world hasn't seen the last of the old Beetle.
"It never fails, it just keeps on going. It will be 10, maybe 15 years before it's time to buy a new car," Sanchez said of his bug. "By then, Volkswagen probably will have changed its mind and will be producing the vocho again."
usatoday.com
Volkswagen unveiled the cult classic Thursday at its plant in the central Mexican city of Puebla to mark the end of its production of the Beetle, perhaps the best-known, best-loved and biggest-selling car of all time. Volkswagen plans to make 3,000 "Last Edition" models before officially ending production of the old Beetle on July 30.
Armando Pasillas, a 60-year-old factory worker who has been building bugs in Puebla since 1967, drove a "Last Edition" Beetle into a tent where journalists from around the world stood waiting.
"You feel a little sad because it's finally over," said Pasillas, who started at the plant three years after the bug made its debut in Mexico. "We knew this day was coming for years, and now it has arrived. All there is to do now is move forward."
Production for the U.S. market stopped in 1977 because the car's rear, air-cooled engine didn't meet safety and emissions standards. The plant in Puebla, 65 miles southeast of Mexico City, was the only place the old Beetle was still rolling off the assembly line.
Over the years, the rear windshield got wider, the tail lights and bumper got bigger and the frame became more compact to make the bulbous bug slightly more aerodynamic. But the model has otherwise changed little since designers pieced together the first prototype in Nazi Germany in 1934 and introduced it to the German market as "The Sedan" after World War II.
The "Last Edition" has a "retro" look, with chrome trim from bumper to bumper, whitewall tires and standard CD player, but it also stays true to the car's plain roots: It's still a four-cylinder, stick-shift that weighs less than 1,780 pounds.
It comes in only two colors, a reminder to drivers that when bugs first hit the streets, they were only available in "aquatic blue" and "lunar beige."
Jens Neumann, president of Volkswagen's North American region, said 2,999 of the cars will be sold for $8,000 each, slightly more than the Beetle's current $7,500 price tag. The last car will be sent to the old Beetle's birthplace in Wolfsburg, Germany.
Volkswagen marked the occasion by showing off decades-old piggy banks, ashtrays and candles shaped like the rounded car. There was also a replica of Herbie, the star of a string of wacky 1970s Disney movies, and a film with footage showing the car as a favorite among hippies and returning World War II veterans alike.
Neumann said the "Herbie" movies made the bug one of the only cars to ever become a star on the silver screen. He added "the real stars known when to retire, and the public knows that very well."
Company officials said Pasillas and about 300 other employees who worked on the old Beetle will be reassigned to new jobs at the Puebla plant, which also manufactures the Jetta and the new Beetle, introduced in 1998.
The bug remained wildly popular all over Mexico for decades, but its sales slipped as the North American Free Trade Agreement allowed competitors to flood the Mexican market with other cheap, compact vehicles.
Then, last year, Mexico City officials ordered all new taxis in the capital to have four doors. While the "vocho," Mexico's Spanish nickname for the bug, is not specifically banned, the rule effectively meant its demise.
The green-and-white taxis, usually with their front passenger seat ripped out, had been a symbol of the city.
But their heavy-polluting and outdated engines contributed to the capital's high smog. Kidnappers also liked them since assailants, who often pose as cab drivers, could effectively block the passenger door and victims couldn't escape.
Still, the Beetle will remain a fond memory for most Mexicans.
Carlos Sanchez, a 23-year-old taxi driver, said the world hasn't seen the last of the old Beetle.
"It never fails, it just keeps on going. It will be 10, maybe 15 years before it's time to buy a new car," Sanchez said of his bug. "By then, Volkswagen probably will have changed its mind and will be producing the vocho again."
usatoday.com