The humble Beetle has long been called ‘the people’s car’ and for good reason. The VW Beetle was one of the most cleverly designed consumer vehicles in history, providing cheap, accessible and reliable transportation for people from any class. As a result, the Beetle became hugely popular around the world and inspired a lasting legacy of small, practical and reliable inner-city cars for generations to come. However, earlier this year, VW announced that they would be creating some of the last ever Beetles to be made in history. So if you’re a Beetle fan, then we suggest you get a few tissues ready as this is going to be heavy news!
The Beetle was originally created by VW all the way back in 1938 and since then, VW has managed to sell a whopping 23 million models! That’s a staggering amount of cars when you think about it. The VW became popular the world over and models have been sold everywhere, from Nigeria and Indonesia, to Europe, China, Mexico and the States. In fact, there probably isn’t a country on Earth that doesn’t have at least a handful of bugs in them. In more recent years, the VW production lines have become increasingly automated and currently, roughly 48% of the Beetle production line is automated by robots. Strangely enough, it’s one of the few cars that relies on more human work than robotics to aid the assembly line.
On average, roughly 947 models are released every single week as workers and robots work tirelessly to ensure that they maintain their targets. Sadly though, this is going to end in just a few weeks time. Many have wondered why VW would stop selling such a loveable and popular car, but the truth is that it’s simply getting out of date. Most consumers these days are more interested in an SUV than a small Beetle and while the bug used to check a lot of boxes on a consumers list, that list has changed dramatically in more recent years – hence the move away from the traditional VW Beetle model (and most cars like it). But who knows, maybe we’ll still see a few anniversary editions being released in the future? Only time will tell…
