The Reason Why Volkswagen Discontinued The Beetle

From its first test run in Nazi Germany in 1938, the Volkswagen Beetle eventually rose to become a worldwide pop culture icon. The car was conceived by Adolf Hitler who commissioned Austrian engineer Ferdinand Porsche to design a car that regular people could afford. Hitler wanted the car to be a "people's car," which could be mass-produced and have the same appeal to consumers as the Ford Model T had in the United States (via AP News). Porsche's design would later become the blueprint for today's Beetle.

The onset of World War II ceased Volkswagen's production of these vehicles for civilians, and instead, the manufacturing facility focused on making military vehicles. It was only after the war ended that the company — then under British supervision –  started making cars for everyday people and not for the army. Volkswagen rebranded the car as the Type 1 and, later on, as the Beetle to distance itself from its Nazi roots. By 1955, Volkswagen had produced 1 million of the Type 1 model.

There were several reasons why the Beetle generated so much buzz. The car had a distinct round shape and a clever marketing strategy that employed catchy slogans like "Live below your means" and "It's ugly, but it gets you there" to position it as a different kind of car for drivers. During the 1960s, it became a popular symbol of the hippie era which was prevalent in the United States at the time, as noted by VW.

It didn't take long before the Volkswagen Beetle became one of the best-selling cars of all time. More than 22 million units were sold and by 1972and sales of the car ultimately surpassed that of the famous Ford Model T. That all changed in the 1970s when enthusiasm for the car declined. CNBC reported that consumers later preferred front-wheel drive models that offered more interior and trunk space. Additionally, the revaluation of German currency caused the Beetle to be more expensive for Americans to buy. Sales dropped from a high of 565,838 cars sold in 1970 to 230,137 in 1976. In response to faltering sales, Volkswagen created three new models: the Passat, Polo, and Golf, which were the automaker's focus for the next few decades.

In 1998, the German automaker brought the Beetle back with an updated design, ad it launched a retro-version of the car, as well. It found success and was able to sell 80,000 cars by 1999. Volkswagen released another version of the hit car in 2012 but it didn't do so well in terms of sales, as it was competing with America's newfound obsession with SUVs. The last Beetle model was produced in 2019 at VW's factory in Puebla, Mexico. Scott Keogh, CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, was quoted by NPR as having said, "It's impossible to imagine where Volkswagen would be without the Beetle. While its time has come, the role it has played in the evolution of our brand will be forever cherished."