Volkswagen to Kill Off Its Iconic Beetle

Off-Ramp
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Sad…

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It’s a real shame. I think there would have been potential for an electric Beetle, but apparently they didn’t see it

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I totally agree that Beetle could be a nice EV fit for them before the concept microbus EV ready for production…

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Which one? Feels like for 25 years they’ve been making microbus concepts every year

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Maybe they’ll brink it back again in 30 years as the Flying Beetle

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That would be a great car - small Beetle EV.

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RIP. first car I ever really knew. Got a toy beetle model for my 5th birthday and still have it.

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I am just waiting for LH to kill off the iconic bear …

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Ha-ha…:thinking:

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It was odd being in Mexico a few years ago and seeing the old Beetles driving around that were only a few years old while we had the “new” Beetle up here. I think they finally stopped production in 03 or 04 IIRC.

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Good riddance. I will acknowledge how iconic the original Beetle was, but I never liked the new one.

But then again I really wanted a Scirocco after seeing one in London like, ten years back, so maybe I’m just bitter we never got that here.

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We had a Scirocco in the states back in the late 70s up until the late 80s. I always thought it was a cool looking car as a kid.

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Thanks again, millennials.

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You’re welcome.

Let’s be fair; sales for the vehicle were niche in recent years, and the trend away from cars and sedans to SUVs will put pressure on the profitability of the vehicle. And it’s not millenials that are shifting to SUVs (because they can’t afford new cars), but the baby boomers that can’t easily get into cars anymore buying new SUVs.

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I’m kinda surprised they don’t move production down to Mexico and continue on like they did with the gen 1. I gotta tell you, it was very odd seeing a brand new “old” Beetle driving around Cancun in 1994 lol.

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VW never committed to it like BMW committed to the Mini. It’s market was in Europe and there’s so many vehicles of that size which are better/cheaper/practical/etc. They decided to bring back the Beetle and Scirocco around the same time and basically ignored them both, hence why they’ve both been killed off. That said in the UK alone VW Group sells at least 11 different small hatchbacks across VW, Audi, Seat and Skoda.