No more (old) Beetles

[cobram at juno.com]

It may just be resuscitated again.  The Bug story is almost like a B
Japanese movie "The Bug that wouldn't die."  It's production was
completely stopped in Brazil about a decade ago, and it was brought back
by Presidential Decree!  Seems there was an outcry from Bug lovers
similar to the "New Coke" fiasco here in the US.  Production has ceased
for limited periods worldwide many times over the years.

After being brought back into production in Brazil, common sense took
over and nobody except the hard core Bug lovers could justify a car which
was the same money as a it's contemporary VW cousin the "Gol", got worse
mileage, less refined, slower, noisier, etc. etc. Sales died and VW
wanted subsidies upped to keep the line going, govt said no, stampings
were moved to Mexico (again).  Bug production has ping ponged between
Mexico and Brazil for many years, they even had a joint venture between
the two subsidiaries to bring the Bug back to the US market, but internal
VW politics killed that idea, as did VW or America.  The last thing VW of
America wanted at the time was to be associated with anything that wasn't
cutting edge and high tech, they'd spent alot of money getting that image
out and still had the bitter taste of the American Made from Mexican
parts VW fiasco in it's mouth.