Volkswagen Beetle to end production in 2019

[techbeck]

Volkswagen will end production of its retro Beetle next year, 70 years after the original first came to the United States.

 

Sales of the third-generation car have been on the decline, with just over 15,000 finding homes last year. The automaker plans to revamp the Puebla, Mexico, factory where it is built to accommodate production of its latest lineup of cars and SUVs.

 

The automaker is releasing a special Final Edition of the car to mark the occasion, which will be available in beige or blue, as were the last of the Type 1 cars manufactured at the same facility in 2003.

 

Prices for the Final Edition Beetle, which will be available as either a coupe or convertible, will range from $23,045 to $29,995.

 

More...

http://www.foxnews.com/auto/2018/09/14/volkswagen-beetle-to-end-production-in-2019.html

[sc302 Veteran]

With Ford ditching sedans and coupes, and it looks like GM may follow, this is not a surprise.  Ford is stating that sedans and coupes sales are in decline, GM agrees.  The crossover market seems to be where people are putting their money into, so they are looking to develop in that segment.  The beetle falls into that category of vehicles in decline, so there is no surprise by me to see that model (or any coupe for that matter) see the end of production.  There will be niche's that will remain alive, especially niche's that have a large aftermarket following....companies make their livings by providing upgrades to those niche vehicles.  I don't think the beetle was one of those niche cars that had a ton of aftermarket support.  

 

For example, the mustang and camaro both have several different exhaust vendors that make parts for those specific models, multiple supercharger and turbocharger kits are available for purchase, engine modifications, transmission modifications, multiple final drive gear and differential manufactures and the lists go on.   These vendors are building more kits for trucks now than those specific models, but they still have a huge market in those niche vehicles.  Killing those vehicles could mean the end to some of those companies, so the vehicle manufacturers I am sure take that into consideration when making the decision to keep or remove....there is no real benefit to keep the Mustang alive if their main profits are trucks, suvs, and crossovers.

[DConnell Member]

RIP Bumblebee ... ?

[DoctorD]

I just ran a 98 bug in a demo derby (bangers for folks across the way) I could not believe how tough these cars were.  VW has been in trouble since the whole lying about emissions thing so I would venture to guess that there are more on the chopping block

[tsupersonic]

5 hours ago, sc302 said:

With Ford ditching sedans and coupes, and it looks like GM may follow, this is not a surprise.  Ford is stating that sedans and coupes sales are in decline, GM agrees.  The crossover market seems to be where people are putting their money into, so they are looking to develop in that segment.  The beetle falls into that category of vehicles in decline, so there is no surprise by me to see that model (or any coupe for that matter) see the end of production.  There will be niche's that will remain alive, especially niche's that have a large aftermarket following....companies make their livings by providing upgrades to those niche vehicles.  I don't think the beetle was one of those niche cars that had a ton of aftermarket support.  

 

For example, the mustang and camaro both have several different exhaust vendors that make parts for those specific models, multiple supercharger and turbocharger kits are available for purchase, engine modifications, transmission modifications, multiple final drive gear and differential manufactures and the lists go on.   These vendors are building more kits for trucks now than those specific models, but they still have a huge market in those niche vehicles.  Killing those vehicles could mean the end to some of those companies, so the vehicle manufacturers I am sure take that into consideration when making the decision to keep or remove....there is no real benefit to keep the Mustang alive if their main profits are trucks, suvs, and crossovers.

This whole idea of ditching sedans is such a stupid idea. For the majority of people (99.9%), sedans are perfectly fine. I don't understand why everyone just needs an SUV or truck these days...it's just a waste of gas when most people commute with by themselves. The average American household has ~2.5 people, which is perfect for a sedan (5 passengers). For Ford, it's fine for them to ditch Fiesta/Focus/Fusion, because let's face it - they were crap compared to the competition. For companies that actually make good sedans (Camry, Accord, Civic, Corolla, etc.), they will still continue to sell very well. 

 

Aftermarket has very little to do with sedans not being popular. The majority of people don't use exhaust mods, turbo/supercharger kits, and I'd still think the Mustang/Camaro/JDM (Civic) has bigger aftermarket support than SUV/trucks anyway. 

[sc302 Veteran]

The mustang is a niche vehicle that Ford is keeping in play. The point of me mentioning that is that killing that model kills a lot of other businesses that make their living off that model.  The current beetle does not fall in that niche market and is not at all surprising that it is dead due to lack of after market support. 

 

Onto sedans vs SUV.  Until you have kids that are active, you don’t understand. I have 3 children and own both a sedan (Camry) and SUV with a third row (explorer). If they want to invite a friend with us, we don’t need to take two cars when choosing to take the SUV. When we are carrying lacrosse and football gear it fits perfectly in the SUV without issue, the sedan requires playing with positioning in the trunk. Don’t forget about the fold up chairs for 4.  SUV also allows me to bring a pop up tent/ez up as it gets hot on the field with sun beating on you for hours, sedan can’t.  So in theory the sedan is great. In practicality, perfect if you are an inactive family but not so great if you are. 

 

There is also an added benefit to my particular suv that the sedan doesn’t offer, that is 4 wheel drive.  This helps the suv stay planted during acceleration events, unfortunately it is more all wheel drive vs 4wd as the driver cannot control when all four wheels engage or when they don’t. 4wd does not help during braking events.  “Fish tailing” is greatly minimized with 4wd. Going up steep inclines is also a trivial task on snow covered roads.  I live in the Apalacean Mountain area, roads aren’t flat.  On a side note, minivans are horrible in my area (I had a caravan), useless on snow covered hills.