With its funky design and inexpensive price, the Beetle was launched in 1938 and became a success story over subsequent decades. Photo: ReutersThe last Beetle has rolled off the assembly line, the end of the road for Volkswagen's car that ran from Nazi Germany through hippie counterculture but failed to navigate a swerve in consumer tastes toward SUVs. The Puebla factory, which already produces VW's Tiguan SUV, will make the Tarek SUV in place of the Beetle starting in late 2020, Volkswagen de Mexico chief executive Steffen Reiche said. The current design was the third version of the Beetle after two earlier cancellations and revivals of the marque. The 1968 movie The Love Bug, which featured a zany anthropomorphic vehicle, stoked Beetle fever.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 11, 2019 00:22 UTC