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Cars and Transportation

Amazon delivers Volkswagen's 'Final' Beetles

August 18, 2019

The iconic car rolled off the assembly line in July 2019 after more than two decades since its relaunch. There are only 65 "Final Edition" Beetles available, and they can be bought only in Mexico.

https://p.dw.com/p/3O4ke
The last VW Beetle, made in Mexico
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Volkswagen Mexico/Alex Bertheau

Amazon delivered the first of 65 "Final Edition" Volkswagen Beetles on Saturday. The vehicles are being sold exclusively by Amazon Mexico after VW wrapped up production of its legendary car in Cuautlancingo, Puebla state, last month.

The Beetles are being delivered in special custom boxes to their new owners.

One of these owners is car collector Joaquin Jasso, who told news website Expansion that it was "very simple, it took me barely three minutes to buy," the $21,000 vehicle.

The Beetle was first conceived of in the 1930s as a "car for everyone," at the behest of Adolf Hitler and with a design team led by Ferdinand Porsche. However, it did not enter widespread production until after World War II.

Its popularity over the ensuing decades made it the most recognized car model in the world, but production was stopped. The "New Beetle" was released in 1997, but years of declining sales led to Volkswagen nixing the production of the car this July.

The factory in Puebla manufactured some 1.7 million "New Beetles" between the vehicle's redesign in 1997 and 2019. The very last Beetle ever made was brought to the Volkswagen Museum in Puebla.

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Elizabeth Schumacher Elizabeth Schumacher reports on gender equity, immigration, poverty and education in Germany.