Volkswagen of America has announced it will discontinue its Beetle model from the summer of 2019. The carmaker noted it will manufacture the Beetle until June 2019 and in the final year of the production, it will add two special edition versions of the model named Final Edition SE and Final Edition SEL.
“The loss of the Beetle after three generations, over nearly seven decades, will evoke a host of emotions from the Beetle’s many devoted fans,” said Hinrich J. Woebcken, CEO of VW Group of America. He added the company does not have any “immediate plans” to replace the iconic model and stressed it plans to shift its focus on becoming a “family-focused” automaker and ramping up its electrification strategy.
The third generation of the Beetle was introduced in 2011 and has been produced in Puebla, Mexico. It replaced the so-called New Beetle which was in production from 1997 to 2011. The original Beetle model was launched by Volkswagen in 1938 and was discontinued in 2003.
