The Volkswagen beetle dying as a car can right now. That’s a bit surprising, as automakers are capitalizing on this big moment, electric vehicles are having to reintroduce some beloved names and concepts, and there’s certainly been a lot of love for them. for the Beetle for a very long time. Perhaps not much more, given recent comments from Volkswagen executives.
Thomas Schäfer appoints car in a story published Monday that it is unwise to wait for a new Beetle Tuesday:
When asked if the Volkswagen Beetle – one of the company’s (and indeed the world’s) longest-lasting signs – could make a comeback based on this rigorous criterion, he affirmed: I don’t think so, because there are some vehicles that have had their day. It wouldn’t make sense to bring it back.
“I will not tell 100% [certainty]. But from where I am now, I wouldn’t consider it. It’s the same as the Scirocco: it had a birth date, then there was a new model based on a reinterpretation. To do it again? I do not think so. And in the future with balancing all of this technology and the costs associated with it, you have to invest your money where it’s best possible.”
It’s hard to argue with Schäfer’s view of making the best possible investment if you consider how well the previous Beetle sold at the time it was discontinued. Volkswagen delivered 36,421 New Beetles in the US in 2007, according to data from VehicleData. In 2011, the first year of the last-generation Beetle (paradoxically without the adjective “New”), VW sold 43,134 units. Pretty impressive for a small car in the US, even though this was the peak of expensive gasoline and Americans despised small cars. By the final year of production in 2018, that number had dropped to 14,411.
Volkswagen paid the New Beetle check in cash. You cannot do it more than once. Or you Maybe, but at a certain point it starts to look more and more desperate and brings decrease impact with every effort. Schäfer and Volkswagen seem to have absorbed this. Besides, while the world could certainly use more (read: any) low-cost electric vehicles, it’s not something shoppers are willing to buy and not a hot seller. There is a much greater potential for success (read: profit) in something like ID.Buzza larger utility vehicle that fosters the spirit of adventure that every brand is embracing today.
So it’s been a long time and goodbye Beetle, for now. Though if you ask me, this goodbye won’t be forever. Electric cars are expensiveo do now, but someday they won’t. One day they will be skateboards with different hats. And when that day comes, it seems like a pretty easy win for Volkswagen to create a ID.Golf with the familiar nostalgic hat. It’s all old The new Beetle really used to be like that.
