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REPORTS: MEXICO |
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Fans
Mourn the Demise of Old VW Beetle
Diego
Cevallos
MEXICO CITY, IPS) - The clubs of
Mexican hobbyists who love the
ever-popular Volkswagen Beetle, known
in the Spanish-speaking world
variously as ”escarabajo”,
”vocho” or ”fusca”, are in
mourning because production of this
diminutive car comes to an end this
month in Mexico, the last country in
the world to manufacture the VW
”Bug”.
”This is bad, very bad news, putting
an end to the production of a beauty
like the 'vocho', which is more than a
car, it's a symbol,” Joel Amaya,
member of KDF Wagen Club in Mexico
City, told IPS.
The Volkswagen factory in the city of
Puebla, outside the Mexican capital,
announced Thursday that the last
Beetle sedan will come off the
assembly line Jul. 30. That car will
be sent for an exhibition to the
headquarters of the VW company in
Germany, where the Adolf Hitler regime
produced the first of these bug-like
automobiles more than six decades ago.
This month will see the last 3,000 of
these cars rolled out. The bulbous
vehicle has been protagonist of wars,
films, races and even sea journeys.
This limited special edition of the
Beetle will cost around 8,400 dollars
each.
The members of the KDF Wagen Club have
been meeting every two weeks for the
past five years at one of the
capital's plazas to admire their
”vochos” and compare notes. Now
they have announced a parade of these
cars, adorned with black sashes, to
express their sorrow in response to
the Volkswagen decision.
Mexico is home to around 100 clubs of
VW fans, all of which are represented
by the National Coordinator of
Vocheros Clubs, which holds a general
meeting at least once a year.
”The 'vocho' is the best car in
existenceŕ It is the most reliable,
but now it has reached the end. How
can one not be saddened?” wonders
Almeida.
”Those of us who own one will take
care of it like the treasure it is,”
assured the fan, a proud owner of a
1984 model.
The small car, which has been
manufactured in Mexico since the late
1960s, no longer enjoys the demand it
had in the past, said the VW
authorities when they announced that
it would no longer be coming off the
production line.
The old Beetle has been surpassed by
other makes and models of automobiles
as far as technology and safety, they
said.
Some 22 million Beetles had been sold
worldwide as of this year. No other
car model has come close to that
figure.
In 1934, when Hitler called on
engineer Ferdinand Porsche to ask him
to design a solid but inexpensive car,
nobody imagined that the result would
be a model still found on the global
market 60 years later.
But by last year, without major
changes to the original design and
with its typical half-oval profile and
the engine in the back, the Beetle --
baptised thus by the first German
drivers -- was sold almost exclusively
in Mexico.
During the Nazi regime, production of
the car was in the hands of the state.
It was not until World War II ended
that the private Volkswagen company
was established.
The now-classic automobile, whose
endurance and durability are
recognised the world over, was one of
the first products Germany was able to
export after the war, first to the
United States and some European
countries, and then to the rest of the
world.
Destined to be the popular car in
Germany -- Volkswagen literally means
”car of the people” -- it was
adapted to the war needs of the Nazi
government, giving rise to the
short-lived Kuebelwagen, which crossed
the deserts of northern Africa and
part of Russia.
Its history also includes a
not-so-successful amphibious version,
the Schwimwagen.
The Beetle has not been manufactured
in Germany since the late 1970s. But
in Mexico thousands of these cars are
used as taxis, and have even been
transformed into cargo-carrying
vehicles.
The New Beetle, the closest descendant
of the old VW Bug, was rolled out in
1998. Resembling its predecessor, the
new, costlier version is a marked
improvement in terms of safety, speed
and aerodynamics.
That year, the Volkswagen executives
hinted at the possibility of halting
production of the old Beetle, but it
was not until now that this ”sad
event” -- according to the car's
fans -- is becoming reality.
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