Volkswagen Beetle: People's Car may soon become a thing of past

Volkswagen (VW) Beetle, the two-door, four-seater, rear-engine small car has a history of over seven decades. The longest-running and most-manufactured car of a single platform, Beetle is the brainchild of Adolf Hitler. The Nazi Germany's dictator wanted a cheap, simple car to be mass-produced ahead of the World War II and Ferdinand Porsche designed and built it.

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After a glorious run with over 21,529,464 production models, the People's Car may soon become a thing of past. The future of the Beetle has been murky for some time. Now the subject of replacing buggy car was discussed at Volkswagen's 2017 annual session. It looks like VW is not keen on continuing with Beetle and Scirocco which is built on an old platform.

"The Beetle and Scirocco are representatives of an emotional and appealing class of vehicles, but it [VW product planning] is not always about continuing cars from one generation to the next," Volkswagen brand board member Arno Antlitz said, Autocar reported.

Slow sales are also reportedly a reason for rethinking the future of the Beetle. With just 5,774 units being sold across Europe in the first quarter of this year, Beetle is one of the slowest-selling cars in VW's range. It has also managed to find a total of 25,127 takers in 2016.

In the 1999 Car of the Century competition, to determine the world's most influential car in the 20th century, the Type 1 Beetle came fourth, after the Ford Model T, the Mini, and the Citroën DS. The basic silhouette of the car remained unchanged until 1998, when the car received its first major redesign. The new edition came with major technical as well as design upgrades, though maintaining the basic design of small car.