Volkswagen Will End Production of Iconic Beetle

Volkswagen announced Thursday that it will stop producing it’s iconic Beetle model in 2019, shuttering an age of sixties nostalgia to pave the way for newer electric vehicles. Reuters reports that the company only sold 11,151 models through the first eight months of 2018; 2.2 percent less than the year prior, and a small fraction of the 80,000 models sold in the years of the Beetle’s heyday. To pay homage to the cultural icon, Volkswagen will release two final models, the Final Edition SE and Final Edition SEL, before shuttering production in July 2019. “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 Volkswagen’s president and CEO, as cited by Forbes. “We’re excited to kick off a year of celebrating one of the true icons of the automotive world.”