VW Bus to Be Retired Forever

The ’60s are truly over. Brazil, the last place that still makes Volkswagen buses, will cease production on the iconic (and sometimes ironic) vans, the company said Sunday. New safety regulations in Brazil mandate that every vehicle must have air bags and anti-lock braking systems starting in 2014, and Volkswagen said it would have to change production to meet the law. While the VW bus is often associated with surfers and Bob Dylan album covers in the U.S., it’s far from romantic in Latin America, where it’s used to carry mail, transport soldiers, and carry corpses. More than 10 million VW Transporter vans have been produced since its introduction 63 years ago in Germany, and more than 1.5 million in Brazil alone.