The Beetle is dead — and Volkswagen doesn’t have a successor. However, this isn’t the first time Volkswagen has put the Bug on the product chopping block. In the U.S., Volkswagen pulled the plug on the Beetle in 1979, only for it to return in 1998. That first-generation Beetle did soldier on south of the border, until 2003.
That’s right, Volkswagen finally sent the first-gen (rear-engine, air-cooled) Beetle out to pasture in Mexico in 2003 — only 65 years since it first rolled off assembly lines. Most importantly, at least for this second Final Edition, Volkswagen honored these 2003 final vehicles with a special package: Última Edición. Only 3,000 of those Volkswagens rolled out of the Puebla, Mexico, factory and sported white wall tires, gobs of chrome and light blue or beige finishes. The cars were also as loaded as you could get a Beetle at the time, with a CD player, tinted glass and body-colored wheels.
With the 2019 Final Edition Beetle, Volkswagen tips its hat at the Ultimate Edition with its packaging and trims. These coupes and convertibles start at the SE level and can head to the top-of-the-line SEL trims. That means there are no base S-models available as Final Editions, which might have been to preserve a few popular paint colors that fell outside of the Final Editions purview, as well as make for a more affordable Beetle.
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