A few tears must have flowed in Emden:On January 19, 1978, the last Beetle produced in Germany rolled off the assembly line at the East Frisian VW plant. After a total of almost 2.4 million copies of the cult car that were manufactured in Emden, an era came to an end on that day.
Volks-Auto becomes a bestseller
The Beetle is inextricably linked to Volkswagen's rise to a global brand. Despite a number of quirks, it became a successful model worldwide - and that despite the fact that the company archive says:"It was neither fast nor particularly economical, not to mention the comfort." The history of the cute car goes back to 1933. At that time, Ferdinand Porsche accepted an order from Adolf Hitler to develop a cheap people's car for all classes. Due to the Second World War, however, the Beetle only went into series production with a delay, and private individuals were able to buy the first models in 1947. The car quickly became a bestseller:Volkswagen celebrated the millionth unit as early as 1955 and the Beetle was also well received in the USA.
Production in Emden from 1964
In 1964, the group even had a new plant built in Emden for its export hit. In the beginning, ten Beetles were produced per day in the port city, later at peak times it was several hundred, according to a spokeswoman. "For the Emden site, the Beetle was the beginning of a success story and an important step for the region and East Friesland," said the current manager of the plant, Andreas Dick. Industry experts share this assessment. "Neither before nor after has there been a car that was as important globally as the Beetle," said Willi Diez from the Institute for the Automotive Industry in Geislingen. The car was successful in Europe, North America and Latin America:"Maybe it was the first world car ever," said Diez.
Off after 21.5 million copies
The final end for the Beetle finally came in 2003, when the last original Volkswagen with the air-cooled boxer engine was installed in the rear in Mexico. No other automobile had been produced so often up to that point. Since 1938, more than 21.5 million Beetles have rolled off the production line in VW production halls worldwide.