VW Beetles through the ages

By 1972, approximately four million Beetles had been sold in the U.S. But VW was increasingly being overtaken by Japanese carmakers building vehicles with superior quality and technology at a lower price.

By 1977, U.S. Beetle sales had declined to fewer than 20,000 a year (down from over 90,000 just two years earlier) as the cost of assembly increased and VW shifted its small-car emphasis to the front-drive Golf, introduced in 1974. The last Beetle was sold in the U.S. in 1981, though Volkswagen continued to build it in Mexico for sale in some South American countries. By 2003, annual production had fallen to 30,000 cars from a peak of 1.3 million in 1971, and the Beetle was finally laid to rest.

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