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Transportation
Other Means
Beetle
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The last goodbye to a "legend". The final Beetle, numbered 21,529,464, rolled off the production line at the Puebla plant in Mexico.
The idea of the Beetle was born on January 17th, 1934, when Ferdinand Porsche wrote his "Exposé regarding the construction of a German People's Car". A people's car, or "Volkswagen", should, he said, be a fully adequate and reliable automobile, with a light construction style. It should offer room for four peole, reach speeds of up to 62.14 mph and be able to overcome gradients of 30%.
The first prototype was completed on February 5th, 1936. Mass production of the Beetle began in December 1945 and the first exports started in August 1947. July 1949 saw the first convertible Beetle and the production numbers began to soar.
In 1950, the 100,000th Beetle rolled off the line and just five years later the millionth Beetle was produced. February 17th, 1972, was a key milestone: the 15,007,034th Beetle made this car a world champion, overtaking the previous production record held by the Ford Model T.
The total number of Beetles produced, is 21,529,464.
09-16-2003