At a time of year when the past is slipping away, and the future is more apparent than ever, Volkswagen is embracing the spirit. The company has released a new animated film called “The Last Mile”. It features a classic Beetle following a man through key moments in his life. The Pro Musica Youth Chorus sings “Let it Be” as images of pop culture pass by. Look closely and you’ll see Kevin Bacon’s character in Footloose and artist Andy Warhol.
The last Beetle rolled off the assembly line in Mexico in July 2019 bound for a museum. A blue coupe marked the end of the third generation Bug. The original Beetle was designed in 1938, but it was after World War 2 ended when the "People's Car" went into serious production. Over the course of 8-decades… more than 21-million Beetles were sold in 91-markets around the world. A vast majority of those were the first-generation model between the mid-1940’s and 2003.
It's worth mentioning VW has stopped Beetle production before. While there’s no official word of it coming back, the video is visual reinforcement that Volkswagen is charging forward with electric vehicles. When the ball drops in New York City’s Times Square tonight, Volkswagen says we’ll see the 2020 Atlas Cross Sport and a more modern Volkswagen logo.