# Beetle discontinued for 2018?



## leekohler2 (Dec 9, 2015)

I am so infuriated that this is happening. I have owned two of the recent Beetles and loved both. I currently own a 2.0 turbo R-line. Great, fun cars for single people or second cars. 

In my opinion, VW has never done a damn thing to promote these Beetles. Case in point, I had to drive a teammate (hockey) home from a game one night. He got in my Beetle and says, "What the hell is this car?" "Well, what do you think it is? You're not stupid." He says, "Is this a Beetle? For real? Does VW even call it a Beetle anymore? Its way too cool. I love it! But didn't they quit making them a while ago? Is this a special order?"

There is absolutely no excuse for that. VW has not done anything to push the current generation Bug at all. So if it gets discontinued, I'm done. Mini sells the same kind of car in three times the numbers. VW has completely ignored the Beetle. And they wonder why it doesn't sell? I really hope it's not a mystery. 

I'm probably going Audi A3 next time for what I spent on my R-line Beetle. I just don't get it why VW ignored it's most iconic vehicle, while Mini built a whole car line on theirs.


----------



## Low On Cash (Jul 22, 2017)

It really makes you wonder - I was looking at a high-end Fiat and the VW is virtually 3 times the car at the same money. I also looked a MC and they are crazy with their pricing. 

Regards


----------



## lgfaver (Dec 26, 2013)

Personally I enjoy having something different to everyone else. I don't want the Beetle to become the Carmy as far as sales numbers go. When I had my Beetle in 2012 I like the fact that my car was so rare and you really didn't see a lot of them in the wild. Now it's totally different, at least here in Dallas. You see a fair number of them around. I had heard rumors about the Beetle being discontinued which is why I jumped at the chance of getting a Dune, I figured, if they discontinued it, even if it's just for a couple of years...at least I'll have a limited edition Bug.


----------



## leekohler2 (Dec 9, 2015)

Low On Cash said:


> It really makes you wonder - I was looking at a high-end Fiat and the VW is virtually 3 times the car at the same money. I also looked a MC and they are crazy with their pricing.
> 
> Regards


Exactly. It makes me crazy. I made a point to ask my dealer when I bought my R-line, "Why are you guys not pushing these cars? They're great! I could have spent the same on a comparable Mini and not gotten nearly what I did with this car." But Mini is making it happen and selling 3 cylinder cars! That's just crazy.


----------



## Günterwagen (May 13, 2016)

*Niche market*

It's a very niche market. Especially the R-Line. Plus with today's standards, it's not really a family car with 2 doors. VW experimented once in the 70s with a 4 door. Never sold them though. I think VW could have market it better. It's a shame..


----------



## Low On Cash (Jul 22, 2017)

I asked my dealer about the Beetle ending and he said corporate had no plans to end the car. Where did you get your Info?

Regards


----------



## Yogibearal (Apr 17, 2014)

Low On Cash said:


> I asked my dealer about the Beetle ending and he said corporate had no plans to end the car. Where did you get your Info?
> 
> Regards


I just contacted my local dealer and they also mentioned at least next year there will be no more SEL models, just basic classic S,SE stuff, and then after 2018 they may discontinue TBD. There are only 2 SEL's near where I live. We've been trying to sell back the TDI Beetle but have not been able to get an SEL in red to match it.


----------



## f.rizzo (Jun 29, 2008)

The only way we could get the red/black leather was to get the top of the line model. Lets just say it was not a good value in my eyes, but Mrs. Rizzo was in love with it, so we got it. At least it had cool stuff like the LED running lights.
Now I noticed that the new models have the LED's...WTF? Not cool...


----------



## Sixtysomething (Aug 7, 2003)

From 2009-2015, I was a very passionate water-cooled Beetle guy. Not only did VW fail to adequately promote the current 2012+ generation, but also the New Beetles of 1998-2010. About 3 years after the first water Beetles hit showrooms, the fanfare pretty much died. This still baffles me because IMO, this should have been the biggest comeback in automotive history. VW had some very lean years after they killed the Type 1 in the US in 1979 and were back on track in the late 1990s-early 2000s because people not only flocked to see the reincarnated Bug, but also began buying more Jettas and Passats in particular. Some if not many of you may not know this, but there was a national New Beetle Convention started in 2000 in Roswell, New Mexico. VW started out sponsoring this event and it initially drew hundreds of cars, but by 2004 or so, the event had shrunk so much that it was reduced to a bi-annual happening. The last time I went, in 2015, it was down to 30 cars.... VW indeed should have taken MINI USA's approach and promoted the hell out of these cars. To this day, MINI does incredible things for their owners and sponsors all kinds of events. 

The air-cooled crowd didn't help, either, because instead of embracing a Beetle with updated technology, (whether it was a Golf with a Beetlish-looking body or not), many dismissed it as a "chick car" and/or hated the fact that it was more complex to work on. I gave up on the water-cooled Beetle scene in 2015 because it's a mere shadow of what it was 15 years before that. Now I'm in a Passat.


----------



## schagaphonic (Aug 24, 2008)

Mrs. Rizzo has very good taste and you were wise to make the purchase! When I get tired of putting money into my '99, something like this would be my first choice over everything else! I love it when any mfr. puts a splash of color into the interior such as this flame red or the "pepeta cloth" in The Coast version.

Agree with this post about VW's lack of enthusiasm of a truly unique car. Even though my '99 NB is getting tired, the body is still rock solid and turns some heads.


----------



## bk227865 (Nov 1, 2016)

*sad days*

It's seem to be really happening. I hope the current line-up will continue for a while still. But there will be no more major updates :

"The current Volkswagen Beetle will be the last of its kind for a while. VW revived The People's Car in 1997, then introduced a second generation in 2011, but VW's head of R&D, Frank Welsch, told Autocar at the Geneva Motor Show that "two or three generations is enough now." With VW having pivoted to crossovers and electric vehicles, Welsch said the T-Roc Convertible will replace the Beetle, Golf, and Eos Cabriolets, and the I.D. Buzz — based on the Microbus — will serve as the heritage-inspired electric model." 

https://www.autoblog.com/2018/03/07/vw-new-beetle-discontinued/


----------



## ribbit (Jun 4, 2012)

This is am old thread ,but I am going to add my 2 cents to the conversation. VW has not marketed there product worth a dam for yrs. besides the beetle, the touareg, and others never were marketed and are now discontinued, all the product line is left hanging vs the Korean/Japanese car offerings. Pity,because the VW product are great value and drives like a real car. All the management should be fired. They are feckless and hopelessly out of touch with what the NA buyer wants and our mkt is huge in the scheme of selling cars.. There are plenty of junk new cars being sold here,that are disposable after the lease is up. VW have dumbed down great cars to hit a price point, pathetic products that are trying to compete with the Asian cars. VW needs to go back to the roots that made the beetle such a popular icon.


----------



## ice4life (Nov 6, 2017)

Final year is 2019. There is a final edition se/sel

https://www.vwvortex.com/news/beetle-final-edition-coming-2019-according-vin-decoder


----------



## ribbit (Jun 4, 2012)

Yes there will be a 2019 last yr offering,but the dealers haven't been given the specs or pricing yet. Spoke to the dealer this week. Slow off the dime on this,because Alltrack has already come out as seen in another thread here.


----------



## ice4life (Nov 6, 2017)

ribbit said:


> Yes there will be a 2019 last yr offering,but the dealers haven't been given the specs or pricing yet. Spoke to the dealer this week. Slow off the dime on this,because Alltrack has already come out as seen in another thread here.


The information has been available for some time. If your dealer STILL doesn't have it, go to a different dealer.


https://newspress-vwusamedia.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/original/8710-2019BeetlePricing.pdf

https://newspress-vwusamedia.s3.ama...riginal/8714-2019BeetleConvertiblePricing.pdf


----------



## Sixtysomething (Aug 7, 2003)

I posted to this thread about 9 months ago, but to add, even as a once-passionate water-cooled Beetle guy, I saw this coming as far back as 2015. Sales of the 2012+ models peaked in 2013 at around 43,000 units in the US (its biggest market) and plummeted after that. I was delusional because I thought that the 2012 redesign would put them back to 1998-1999 sales numbers and that they would displace air-cooled Type 1's at VW shows by 2025. I wasn't even close............and finally, about 3 years ago, I realized that. Still, it's sad.


----------

