VOLKSWAGEN Last edition of Beetle unveiled in Mexico

Production of the old Beetle ends this month.
PUEBLA, Mexico (AP) -- As the oldest passenger car still in production, the old Beetle enjoyed one last moment of newness again, as Volkswagen unveiled the "Last Edition" of the bug, a cult classic the company plans to stop producing in a few weeks.
The presentation of the "new" model came under a cavernous white tent adjacent to the Volkswagen plant in the central Mexican city of Puebla on Thursday, the last factory still producing the little cars.
After July 30, when the last one rolls off the production line, nearly 70 years of automotive history -- perhaps the best-known, best-loved and biggest-selling car of all time -- comes to an end.
The last edition of the bug has a "retro" look, with chrome trim from bumper to bumper, whitewall tires and standard CD player, but it also stays true to the car's plain-vanilla roots: It's still a four-cylinder stick-shift that weighs less than 1,780 pounds.
It comes in only two colors, a reminder to drivers that when bugs first started hitting the streets, "aquatic blue" and "lunar beige" were the only colors available.
Longtime worker
Armando Pasillas, a 60-year-old factory worker who has been building bugs in Puebla since 1967, drove a last-edition Beetle into the tent, then stood beaming as journalists from around the world swarmed the vehicle.
"You feel a little sad because it's finally over," said Pasillas, who started at the plant three years after the bug made its debut in Mexico. "We knew this day was coming for years, and now it has arrived. All there is to do now is move forward."
Over the years, the rear windshield got wider, the taillights and bumper got bigger and the frame became more compact to make the bulbous bug slightly more aerodynamic. But the model has remained little changed since designers pieced together its first prototype in Nazi Germany in 1934 and introduced it to the German market as "The Sedan" after World War II.
Production for the U.S. market stopped in 1977 because the car's rear, air-cooled engine didn't meet safety and emissions standards. The plant in Puebla, 65 miles southeast of Mexico City, was the only place the old Beetle was still rolling off the assembly line.
Fading out in Mexico
The bug remained wildly popular all over Mexico for decades, but its sales slipped as the North American Free Trade Agreement allowed competitors to flood the Mexican market with other cheap, compact vehicles.
Then, last year, Mexico City officials ordered all new taxis in the capital to have four doors. While the "vocho," Mexico's Spanish nickname for the bug, is not specifically banned, the new rule effectively means it will slowly disappear.