BOLD RIDE
The Volkswagen Beetle might be headed for the chopping block. Despite being a beloved car, Volkswagen is looking for a way to cut costs and part of that cutting might involve getting rid of the Beetle.
The news comes from Der Spiegel, a German publication that is reporting it’s a combination of both cost cutting and a desire to produce more models on the same platform. The Beetle won’t be the first to go, with the Eos already done and the Polo possibly the next in line.
Estimates have the company saving 200 million euros or roughly $214 million by cutting out the three-door Polo and keeping only the 5-door version. That sounds like a lot of cash, but it’s only a small portion of the 5 billion euros they hope to cut from their costs.
The Beetle’s demise may come due to its low sales numbers. They sold 109,517 Beetles in 2014, so it’s not a complete dud, but it does lag behind other models. The Jetta sold 871,413, the Golf 824,629, and the Polo 725,291 so that means the Beetle is lagging behind and possibly not long for this world.
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