• Hypx@lemmy.worldOP
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    8 months ago

    The original Beetle was a very cheap car being sold at a time when no one else was making such vehicles. Sales tanked once competition showed up. The problem is that Tesla is seeing competition now.

    Also, Teslas aren’t cheap. So the market for them is much smaller.

      • dependencyinjection
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        8 months ago

        Not who originally commented but you said the original air cooled beatle and then proceeded to to say 1938-2003 which is it. The OG or all of them?

        • Takumidesh@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          The beetle was made until 2003. The new beetle, a different car, started production in 1997. It was manufactured side by side with the original beetle.

        • jo3shmoo@sh.itjust.works
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          8 months ago

          Not the other commenter, but that’s the timeframe for the OG air cooled design which continued to be manufactured until 2003 in Mexico. The New Beetle launched in 1998, was redesigned again in 2011 as the Beetle, and then ended production in 2019.

      • Hypx@lemmy.worldOP
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        8 months ago

        It was well past its prime by the 1970s. VW would’ve ended production long before 2003 if it wasn’t seen as an iconic vehicle.