The bug that just kept on buzzing

The Volkswagen Beetle was once the “improbable symbol of the hippie counterculture,” said Amie Tsang and Jack Ewing in The New York Times. But now the unique, curvy cars are “set to become a thing of the past.” Having sold 1.2 million “new” Beetles since the car was reintroduced in 1997, the German automaker will cease production next July. The Beetle’s demise signals the end of one of motoring’s quirkiest rides. Though it was conceived by Adolf Hitler, the Beetle’s economical design made it a postwar hit. Slow, with a heating system that barely worked, the Beetle powered VW’s rise and made it Europe’s biggest carmaker. For the Woodstock generation, driving one was a way to show you were against materialism and gas-guzzlers. The original puttered out in 1978, but the follow-up became a nostalgiasoaked hit, buying the little car another two decades of life.