What country produced the last original Beetles in 2003?

The last original Volkswagen Beetles in 2003 were produced in Mexico. The final Type 1 left Volkswagen’s Puebla plant on 30 July 2003, ending a 65-year production run for the classic rear-engined model.

Mexico became the Beetle’s final manufacturing base after production ended in Germany and Brazil. Volkswagen began building Beetles in Puebla in 1967, and the model became deeply associated with Mexican taxi culture, where it was widely known as the “Vocho.”

The finale was marked by the Última Edición, a limited run of 3,000 cars in Aquarius Blue and Harvest Moon Beige. One of those final cars was preserved at Volkswagen’s museum in Wolfsburg. A common mix-up is confusing the original Beetle with the New Beetle, whose later production continued in Mexico but was a completely different, front-engined model.