The folks down at VW’s Mexican plant at Puebla have several reasons to celebrate as the 10th birthday of the New Beetle coincided with the production of the seven millionth Volkswagen in Mexico, which is at the same time the world’s one millionth New Beetle. The New Beetle was launched on the market ten years ago in January 1998. The vehicle is still exclusively built in Mexico for markets all over the world.

In his speech at the ceremony, Prof. Dr. Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen AG, underscored his confidence in the Mexican location. He confirmed that Volkswagen would be investing approximately one billion US$ in Mexico over the next three years for Jetta production and capacity optimization at the Puebla plant. -Continued

“As our only production location in North America to date, Puebla plays a key role in our growth strategy for North America. Volkswagen de México and the Mexican supplier industry are certain to benefit from this.”

In concern of the New Beetle, Prof. Dr. Winterkorn noted: “The New Beetle has done a good job. 10 years and one million cars after production start-up it is still an important member of the Volkswagen family. We will be continuing this success story with the next generation of the New Beetle.”