This final special edition (badged Ultima Edicion), that more significantly marks final production of the air-cooled Beetle, was unveiled on Thursday 10th July, 2003 at a presentation at the Volkswagen plant where it is built in Puebla, east of Mexico City. VW Mexico will make only 3000 of the last edition which brings together aspects of the car’s 70 year history.
The edition comes in either LB1M Harvestmoon Beige or LB5B Aquarius blue paintwork, 1.6 engine, whitewall tires, a CD player with four speakers plus chrome bumpers, trim, hub caps and exterior mirrors, Wolfsburg symbol on bonnet above handle, chrome glove box badge, colour coded wheels, tinted glass, rear parcel shelf, VW Ultima Edicion plaque.
At 84,000 pesos, it costs about $1,300 more than the typical old-style Beetle. Final production of all Beetles ended in Puebla on 30th July, 2003 after 70 years of production worldwide. Some also produced in a light Metallic Blue and one out of 3,000 Ultima Edicion Beetles was painted in Snap Orange (LD2B) – not the “Salsa Red” of the last Standard Beetles. This car was a special request from Prof. Wilfried Bockelmann, Member of the Board of Management Volkswagen Brand, with responsibility for ‘Technical Development (information courtesy Luis Manuel Lopez).
See also New Beetle Final Edition and the K-UE-Club website for the Ultima.
‘Automovil’ ad courtesy Peter Frost.
