After roughly seven decades of production and three generations of designs, today Volkswagen retired its iconic Beetle (again)

The iconic brand made a comeback in 1997 (and a restyle in 2011) after the original Beetle ceased production in the US market two decades earlier

NIGERIA: Towards the end of the 1980s the industry was negatively affected by a downturn in the economy and reduced government subsidy.

Volkswagen increased the cost of their vehicles as a result of a depreciating naira and would eventually shift market focus to selling the Kombi and eventually ceasing production of their other models.

Volkswagen went from an annual production of 29,300 in 1981 to less than 1000 by 1989.

Here is my copy of a letter from England to Nigeria where a potential customer inquired about purchasing a Volkswagen car in September 1986.

‘Dear Sir,

Thank you for your letter dated August 21, 1986 and for the interest you have shown in our company’s product programme.

You will find enclosed brochures of all the models currently being produced by our company. These are the Beetle; the Kombi; the VW Ambulance; and the Santana.

We suspended the production of the Golf and the Jetta last year for economic reasons but we hope to review the decision at the appropriate time when the situation of the Nigerian economy has returned to normal

Regards.

Yours faithfully,

VOLKSWAGEN OF NIGERIA LIMITED

Mr Kruschwitz

GM, Marketing