Volkswagen squashes the Beetle

Guests view the 1959 Type 1 Sedan displayed at New York’s Museum of Modern Art

IN JULY Volkswagen will stop producing the Beetle, ending a phenomenal 81-year run for the car — the original model was continuously built from 1938 to 2003, the New Beetle from 1997 to 2010, the Beetle (the model reverted to the name) from 2011 onwards. To mark this end of an automotive era, Volkswagen this year produced a final, limited edition of the Beetle in coupe and convertible forms for the US market.

As a farewell nod, Volkswagen also held at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) the “Bye Bye, Beetle” event, where guests paid tribute to the car. Probably for the last time.

The choice of the MoMA as venue was fitting not only because Volkswagen has been a close partner to the institution, but also because the Beetle is as much a car as it is a design icon. Well, the MoMA has included in its collection a 1959 Type 1 Sedan (the car’s official name) since 2002.

MoMA was actually one of the first museums in the world to include cars as design objects into its collection.

. Discussing the VW Beetle at the car’s farewell event at New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) are, from left, Tamara Warren, Volkswagen head of design Klaus Bischoff, Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman of the Pratt Institute and MoMA design curator Paul Galloway.

So a highlight of the “Bye Bye, Beetle” event was a design talk with Volkswagen head of design Klaus Bischoff, Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman of the Pratt Institute, MoMA design curator Paul Galloway and Le Car founder Tamara Warren, who hosted the discussion. The talk centered on the significance of the Beetle as a design icon, transformations in automotive design, and design in the future.

Galloway, who is also in charge of the automobiles in MoMA’s collection, reported that cars are audience favorites and are among the most-photographed objects. Pailes-Friedman, who teaches industrial design at the Pratt Institute and designs technological functional clothing with her company Interwoven Design Group, often finds inspiration for her own work in automotive design.

Also tackled were the beginnings of the original Beetle and how this created milestones in design. The influence the car’s design has had to this day, and how Volkswagen is continuing this success story in the age of electromobility, were also part of the conversation.

For its part, Volkswagen said the idea for the Beetle was recorded on a white sheet of paper in 1938, and had a concrete design approach from the start. The development of the Beetle was neither about aesthetics nor function alone. The Beetle had to be designed to be lighter and faster to produce. It needed a body with fewer but larger parts. The result was a fully-fledged car for everyone. In the post-war period, the Beetle turned into a symbol of economic miracle and mobility, Volkswagen said.

The carmaker called it a million bestseller (more than 21 million were sold), cult object and design icon.

It will be missed.