Puebla (Mexico) (AFP)

Mariachis, applause and emotion: The latest specimen of the legendary Volkswagen Beetle came out Wednesday from its Mexican plant in Puebla (center), marking the end of a seven-decade epic that has marked the history of the automobile.

To the sound of mariachis playing a Mexican classic and after rolling a few meters to the applause, the metallic blue car was immortalized by the objectives. It was surrounded by the workers of this site which has produced, since 1997, more than 1.7 million "New beetle" (in English it is called "beetle").

"Gracias Beetle", could be read on the t-shirts of the factory workers, who assembled this last copy of the "Final Edition" in seven hours.

"It's always sad, it's part of us, it's (the result of) our daily work to get the best result, yes, we're proud," said Francisco Bueno, one of the employees, 25 years in this factory.

The last 65 Ladybirds in history, numbered from 1 to 65 to refer to the 65 years of presence of Volkswagen in Mexico, will only be sold on the internet and priced at $ 21,000 (about 18,500 euros).

"The loss of the Ladybug after three generations and nearly seven decades (in Mexico), must cause a wide range of emotions," said during the ceremony Steffen Reiche, the CEO of Volkswagen in Mexico.

The announcement of the judgment was made in September 2018 by the group. The builder, who was just recovering in the United States from the engine-rigged scandal to mask the pollution rate, said he wanted to focus on larger family cars and electric vehicles.

The "New Beetle", released in 1997, had almost nothing in common with the great ancestor wanted by Hitler and born of automotive engineering Ferdinand Porsche, whose production began in 1938 and was completed in 2003.

Neither with the car of predilection of the youth of the years 1960 and 1970 incarnating the generation "Peace and Love" and its thirst for freedom, which was often translated by "Käfer" (ladybug in German) multicolored and covered with drawings of immense flowers.

- Pop art icon -

Yet remained the essential feature: the goodness coming from the roundness of its silhouette, immediately recognizable even in the most recent models. And of course the headlights, inevitably thinking of two big eyes on a smiley face.

The original had yet started with a warrior past by transporting Wehrmacht soldiers during the Second World War. It is only in 1945 that it will be mass-produced in an Allied Germany and will truly become the "people's car" or Volkswagen in German.

Robust, easy to maintain, but at the same time powerful: it gradually sets out to conquer the world and there are few places where the tires of the Ladybug have not left their traces.

The real consecration comes in the 1960s. The Beatle John Lennon endorses the little car with rounded curves and Andy Warhol transforms into a pop art icon, declining his photo on the model of his famous "Marylin".

In 1968, Walt Disney made it a star of the big screen with "A Ladybug's Love", which staged the adventures of a very human car "Herbie". Sales in the United States are flying: at the height of its glory, it is driven by four million Americans.

Sold worldwide thanks to its reputation for solidity, mechanical simplicity, and reasonable price, its success finally faltered in the 1970s and Volkswagen stopped production in Europe in 1978.

The "Cox" ends up showing the weight of the years. Too fuel-hungry, a whimsical handling, a little too discreet braking and competition - including at VW - with the Golf.

In Mexico, the "Vocho", as it is known, was however so popular that VW opened a car manufacturing plant in 1964.

The New Beetle, which is now entering the history of the automobile, was a great success without ever reaching the status of legend of his ancestor.

? 2019 AFP