ll" ; "There are shapes you simply can’t improve on" ; and "The VW runs… and runs… and runs." This campaign was very successful, and for some years after that the beetle was the top import car sold in the US. While domestic cars grew fins and got larger and larger, the beetle was also improved, but you would not know it by looking at it. In 1953 the beetle had its first major physical change when the famous split rear window was replaced by an oval window which increased view by twenty five percent. This was the first big change in twenty years. However, this window was replaced in 1958 by an even larger one. These were not the only changes. In 1955 the wing like turn signals were replaced with lights on the top of the front fenders. In the same year the designers also gave the bug a new dashboard. In 1966 safety became an issue, and Volkswagen installed a safety steering column and dual circuit brakes. Volkswagen‘s success reached its peak in the US in 1970 when total sales reached 569,696, which blew away all the other imports. However, by 1975 the sales of the beetle dropped to 90,000, and by 1977 it had dropped another 70,000 to 20,000 which brought the end of the beetle in the US in 1979 with the convertible model. The slump of sales in the seventies was temporary because Volkswagen released the Dasher in 1974 and the Rabbit and the Scirocco in 1975. They continued to build the beetle in Mexico and sold it in some South American countries. It has remained a popular car in Mexico where production totals 21,500,000 (through 1998). That figure helped make it the best selling car of all time.Late in the 1970’s Volkswagen opened a factory in Westmoreland County Pennsylvania where they began building Rabbits. The Volkswagen Rabbit was known as the Golf to the rest of the world. It was considered a revolutionary hatchback compact car. It had a front wheel drive front transversely mounted engine...
