The old Volkswagen Beetle has ceased to be produced, 70 years after Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) first commissioned the strong and durable, dome-shaped, strange little "People's Car."

Earlier this month, Volkswagen officials announced that the last assembly line in the world of the old Beetle in the Volkswagen's massive plant in central Mexico will soon close down. Volkswagen will, however, continue to make the stylish New Beetle, which it introduced in 1997.

The history of the Beetle can be traced to Ferdinand Porsche, a German automotive engineer of the early 1930s who thought of a cheap, sturdy, small car that could do 100 kmph and could seat four people. Ironically the person who was responsible for the continuing existence of the much-loved Beetle was the most hated man in the world - Hitler.

Porsche's idea of the little car was supported by Hitler and he himself laid the foundation stone for the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg in 1938. Hitler became almost the little car's godfather, and called it the Kraft-Durch-Freude Wagen or "strength through joy" car, which was also the slogan of the Nazi party.

The old Beetle came equipped with air-cooled interiors, a four-cylinder engine, 24-bhp back-engine with back-wheel drive, airtight and waterproof system, an air-cooled engine without a radiator and an anti-skid mechanism, easy operations with low maintenance and mileage.

But by the end of World War II, Volkswagen was in ruins as well as the Beetle factory. The Allies handed over the factory to an ex-Opel executive, Heinz Nordhoff, in 1948. Nordhoff turned around the factory and fortunes of the car and soon three models of the Beetle were on offer - the Standard, the Deluxe and the Cabriolet.

Initially, the Beetle was not very popular in the US. To increase its acceptance and popularity, Volkswagen got a New York-based advertising agency to run a campaign for the car. The agency ran one of the most successful campaigns ever and the rest, as they say, is history.

As its popularity spread, the Beetle became the car of choice of the rebellious post-war generation in the US and Europe, for whom it represented freedom from the tight social restrictions of the time. The Beetle sealed its cult status as the star of Disney's series of Herbie films, such as Herbie Goes Bananas and Herbie Goes To Monte Carlo.

Volkswagen, counted among the biggest automobile companies in the world today with models like the Audi to its credit, rebuilt itself from near ruin in World War II to attain its present status. The company began its journey with the Beetle.

A Volkswagen spokesman says no other model of any automobile company in the world has been so enduring. He said the Toyota Corollas and Volkswagen's own Golf may have sold more over the years, but all have changed sizes, shapes and styles many times. The Beetles coming off the Puebla assembly line today are basically identical to the model designed by Porsche in the 1930s.

In 1996, Mexico became the last country to produce the old Beetle and since 1998 the car has only been sold in Mexico. The Volkswagen plant in Puebla is also the only one worldwide to produce the New Beetle and that is mainly for export. The company stopped producing the old Beetles in Germany in 1978 and in Brazil, its second-biggest production line, in 1996.

Before 1990, Mexico's market was largely closed to imports. As one of the very few foreign companies producing cars in Mexico, Volkswagen cornered the market with its cheap Beetle, ($6,500). Since the 1990s the auto industry in Mexico has changed completely with the country opening its economy to the world, first with the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement and later with trade pacts with Europe and South America.

Mexican markets have become flooded in the past few years with all kinds of imported cars - including small cars that are as cheap as the Beetle but much more sleek and modern. With all these market forces, production of the old Beetle has fallen to just 23,000 last year, from its peak of more than 100,000 in 1993.

Mexico City authorities, also in the past few years, started a programme to eliminate the old Beetle from the taxi fleet, and inducting newer four-door taxis that are safer and more efficient. Hundreds of the old Beetle cars have already been retired and destroyed as the city phases out a symbol of Mexico City.

In 1998, Volkswagen introduced redesigned, sleeker version called the New Beetle: a love bug for the 21^st century. In this version, the engine is placed in front and is water-cooled so the raspy throaty note of the past is no more. Also the New Beetle is equipped with all mod-conveniences such as CFC-free air-conditioning, music system, central locking, pollen and odour filters, and even a flower vase.

It is available in petrol (115 bhp) or turbo-charged diesel (90 bhp) versions, as well as one powerful and expensive 220-bhp turbo-charged V6 version. However, it is no more every man's car at a price of $20,000 to $25,000.