

A Volkswagen Beetle with suitable modifications crossed the Irish Sea in eight hours in 1973. A. Markey/Newscom/File
Jonathan Browning, president and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, speaks next to the 2012 Volkswagen Beetle at the US revealing of the redesigned model in New York on April 18. Mike Segar/Reuters
Visitors at the Volkswagen Car museum in Wolfsburg, Germany, look at a few new Beetles that were decorated with paint and adhesive film by artists during an exhibit entitled 'The car as a canvas' in 1998. AFP/Newscom/File
A Beetle coated with 40 gallons of chocolate and topped with cakes is displayed in Tokyo in 2003 ahead of Valentine's Day. Toshiyuki Aizawa/Reuters/File
A gardener admires at the lush flowers growing out of an old Beetle at the Friesland Garden Center in Jever, Germany, in 2004. Ingo Wagner/Newscom/File
A colorful Beetle is parked at the 6th New Beetle Sunshinetour in Luebeck-Travemuende, Germany, in 2010. The event is the biggest meeting for owners of the Volkswagen New Beetle worldwide. Bodo Marks/DPA/Picture-Alliance/Newscom/File
A smiling face is sculpted onto a snow-covered Beetle in Berlin in 2010. Arno Burgi/DPA/Picture-Alliance/Newscom/File
Volkswagen employee Armando Pasillas, who worked at the Puebla, Mexico, plant for 36 years, stands near the Volkswagen sedan 'last edition' in 2003. Volkswagen launched the final model of the original Beetle on July 10, 2003. Jose Luis Magana/AP
A 1998 Beetle is painted with baseball stitching in St. Petersburg, Fla. in 2000. Zuma Press/Newscome/File
A Beetle is decorated with musical instruments at the Essen Motor Show in Essen, Germany, in 2003. Zuma Press/Newscom/File
A Beetle 'art car' with painted decorations appears at the Fremont Solstice Parade in Seattle in 2007. Newscom/File
Jim Lopata poses with his pig-snouted Beetle in Chicago in 2004. Michael Walker/Newscom/File