earle (03/29/83)
----------------------------------------------------------------- THE BUG COMES BACK (from Newsweek, April 4, 1983) In its heyday, the Volkswagen Beetle was the Big Mac of little cars, with sales of 30 million worldwide. Five million sold in America alone -- until 1977, when VW of America quit importing it as a result of changing American tastes and rising Japanese competition. Now, much to the joy of its afficionados, the Beetle is back in the United States, thanks to a pair of Los Angeles used-car dealers named Lenny Macchiarella and Daniel Najor. Macchiarella and Najor were sipping Margaritas in a border bar named Tijuana Tilly's one day last November when they spotted a brand new yellow bug flitting by. After some investigation they discovered that the car was still being produced in Mexico, and that for $3,700 apiece they could export them to the United States. Over one more Margarita, People's Car Co. was launched. It costs an additional $2,500 to bring the Mexican-made cars into compliance with U.S. pollution standards, pushing the price to $6,995, about what it cost in the United States in 1977. It's an obvious bargain, and sales are off to a brisk start. One dealer in Utah has ordered 25, a South Carolina firm called Bug East has Ordered 20, and one day last week a dealer in the U.S. Virgin Islands phoned and asked for 150 immediately. Macchiarella expects to sell about 500 by the end of the year, and already is making plans to expand his line to include a souped-up $10,000 sports model and a 141-inch, $22,000 limousine -- complete with a TV, bar and telephone -- built on a Mexican-made chassis. Says he of the classic Beetle, basically unchanged in styling since it was introduced in the 1930s:"It's very inexpensive to repair and it's kind of a poor man's Porsche. They sold 30 million of these...so I guess they can't too bad." ------------------------------------------------------------------ This issue of Newsweek arrived in today's mail. If anybody out there in netland knows of a dealer in the Northeast, please let me know by net mail. I'd be willing to go as far as New York or Buffalo to get a new Bug. Earle T. Fettig GenRad Concord,MA