Volkswagen Bids Farewell To Beetle With Heartfelt Video

To celebrate the final year of production for the Beetle, Volkswagen has commissioned a short animated film that will air during tonight’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2020 on ABC.

The short, entitled The Last Mile and produced in association with the Johannes Leonardo agency, follows the story of a young boy through the major milestones of his life, including his first driving test, graduation, marriage, the birth of his first child, and retirement, accompanied throughout by his faithful VW.

The final VW Beetle rolled off the conveyor belt earlier this year in July, bringing to an end a production run that started, give or take the occasional hiatus, back in 1938.

In a telling nod to VW’s advertising campaigns of the past, The Last Mile trailer features cameos from Ren, played by Kevin Bacon who drove a ’72 Beetle in 1984’s Footloose, and artist Andy Warhol, whose work did as much for the Beetle as it did for Campbell’s soup. You may notice the ‘Not a Lemon’ sign being waved in the crowd too.

Accompanied by a particularly moving rendition of Let It Be, the animated short ends with a “not-so-subtle wink and nod to Volkswagen’s electrified future”, the arrival of the 2020 Altas Cross Sport, and a brand new modernized logo. The latter will headline a celebration of Volkswagen in New York City’s Times Square this evening.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to watch this again and do something about this damned grit in my eye…

*Images courtesy of Volkswagen USA