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I thought they stopped making the air-cooled, rear-engine, orginal Beetle many years ago. What has been on the market in recent years only appears outwardly to look like the orginal--correct?

It was my understanding that they were too expensive to build in the U.S. and they couldn't pass the emissions tests.

As the article stated, the Bugs were still being produced in Mexico.

VW stopped German production in 1978, in Brazil in 1991 and now in Mexico. Its really the end of an era. The New Beetle, introduced in 1998, is the exact opposite of the original. Its a tad bigger, has a hatchback instead of a trunk in the front and has a front water-cooled engine instead of the air-cooled engine the rear had. Both were quirky, original cars and quite fun to drive. My 1999 New Beetle has proven very reliable and only had two problems when I took it in for regular maintenance. The funny thing about the Beetle is it stoppped being a Nazi, let alone a German car when it reached American shores. It became a part of American culture and people have lots of fond memories about it. The new version was designed in of all places in California and I don't think the Germans would have bothered making the car again except for its appeal to the American market. To consider how American the Beetle become, consider the Herbie movies made by Disney and every one knew in Woody Allen's Sleeper! exactly before he went into the cave what car he would find there. The only thing these days some people take issue with is the New Beetle made in Mexico by a German company but when you get right down to it, Herbie Still Lives and is an American car! No one thinks of it as a foreign import and that's why the Beetle will always find a place in the American heart.