On August 13, 2013 Volkswagen celebrated the production of 10-million cars at its Volkswagen de México manufacturing facility in Puebla, Mexico.
The 10- millionth car was a Volkswagen Beetle GSR, a limited edition, 1970s-inspired Beetle will be available in Canada, though in very limited numbers—150 countrywide.
The GSR name was first used on the original Beetle in the 1970s. It stands for Gelb Schwarzer Renner, or “yellow and black racer,” which explains the car’s bumblebee paint scheme.
To match the exterior, the interior is black with yellow contrasting stitching.
The GSR features the new EA888 turbocharged and direct-injection 2.0-liter TSI engine, giving it more power, torque and better fuel economy.
Only 3,500 of the special edition Beetle GSRs were built globally.
Volkswagen Puebla is the largest automobile manufacturing plant in North America and the second largest Volkswagen manufacturing plant in the world. The company has investments of more than $5-billion planned in the U.S. and Mexico in the next three years to lay the foundation for further growth in the North American market.
Puebla began manufacturing the original Beetle, which celebrates its 75th birthday this year—in 1967. Since then, the plant has produced more than 3-million Beetles, and also currently manufactures the Beetle Convertible, Jetta and Jetta SportWagen for the U.S. market.
The plant will begin production of the next-generation Golf for the North and South American markets in early 2014.