vw panel moulds in vw factory, closed now

does anyone know what happens to the body panel moulds that are or where in the vw factories in brazil when it closed ,do you think they sold them? or return them back to germany head office ?

sweet sCab

non dsk member

thats abit harsh ha ha

i part of "da single kab" my own non club

I always wondered about this too. i mean what kind of market is there for spare panels and such. If you had the moulds you could make genuine spares.

yeah thats what i was thinking the parts companies in the states would be killing to get to them im sure or they could be on ebay "under machinery"
or vw may order them back home and store them forever ?

I heard somewhere that they went to China to start production of aircooleds for the local market I'm going next week I will report back.
Nik

oooo thats a little closer to home and cheaper..

oh yeah at least they will continue to make them thats great news keep us posted how cool having a beetle with MADE IN CHINA on it "I want one"

Are they really gonna start making beetles in China??

theres a brit company that sell old school beetles with all the new age trimmings... a basic model shipped over here costs $35,000

moulds? do you mean dies? because you need a huge press to stamp out sheetmetal. If you have a look at the "VW in australia: the forgotten story" they have pics of the presses they used to make the panels here from the early 60's onwards. These things needed a multistorey factory to house a few of them. I think it said after production was stopped in '68 they sold them to VW in brazil. Honestly I think the infrastructure and $$$ needed to make these panels is a financial deathtrap. There market for this stuff is shrinking and it will never really grow in any significant way.

They are not making aircooleds in China AFAIK. They are making the Bora, Passat, Golf etc. That UK company used to ship over the mexi beetles. I doubt you could rego one here as it would have to be complianced to meet current ADR's