The Fusca Revival

Just the FACTS

In Brazil, the beetle is called "Fusca".

• Brazilian production started in 1953, with parts imported from Germany.   By1959, the cars were 100% made in Brazil.  The car was made until 1986.  In 1993 production started again but only continued till 1996. 

• The Brazilian version retained the 1958-1964 body style (Europe and USA version) with the thick door pillars and small quarter glass. 

• Around 1973, Brazilian Beetles were updated with the 1968+ sheet metal, bumpers, and 4-lug rims; although the 5-stud rims and "bug-eyed" headlights were produced as late as 1972 (the base VW 1200 was similar to the 1964 European/USA 1200). 
• The Brazilian VW Bug have four different sized engines: 1200 cc, 1300 cc, 1500 cc, and, finally, 1600 cc.
• In Brazil the VW Bug never received electronic fuel injection (the air-cooled flat four engine from the Beetle received this, but to equip solely the VW Kombi later models), but, instead, retained single or double-single carburetion throughout its entire life, although the carburetion specs differs from engines of different years and specs.
• The production of the air-cooled engine finally ended in 2006, after more than 60 years. It was last used in the Brazilian version of the VW Bus, called the "Kombi", and was replaced by a 1.4 L water-cooled engine with a front-mounted cooling system.

Fusca/Bug/Beetle/Kafer; call them what you will, the very last Fusca rolled off the assembly line in the Sao Paulo factory on 25 June 1996, bringing to an end a Brazilian production run of over 3 million VW Fuscas.  (Wikipedia)