Over the top: Following its spectacular peak in 1971, even major new innovations were unable to halt the decline of the world's best-selling car, as Chris Barber reports

摘要

THE EARLY Seventies saw the heyday of the Beetle, with record sales and new models like the 1302, but the 1973 model year produced another sensation, Due to the increasingly tough passenger protection laws in the USA, Volkswagen had to completely redesign the dashboard and cockpit area, The process which had started in 1970 with the 1302 was completed in August 1972, for the 1973 model year, when an entirely new windscreen and control panel area completely changed the character of the car; The 1303 and 1303 S had a rounded windscreen, its base moved forward several centimetres, and the bonnet was reshaped accordingly. The rear lights were also enlarged, to the much larger 'elephant's foot' lamps, again responding to safety legislation, primarily from the USA.