Photos: Life after death for the Volkswagen Beetle in Ethiopia

Born in the 1930s as an ambitious ‘people’s car’ in Germany, the VW Beetle is one of the most iconic cars in automotive history. Since its discontinuation in 2003, garages in Ethiopia have been salvaging parts from older Beetles, extending life for those still on the roads.

Updated on: Oct 31, 2017 11:30 AM IST

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Ishetu Kinfe, 59, a mechanic, poses next to his 1965 Volkswagen Beetle at a garage in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Having driven the car for 19 years, he said, ‘I can drive it anywhere because it is strong, easy to maintain and affordable’. At garages in Addis Ababa, cranky, 50-year-old Beetles enjoy a kind of life after death --their parts are never discarded but re-used to keep the city’s remaining Beetles on the road. (Tiksa Negeri / REUTERS)

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A miniature VW Beetle toy is seen inside a Beetle car at a garage in Addis Ababa. The Beetle was born in the 1930s out of Adolf Hitler’s desire to produce a cheap ‘people’s car’ for the German family. Post World War Two it sold in the tens of millions around the globe and in the 1960s even starred in a Disney movie as Herbie the ‘Love Bug’. (Tiksa Negeri / REUTERS)

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An abandoned Beetle car stands near the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa. Production of the original version of these curvy little vehicles ended in 2003, and authentic spare parts can be hard to come by. Ethiopian mechanics have since resorted to ‘slaughtering’ some cars to keep others alive. (Tiksa Negeri / REUTERS)

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A Volkswagen car emblem is seen among other tools for the slaughter on the floor of a garage in Addis Ababa. ‘If one is in a bad condition, we will cannibalise it and give its parts to other cars. That is how we extend their life,’ said Kinfe Abera, a 74-year-old garage owner who has been working on Beetles for six decades. (Tiksa Negeri / REUTERS)

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The interior of a stripped down Beetle car is seen at a garage in Addis Ababa. Kinfe considers the car an affordable and extremely reliable machine. ‘They never fail you - they take you anywhere and have excellent functionality,’ he said. ‘I wish the Germans had continued producing them. They abandoned them and things started falling apart.’ (Tiksa Negeri / REUTERS)

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Minilik Shewaferaw, 30, poses next to his 1976 model Beetle in Addis Ababa. ‘I chose Volkswagen because it is affordable, easy to park and my luxury car indeed’, he said. About 8,000 vehicles are assembled in Ethiopia for the home market, about a quarter of them cars. Expensive imported models on the roads are also rising as a new middle class emerges but the pint-sized Beetle enjoys a loyal fanbase among the young who find it trendy. (Tiksa Negeri / REUTERS)

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A VW Beetle is seen inside a painting room at a garage in Addis Ababa. ‘They are lovely cars,’ said Teferi Markos, a mechanic in Kinfe’s garage. ‘You get satisfied when you fix them. If you want to change the colour, they absorb any paint.’ (Tiksa Negeri / REUTERS)

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Siyum Haile, 72, a retired UN employee, poses next to his 1977 Beetle in Addis Ababa. He has used the car for 17 years because it’s strong, consumes less fuel and most of all is the only car he can afford to buy in Ethiopia. While the young are drawn to the car for its throwback trendiness, the older generation is drawn by nostalgia to this iconic car. Either way, in Ethiopia the Beetle continues to live on! (Tiksa Negeri / REUTERS)