Volkswagen - We don't have to start from scratch each year. (1969) printad (USA)

We don't have to start from scratch each year.

We've been making the same basic VW for so long now, you'd think we'd be bored with the whole thing.
But the fact is, we're still learning. For no matter how perfect we think one year's model is, there's always an engineer who wants to make it more perfect.
You see, at the Volkswagen factory we spend 100% of our time making our car
work better and 0% making it look better. Any change is an improvement.
And when we do make new parts we try to make them fit older models. So there's nothing to stop a Volkswagen from running forever.
(Which may explain why Volkswagens are worth so much at trade-in time.)
Starting from scratch each year can get in the way of all that.
Just when they've ironed out the kinks in the current model, they have to face the kinks in the next.
We'll never understand all the hoopla over the "big changes" for next year's models.
Weren't they proud of this year's?

Ad agency: Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB), New York