The VW Bug is a Hot Wheels diecast based on a 1953 – 1957 VW Bug and was created by Hot Wheels designer Larry Wood. It was released into the lineup in 1989. This isn’t the first Bug to be in the Hot Wheels lineup; the original Bugs or Beetles were cast as part of 1968’s “Sweet Sixteen”. Although the custom Volkswagen was issued in two different countries back then and were very different from each other, it resembles the Hong Kong casting. There was another famous striped cousin, the Volkswagen (1974), which looks more like the American version of the custom Volkswagen. In 2007, the VW Bug was renamed the Volkswagen Beetle.