The beetle only lasted so long because VW didn't have the money to develop a successor in 1961, due to losing a lawsuit over how the Beetle was a STOLEN DESIGN from czech car maker Tatra. Ferdinand Porsche even admitted to having "looked over Hans Ledwinka's shoulder" when "designing" the beetle. Once the Golf came along to take over for the bug, VW just forgot to take it out of production til 2003 when they realized "HOLY SH*T! We're still making this thing?".
Anyways. the list of VW's I would actually own is rather small.
1962-1978 VW Beetle
VW Camper van
new VW Scirocco
2008 VW R32