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Steel stamping dies are typically good for 100,000 to 750,000 "hits" between refurbishment depending on the complexity of the dies and the depth of draw. The die will last for millions of hits with refurbishment. I suspect that the mexican beetles are still using dies from the sixties that have just been continually refurbished over the years. I doubt that the beetle could still be made profitably with the added cost of new dies. For very high volume (F-150,Taurus, etc) programs, making three die sets is not atypical. One is a back-up, two are rotated in-service. The other thing to consider is that most stampings require at last 3 dies: rough draw/shape, final draw/shape, and trim. Complex stamping like door inner panels and bodysides can require up to 7 dies to make one part. Multiply that by the 2 or 3 sets of dies and the 80-120 major stamping that make up and body and the $500k to $1M per die and the investment numbers for a new car body add up very quickly. Later, John Jaranson '71 FI Auto Fasty (Jane) http://hometown.aol.com/jaransonT3 ------------------------------------------------------------------- List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list or mailto:help@vwtype3.org