Nearing the end of the line

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A vendor unloads a bouquet of flowers from her Volkswagen van Sept. 3 at a street market in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In Brazil, the VW van is known as the “Kombi,” an abbreviation for the German “Kombinationsfahrzeug” that loosely translates as “cargo-passenger van.” It’s used in Brazil by the postal service to haul mail, by the army to transport soldiers and by morticians to carry corpses. It serves as a school bus for kids, operates as a group taxi and delivers construction materials to work sites, but VW says production will end Dec. 31. Andre Penner/The Associated Press

A vendor unloads a bouquet of flowers from her Volkswagen van Sept. 3 at a street market in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In Brazil, the VW van is known as the “Kombi,” an abbreviation for the German “Kombinationsfahrzeug” that loosely translates as “cargo-passenger van.” It’s used in Brazil by the postal service to haul mail, by the army to transport soldiers and by morticians to carry corpses. It serves as a school bus for kids, operates as a group taxi and delivers construction materials to work sites, but VW says production will end Dec. 31. Andre Penner/The Associated Press