Beetles Are Back--With More Power, Less Flower
The Beetle’s back, but the new Volkswagen bug isn’t exactly the easy-to-fix, easy-to-afford, noisy-to-drive car that made road trips to distant campuses and rock concerts decades ago.
The new generation of Beetle comes with air conditioning, remote-control electric locks, six-speaker stereo and a $15,000 price tag.
Two decades since the last new Beetle was sold in the United States, Volkswagen on Monday rolled out a restyled version of the little car that became an improbable, wheelie-popping movie star named Herbie in the 1969 Disney movie “The Love Bug.”
Although it boasts more power and less flower than the original Beetle, it now offers a dashboard bud vase as standard equipment.
The German auto maker is counting on nostalgia-smitten drivers to search out the new Beetle when it hits the U.S. and Mexican markets by the end of March. VW expects to sell 50,000 in its first production year.
Though the 1999 model shares the same general ladybug shape and a few other quirky, Beetle-esque touches, the resemblance to the slow runabout is sheet-metal deep.
California-designed, it will be made in Mexico with anti-lock brakes and dual front and side air bags. The new Beetle is also larger inside and out, and it’s more costly, with a base U.S. sticker price of $15,200. Thirty years ago, it went for under $2,000, or less than $10,000 in today’s dollars after adjusting for inflation.
The original bug’s unconventional air-cooled, rear-mounted engine has given way to a modern water-cooled, four-cylinder engine in the car’s front, where it will drive the front wheels.
The new Beetle has sleeker lines but borrows some quirky retro touches from the old bug: big, round speedometers and gauges, bulbous fenders, passenger grab handles and built-in running boards.
“We cannot deny [the old Beetle’s] origin or the magic of its shape,” said Volkswagen Chairman Ferdinand Piech. The auto was unveiled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
The move to resurrect the Beetle marks a big change for a company that for years tried with only limited success to divorce itself from its economy-car heritage that began with the humble bug, which was born in 1938 and was last sold in the United States in 1979.
Worldwide, the Beetle remains the most popular car ever made and is still in limited production in Mexico. More than 21.3 million have been sold in 180 countries, including 4.7 million to Americans by 1979.
