The 2012 VW Beetle tuning wars have began. Leaving aside the Beetle RS project with some very light styling modifications by the enthusiast website VWVortex that we showed you back in June, ABT Sportsline is the first mainstream tuning firm to take on the all-new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle, or as the company likes to call it, the Speedle.
The noted VW Group tuner said it is still working on the performance upgrades for the latest Beetle, which won’t arrive in customer hands until September, but it can give us an idea of what to expect based on its current offerings.
Ever since Hershey’s chocolates appeared in William A. Wellman’s 1927 Wings movie - the first and only silent film ever to win an Academy Award for Best Picture, the practice of product placement has become an every day part of our television and cinematic experience.
Volkswagen is one of the many automakers that has adopted this strategy spending millions of dollars each year to place its products not only in movies but in music videos as well. One of our eagle-eyed readers, Dallas Howell, noticed the product placement of the 2012 Volkswagen Beetle in Britney Spears’ brand-new, paparazzi-bashing "I Wanna Go" music video.
Stretched Volkswagen Beetles are as commonplace on eBay as Pontiac Fiero-based fake Ferraris and Porsche 356 Speedster replicas. So what makes this example so special? Well for one it’s a convertible, and a real one at that, with a canvas roof that’s sure to sag and then collapse from the weight of the water on it when it rains.
It also has a bar made out of the same polished wood as the cheapest of community centre pianos and burgundy leather L-shaped bench seat. It also has burgundy and silver paintwork and a wide body kit, which is sure to make you stand out from the crowd.
The new 2012 Beetle isn’t scheduled to arrive in U.S. dealerships before the beginning of September, but Volkswagen is attempting to draw attention to its new Vehicle Pre-Order (VPO) program with the launch of a limited run version of the latest Bug called the Black Turbo Edition.
As the name suggests, the first 2012 Beetle available for pre-order is based on the 2.0L TSI model fitted with a turbocharged four-cylinder gasoline engine pumping out 200-horsepower and 207 lb-ft. of torque, coupled to a standard dual-clutch automatic transmission.
We have no doubt that this year belongs to the new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle when it comes to tuning mainstream cars. Just wait and see once the first production models begin arriving in the market this fall. For those of you that can’t linger until September, here’s a first example of a tuned 2012 Beetle.
The 2012 Beetle RS Stage 1 is the creation of the Volkswagen-loving crew at VWvortex who were given a pre-production model by the German firm to work on. Since the vehicle came with no registration and license plates, the team decided to skip on the engine modes for now and concentrate on the styling aspect of the tune, which as you may have already guessed by now, was inspired by the Porsche 911 GT3RS.
We just got our hands on the official pricing list for the all-new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle. US customers can bring home the latest iteration of the retro-penned “people’s car” for as little as $18,995 which increases to $19,765 (about €13,540) if you add VW’s $770 destination charge, for the base model fitted with the 170HP 2.5-liter five-cylinder engine. When linked to a five-speed manual gearbox, the 2.5L returns an estimated 22 mpg city and 31 mpg highway, while the optional six-speed automatic offers EPA fuel economy ratings of 22 mpg city and 29 mpg highway.
Standard features on the 2.5L model include a split folding rear seat, aux-in for portable audio players, a leather steering wheel, 17-inch alloys, and an eight-speaker audio system.
For those seeking more power, VW offers the 2.0L TSI Beetle with 200-horses and 207 lb-ft of peak torque, which is priced from $23,395 or $24,165 (around €16,550) if you include destination charges. It is offered with a standard six-speed manual or an optional DSG dual-clutch automatic transmission, with the latter delivering offers an EPA fuel economy rating of 30 mpg on the highway and 22 mpg city.
The soon-to-be-replaced VW New Beetle Convertible has caught the attention of Bavarian foil specialist Car Film Components (CFC), which has revealed a rather artsy-looking tuning proposal. The highlight of the tune is of course the exterior with certain parts of the body including the doors, side panels, hood and bonnet covered in a velvet black wrap while the front and rear bumpers, the wheel arches and the rocker panels are draped in a sticker like motif. The pice for materials and labor is €2,200 or about US$3,140. Read more »
And no, despite what you may have heard or read, the Audi TT ain’t the most popular car among hairdressers – or at least not in Britain. According to a new study made available today by UK women's car insurance specialist Diamond, that title goes to…*drums please*…the one and only, MINI One hatchback. In fact, the BMW Group’s MINI brand had two vehicles in the top five positions.
The UK insurance firm came to this conclusion after looking at data from over 18,000 hairdressers in Britain. The company said the MINI One is three and a half times more likely to be driven by someone working as a hairdresser than everyone else.
To be completely frank, what caught our attention in Volkswagen’s latest press release (and probably yours in this post) on the new pilot car-sharing program called Quicar, wasn’t the news itself but the special livery of the 2012 Beetle shown in the promotional set of photos. Nevertheless, since we already told you the headline here’s the rest of the story on Volkswagen’s new car sharing concept that will take place in the German city of Hanover (or Hannover). Read more »
Last November, Oprah Winfrey gave us our first tease of the spanking new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle during one of her daily shows by revealing the car’s silhouette. Now, being that the show reaches millions of American viewers, and as everybody knows, Oprah has that special Midas touch when it comes to promoting products; Volkswagen had no problem to donate a brand new 2012 Beetle to each of the 275 audience members.
Fast forward to today, the German have already unwrapped the third generation Beetle at the 2011 New York and Shanghai motor shows in April, so it’s time for Volkswagen to create some buzz around the car with the release of a video showing Oprah handing the keys to one of the lucky audience members. You can watch it right after the jump.
In what could be one of the first public sightings of the brand new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle outside of a motor show, Youtube user JWalters84 passed by and filmed his short encounter with the car on a road in Laredo, Texas. What was it doing there? Well, who knows, but it's safe to assume that it’s probably a pre-production model used either by dealers or by VW Group employees since sales of the third generation of the Beetle in the USA will not start until September. Read more »
We reported on the unveiling of the all-new 2012 Beetle yesterday, but since then we got our hands on a slew of fresh photos shot during the presentation of the car in Shanghai, as well as in Manhattan, New York, and Berlin in Germany.
For the most part, the first reviews on the ‘less flower, more power’ styling direction of the New Beetle’s replacement in general do appear to be on the positive side, but for Volkswagen, this needs to translate into consumer spending when the car goes on sale this fall.
Dreaming of a new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle? Well, if you live in Europe or North America, you’ll have to wait until this October and September respectively to grab one, but for those of you in a hurry to see what your 2012 Beetle could look like, VW’s configurator is available for everyone to play with on the firm’s German website. Unfortunately though, at the time, the options are limited to a choice of exterior colors and alloy wheel designs.
In addition to the news on the configurator, we’ve also found a fresh batch of photos of the latest generation of the Beetle, which you can ogle on in the gallery after the break. For more details on VW’s newcomer, check out our previous post here.
Ladies and gents, say hello to the all-new, third generation Volkswagen Beetle that was unwrapped today ahead of its world premiere at the 2011 Shanghai Auto Show and New York Auto Show. The newest interpretation of the Bug comes 73 years after the launch of the original Beetle in 1938, which sold an amazing 21.5 million units, and 13 years after the debut of the New Beetle in 1998 that managed to sell a little over 1 million units until production ended in 2010.
When it goes on sale in North America and Europe in the fall of 2011, and the rest of the world from early 2012, the latest model will be known simply as the ‘Beetle’ as Volkswagen dropped the ‘New’ from the car’s name.
If someone asked us to summarize the qualities of the 2012 Beetle in a few words, it would be: larger, more mature and unisex. Starting with the design, VW’s goal was to make the 21st century Beetle appeal to both genders. As a result, the VW Group’s chief designer Walter de Silva and his team offered the Beetle a meaner and lower-slung look that draws on cues from the Beetle Ragster concept shown in Detroit in 2005. The overall styling is far less bulbous and more chiseled compared to the New Beetle, while keeping the retro feel of the series.
If Geo had asked Isuzu to design them a car that would appeal to California’s surfer crowd in the mid-1990s, chances are it’d look a lot like the Thunder Ranch Riot. A fibreglass bodied, Volkswagen Beetle-based turnkey kit car, the Riot looks like a Geo Storm that’s been cut, shut and had Dodge Viper parts tacked on to its exterior. And it can be all yours for the low, low price of US$12,000.
When I was in high school, my teacher had the front half of a mid-‘80s Mitsubishi Sigma (sold stateside as the Gallant) that he used for teaching students car maintenance. It was blocked off behind the front seats with wooden slats and had two castor wheels at the back so it could easily be moved around.
All well and good, but what use would be the other, engine-less half? I mean, it’d just be a steel shell with a generous (if not altogether compact) lockable storage area. This is the question posed by this rather interesting automotive oddity: a 1972 Volkswagen Beetle “Front End Display”.
Volkswagen is offering us a 10-second glimpse of its new 'Black Beetle' TV commercial that will air during the Super Bowl football game next Sunday, February 6, 2011. The is the first television spot for the next generation of the Volkswagen Beetle, which is scheduled for launch in May, 2011. However, the 'Black Beetle' commercial won't reveal the car itself as it is centered on a beetle (as in the insect) that runs around the forest outperforming all the other creatures. Follow the jump to watch the teaser spot.
One of the most memorable movies quotes of all time is from the 1994 comedy-drama Forrest Gump, in which Tom Hanks’ character said: “Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get”. Fast-forward to today, and eBay seems to be the proverbial box of chocolates with some truly sweet surprises, like this VW Beetle-based 1973 Air Force project car, named Talon.
According to plaques bolted to the dashboard and driver door, the fiberglass Talon was built by cadets at the United States Air Force Academy over a 5-month period, between January and June 1973. Other than that, there’s no information about the purpose of this car and the seller got nowhere after an investigation of his own. He claims to have called an aviation museum, researched the names of the cadets on Facebook and posted pictures on multiple Volkswagen websites, but to no avail.
The Talon was once motivated by a variant of the Beetle’s flat-four gasoline engine (the owner doesn’t know which one exactly), mated to a manual gearbox. Currently, the powerplant doesn’t run and, judging by the pictures, the chassis is also in a pretty poor condition. Luckily, the fiberglass body aged well and the potential buyer will surely find enough Beetle parts to be able to restore this oddball creation.
The current bid at eBay stands at just US $1,300, making the Talon an offer worth considering. We know it’s a long-shot, but if anyone can offer us some information on this seemingly one-off project car, we would be much obliged.
Joining an increasing number of advertisers, Volkswagen plans to air two never before seen TV spots during the 2nd and 4th quarters of Super Bowl XLV on February 6. The 30-seconds ads will showcase two models, the all-new 2012 Passat sedan that we first saw in Detroit earlier this month, and the so-called 21st Century Beetle.
The German company has teamed with Lucasfilms for the 2012 Passat spot, which will feature a pint-sized Darth Vader making use of the Force when he discovers the family saloon in the driveway.
The commercial for the next generation of the Beetle won't actually show the car but it will supposedly tease its silhouette while showing a beetle scurrying through the ground like a car outperforming all the other creatures. "The ad is an homage to some of the greatest car chase scenes in the history of film and TV," said VW of America in a statement.The next Beetle is scheduled to get its official debut in May.
“Both spots show the creativity and innovation that people expect from an iconic brand like Volkswagen,” added Mike Sheldon, CEO, Deutsch LA, Volkswagen’s Agency of Record. “The Super Bowl is unlike any other media platform in the world in terms of its reach and cultural influence. It is tailor-made for big announcements and is the perfect way for VW to engage the American public.”
New Jersey’s Route 22 Limousines is selling this 1999 Volkswagen Beetle limousine. The six passenger vehicle was built in 2001 and is finished with a white exterior and grey leather interior with TV, minibar, mirrored roof and custom lighting. Imagine the look on the face of Daddy’s Little Princess when you bring this home to take her to the Senior Prom...
And imagine the look on the face of Daddy’s Little Princess’s mother when you try to explain the US$45,000 price tag. Sure, it may seem a little steep at first, though presumably Route 22 spent a fair amount of money lengthening and customizing this...uh...“unique” vehicle.
It occurs to me though, adding all that additional weight to a New Beetle is going to seriously impede the performance of its 2.0 L engine, especially when mated to the standard 4spd automatic transmission. You know what I mean: 0 to 60 mph (0 to 100 km/h) in four hours and a minimum turning circle of a mile (1.6 km). I hope Route 22 upgraded the brakes, at least, or the new owner is going to be in for some fun times on wet roads.
Though I suppose, unless you’re carrying the President of the United States, a limousine doesn’t really have to be fast or nimble: it just has to be big, comfy and have a well stocked minibar. I won’t bother asking what you readers think of this thing; unless you’re a bride-to-be or a prom attendee you’ll probably think this thing is daft as it looks. I could be wrong though...
The noted VW Group tuner said it is still working on the performance upgrades for the latest Beetle, which won’t arrive in customer hands until September, but it can give us an idea of what to expect based on its current offerings. 
