beetle


REPORT: Next New Beetle will have bigger back seat

The "New Beetle" was a smash hit when it debuted in 1998, and the cutesy little Bug immediately jumped to sales of 83,434 the next year. Over the next 10 years, however, Volkswagen left the spiritual successor to the original Beetle out to dry, and sales have steadily dropped down to near nothingness. AutoWeek is reporting that Stefan Jacoby, President and CEO of VW of America, confirmed at a press event in Germany that a long overdue redesign of the New Beetle is coming in 2012, and packaging will be vastly improved. The current back ... Read more →

New VW Beetle coming in two years, Scirocco still not in cards for U.S. Sam Abuelsamid

We're in Wolfsburg, Germany right now for the launch drive of the 2010 Volkswagen Golf and we've just returned from a presentation at the company's design center with Walter de Silva. We'll have ...

Ferdinand Porsche or an unknown Jew? New book documents the father of the Volkswagen Beetle Noah Joseph

We all know the story of the Volkswagen Beetle: In his vision to motorize Germany, Adolf Hitler wanted a "People's Car" of sound design and quality to transport the subjects of his Third Reich around ...

eBay Find of the Day is just in time for Easter Jonathon Ramsey

The Volo Classic Car Museum in Illinois has this pink treat from the movie Uncle Buck for sale. The Funny Bunny is a Volkswagen Bug that was turned into a mouse that, according to the Volo, has ...

eBay Find of the Day: the VolksAru Dan Roth

While sharing our nightmares around the Autoblog virtual water cooler, we've discovered that it's common for interweb auto scribes to wake with a start in the middle of the night, cold sweat ...

Build your own 1960 Beetle - with Legos 1 year ago on Autoblog

There's likely to be no shortage of VW Beetle owners who can relate to this new kit from Lego. It's a box with 1,626 parts in it that one day, after hours of work, will resemble a classic Bug. Three differences: This box of bits will only cost you $120 and a successful build is probably not above ...

What the...? Volkswagen considering Beetle-based pickup? 1 year ago on Autoblog

Of all the wild-ass rumors we hear on a weekly daily hourly basis, this one has that special air of cow manure. According to Automotive News, Volkswagen is considering a pickup truck for the U.S. based off the second generation Beetle, which is due out around the turn of the decade. The rationale ...

2010 VW Beetle to be 'more mature' 1 year ago on Autoblog

When it was first unveiled, the Volkswagen New Beetle's only mission in life was to emulate and modernize the look of the classic air-cooled Bug that was so popular in America during the '60s and '70s. The New Beetle's first restyling was so minor that you'd be forgiven for not even knowing it had ...

New VW Beetle could be North America's up! variant? 1 year ago on Autoblog

The VW Beetle is a cult favorite here in the States, but in Germany, it's not so well loved. That could be part of the reason why Volkswagen has been slow to produce a successor to the new Beetle, but word from Motor Trend is that two models could be coming shortly. The first Beetle will be based ...

Volkswagen up! More details revealed 1 year ago on Autoblog

Click above for high-res gallery of the Volkswagen up! Volkswagen's adorable little up! has the ambitious goal of becoming the next original Beetle, and new info on Auto Express seems to indicate that the Germans in Wolfsburg may be on to something. The up! will feature both gasoline and ...

VIDEO: When the boss won't settle for a Mustang or Camaro, what do you do? 1 year ago on Autoblog

Click above to view video after the jump We've all had one of those bosses that at some point you just can't satisfy no matter what you do. No matter how hard you try, he always make you feel like a fool. When one of Chris Bangle's "master works" won't do, an S2000 has less torque than a weed-eater ...

Volkswagen ist das Auto 1 year ago on Autoblog

When Volkswagen reintroduced the Rabbit to the U.S., it claimed that it was drawing on enthusiasts' emotional connection with the Rabbit name, and it wants to draw on even more of that pop culture history with its latest advertising and marketing campaign. VW is referring to its new campaign as "DAS ...

Golden Oldie: 18-karat Vee-Dub in Bucharest 1 year ago on Autoblog

This isn't exactly what the recording industry had in mind when The Beatles went gold for the first time. But then, who would have predicted back then that the Iron Curtain would fall and that Eastern Europe would grow into one of the world's largest markets for tasteless luxury items. This 1968 ...

Essen 2007: Phantoms inhabit VW 1 year ago on Autoblog

Artist William Burge has found a way to artfully reattach all of the little pieces that have fallen off his 1968 Volkswagen Beetle. The results are far more impressive than the Bug's original and once-ubiquitous countenance. Actually, we counted all 21,000 gigashards of metal, and that's more metal ...

Porrera: Beetle-based faux 911 2 years ago on Autoblog

I like Bugs. I like Porsches. Not together. Taking a historical bent, you could draw a line from the Porsche 911 back to the Volkswagen Beetle without it having too many kinks and corners in it. The flip side of that relationship is that while there are some similarities in the broad-strokes sense, ...

VIDEO: To kill a Beetle bug: Hippie VW gets shredded 2 years ago on Autoblog

When people have a love of YouTube and a lot of free time on their hands, some pretty crazy things can happen. Someone with a spare first-generation VW Beetle and a car shredder decided to be creative in dismantling their hippie heirloom, so they slapped together a faux-comedy. The action saves ...

Frankfurt Motor Show rumors: VW unveiling ultra-cheap ride 2 years ago on Autoblog

Due to its unique shape and low cost, the VW Beetle is perhaps the most recognizable vehicle ever to grace international roads. Since the original Bug faded away into history, the folks in Wolfsburg seem to have gotten away from budget wheels in favor of high-quality, but pricey, offerings. That's ...

eBay find of the day: HPA Motorsports' 400 HP New Beetle 2 years ago on Autoblog

Cars with 400hp are a lot more common than they were only a few years ago, but a VW Beetle with that kind of grunt doesn't come along every day. For the "buy it now" price of $29,900 you can get behind the wheel of this HPA Motorsports of Canada-built hot hatch with all the bells and whistles. The ...

SCM counts down Top 10 eBay Motors auctions that shouldn't have happened 2 years ago on Autoblog

You see it all the time on eBay; resolute bidders refusing to pull out, even though they've driven the price up far beyond reason. Harder to find these days are the mythical screaming deals of yesteryear - things that go stupid-cheap to a shrewd buyer with an evil chuckle. Sports Car Market has ...

VW + LG = MP3 2 years ago on Autoblog

You might say that, in terms of broad market appeal, the iPod is the VW of personal electronics. If that's the case, then what happens when Volkswagen comes out with a digital media player of its own? The German automaker has teamed up with LG to produce a special MP3 player designed and branded as ...

Old Bug charm: limited edition New Beetle Triple White arrives 2 years ago on Autoblog

click above image to view addition high-res pics of the VW New Beetle Triple White For those of you who really want to relive the past, VW is releasing a 1970's retro edition of it's already retro New Beetle. Beginning this week, only 3,000 Triple White New Beetles will be released into the wild, ...

Bespoke Beetle: Rometsch 2 years ago on Autoblog

Through the years there have been many companies that capitalized on the construction of the air-cooled Volkswagens to create unique automobiles. Some of the more well-known examples are the Meyers Manx and the Bradley GT. You Hardcastle and McCormick fans, don't worry, we had childhood lust for ...

Speculative sketchiness: The new New Beetle? 2 years ago on Autoblog

When Volkswagen unveiled the New Beetle in 1998, the buzz was considerable. A smitten public got on waiting lists to acquire the early Bugs, and the cars attracted attention wherever they went. It's now 2007, and over the intervening years, the car's retro styling has gotten a bit stale. German buff ...

VW drops prices on three models 2 years ago on Autoblog

When Volkswagen originally began production, the idea behind it was simple: provide people reliable, inexpensive transportation. Oh, how far we've strayed, eh? Well, Volkswagen has decided to get back to that core principle of affordability after a brief foray into upmarket motoring (ahem, ...

GALLERY: VW's Fahrenheit models are hotter than we thought 3 years ago on Autoblog

Photo gallery here VW has released a new photo set that shows its new US special edition models -- Fahrenheit, Wolfsburg, and Triple White -- in greater detail, and we're able to learn a few more things as a result. First of all, the Triple White Beetle Convertible does not have a white top, which ...

Jada Toys' I-Playaz VW Beetle iPod speaker 3 years ago on Autoblog

Brother blog Engadget just tipped us off to something they thought we might like just as much as they did. It's a new iPod speaker system from Jada Toys. Not that the world needed another iPod speaker system, but this one is a whole lot of fun. This one, in fact, comes in the funky shape of a ...

We knew VW Bugs were air-cooled, but this is ridiculous... 3 years ago on Autoblog

The last time I saw wire construction like this, it was on a set of old patio furniture my grandmother had. This is considerably more impressive. Found on the Hemmings Blog, the details are... well... there are no details, but you know the phrase: a picture's worth a thousand words. This wiry ...

2008 VW Jetta TDI spotted in the US! 3 years ago on Autoblog

We feel bad for Volkswagen. It deserves credit for quietly selling diesel-powered vehicles in the U.S. and for decades offering customers the benefits of an extra long range and ample torque. Finally the feds wise up and regulate high-polluting sulfur right out of our diesel fuel, and in the ...

Sixty years of Volkswagen's Beetle 3 years ago on Autoblog

The Volkswagen Company turned sixty years old last week. In July 1946, German dealerships Gottfried Schultz in Essen and Raffay & Co. in Hamburg, Germany received their first Beetle sedans (saloons). The Beetle's history reaches as far back as the 1930s. However, the first one built under the ...

Volkswagen hoping buyers stick around for New Beetle styling gimmick 3 years ago on Autoblog

In an effort to keep British consumers interested in the New Beetle, Volkswagen has unveiled a line of vinyl graphics dubbed 'Beetle Art' to offer buyers another way to personalize their Bugs. VW is initially offering four designs of the decals, dubbed 'Mud Splats,' 'Taking Flight,' 'It's All ...

VIDEO: Jet-powered VW New Beetle 3 years ago on Autoblog

Astute readers of Autoblog will no doubt remember pics of the jet-powered Volkswagen New Beetle we posted a while back. Owner Ron Patrick was recently interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle and fired up the fire-breathing Beetle on camera. While Patrick admits the car was built more for show ...






Autoblog Podcast #151: With Car and Driver's Eddie Alterman

Eddie Alterman wades in with Sam, Chris, Dan, and Jonny to talk about SEMA and other recent events.

 
 

Featured Galleries

  • SEMA 2009: HPP Daytona Challenger
  • LA Design Challenge 2009 Competitors
  • SEMA 2009: 1962 Chevrolet Corvette C1-RS
  • SEMA 2009: Bigfoot
  • SEMA 2009: Black Bison Toyota Alphard
  • Ford's Inflatable Seat Belts
  • 2011 Porsche Boxster Spyder
  • Shelby Turbocharged Mustang
  • Jetta TDI Cup Street Edition
  • SEMA 2009: Ringbrothers 1964 Ford Fairlane
  • SEMA 2009: Lexus F-Sport
  • SEMA 2009: Hennessey HPE700 Camaro
AOL Autos

Find Your Next Car

Resources

10 Most Searched Cars on AOL Autos

Autoblog Video

Autoblog Green

Daily Finance

Download Squad

Engadget

Joystiq

Autoblog Spanish

Switched.com

FanHouse

Asylum