Just over a month after releasing images of the Beetle Cabriolet over the internet, Volkswagen has finally unveiled its iconic car in its world premiere at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
Of course, the main difference of the Cabriolet to the standard Beetle is its soft-top which can be retracted completely in just 9.5 seconds. This can even be done while the car is moving up to a speed of 50km/h. It takes a little longer the other way round, needing 11 seconds to raise completely as extra time is needed to latch the roof onto the windscreen frame.
The Beetle Cabriolet will be available with a host of engine options just like the standard Beetle. Varying engine and transmission combinations are slotted for the American and European market but so far, the top of the range variant would be the 2.0-litre 197 bhp TSI engine which gets the car moving to 100km/h in just 6.9 seconds. TDI variants are also available as VW aims to market the Beetle Cabriolet as ome of the most fuel-efficient convertibles in the market.
The hard-top Beetle has only just arrived in Malaysia fairly recently in 1.2 TSI and 2.0 TSI formats. Will there be a market for the topless variant in our tropical country? We’ll leave that to Volkswagen Group Malaysia to decide.
