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This is the new Volkswagen Beetle, unveiled today at the Shanghai motor show. Yes, new.
The first thing you'll notice is the slightly hotch-potch styling. The third generation of the little bug gets a new face, blending VW's ubiquitous corporate front with the unmistakable grinning eyes of the Beetle on top. Rear three-quarters takes us back to the first-gen model, making it more car-like than its predecessor. And sportier too, apparently.
See more pictures of the new Beetle
Volkswagen says the exterior was designed by Marc Lichte, who also did the Scirocco, while underneath sits a Golf: new new Beetle pinches the Golf's platform and engines, right up to a 2.0-litre turbo with 200bhp, top speed 140mph. This frenetic top end in a car never initially designed to do such speed necessitates a self-raising rear spoiler, dontcha' know.
Once you've swallowed the looks, however, it's all top-notch VW inside. The dash combines every-VW-you've-seen together with an upwards-opening glove-box (remember that?) and a Panasonic/Fender hi-fi system. You can even option a triumvirate of gauges previously unheard of for a Beetle: oil temp, boost and stopwatch. Fancy that.
It'll hit UK shores in January 2012 with two engines; a 105bhp and 160bhp TSI (emitting 139g/km of CO2) petrol, while the 200bhp version will land later on next year.
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JakeMan commented on this article
at 01:15 pm on 18 April 2011
at least vw is finally able to make the beetle actually look like a car that doesn't look half bad
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mingachimp commented on this article
at 01:18 pm on 18 April 2011
LOOKS Very Nice and Origional Much Better than All the other Cars On sale that LOOK the SAME !!! SEcond ComEnt
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HCooper-Jones commented on this article
at 01:18 pm on 18 April 2011
Front lid looks bit weird and roof line goes down too steep but love the wheels.
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mingachimp commented on this article
at 01:19 pm on 18 April 2011
VW should develop this into a porsche copy just like the origional BUG
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mingachimp commented on this article
at 01:19 pm on 18 April 2011
VW should develop this into a porsche copy just like the origional BUG
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