Preview: 2012 Volkswagen Beetle

Posted Thu Jun 19 2008 12:29 PM by Viknesh Vijayenthiran

Volkswagen’s new Beetle has been on the market now for just on ten years and has enjoyed relatively strong sales despite the lack of significant changes during its life. More than one million new Beetles have been built at VW’s Puebla plant in Mexico and it looks like developers have even more ambitious plans for the next-gen model, which is expected to arrive sometime in 2011 for the 2012 model year.

VW CEO Martin Winterkorn has confirmed that a successor is being developed and would likely be manufactured once again in Mexico, although he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of it being built elsewhere. AutoTelegraaf is now reporting that VW is considering several different designs for the new Beetle, as well as the possibility of different bodystyles including a new Spider drop-top in addition to a regular convertible.

These renderings give us a hint as to what the new Beetle will look like, showing that designers will likely adopt influences from the recently revealed up! series of concept cars as well as the iconic Beetle shape. There’s also talk of an off-road version or ‘Cross’ edition as previewed by 2000’s Dune Beetle concept, although the chances of this latter version are slim.

Not much is known about the next Beetle except that it will share a platform with the soon to be superseded Mark V Golf and will be slightly larger than the current car. Final styling will be handled by a Californian team but engineering work will be completed in Germany.

Gallery: 2012 Volkswagen Beetle renderings

Reader Comments

Thu Jun 19 2008 3:53 PM
Gus says

What are those comments about (above)? Wierd.

Anyway, just saw an old one driven by a young guy. He looked so emberassed, maybe it was a punishment from his family for doing something wrong:
"Ok, we know you need a car, but since you can't seem to get good grades, you have to drive the Beetle rather than the Civic".
Come to think of it, might not be a bad idea, it would cut down on the unneeded drives he takes... :)
Thu Jun 19 2008 7:52 PM
Tom Mills says

The new bumper design looks horrible on the Beetle. The Beetle is an iconic design and should be treated like a Porsche, with only subtle changes over the years.
Thu Jun 19 2008 10:48 PM
NoNameDenton says

They need to bring back the turbo model.
Fri Jun 20 2008 3:38 AM
S.H. says

A combination of Porsche (front lights) and Bentley (Rear lights)...
Sun Jun 22 2008 7:55 PM
NaBUru38 says

Golf, Scirocco, Beette, Eos... too many C-segment cars for Volkswagen.

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