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Huh. I probably shouldn't be surprised. nossy Send a noteboard - 24/01/2012 12:27:48 PM
I actually think I like it. Sort of. Anyway, if I were to get a beetle, I'd want the original.

To Be Cute as a Bug Isn’t Enough Anymore
By PHIL PATTON

THE New Beetle is dead. Long live the all-new Beetle, as Volkswagen calls the successor, squeezing together the adjectives just as it has squashed down the roof.

The 2012 car abandons the iconic arched silhouette of its predecessor and in the process shifts its style and personality. The new model is six inches longer and 3.5 inches wider, making it more practical, Volkswagen says.

It is also more macho. “More power, less flower” is the slogan.

For Volkswagen managers, that means luring more men. No car had more female appeal than the New Beetle — according to VW, women accounted for nearly 70 percent of buyers.

At a press introduction last fall in the rolling hills of northern Virginia, Rainer Michel, vice president for product marketing and strategy at Volkswagen of America, said he aimed to get the male-female ratio to 50-50; in the first few months sales were running 43 percent men, 57 percent women.

The successor to the New Beetle begins at $20,565, and $24,165 for the Turbo, which looks tougher with larger 18-inch wheels and a rear spoiler. VW initially offered two engines: a base 2.5-liter 5-cylinder making 170 horsepower or a 2-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder rated at 200 horsepower.

A TDI version, with a 140-horsepower turbodiesel 4-cylinder, is to be introduced at the Chicago auto show next month and arrive at dealerships in late summer.

Like the New Beetle, the newest Beetles sold in this country are assembled in Puebla, Mexico.

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Huh. I probably shouldn't be surprised. - 24/01/2012 12:27:48 PM 713 Views
Punchbug! - 24/01/2012 12:32:38 PM 365 Views
... Did you mean "slugbug?" - 24/01/2012 03:31:37 PM 357 Views
Better be careful what you say now... - 24/01/2012 06:09:02 PM 374 Views
Mad props for correction of terminology! Slugbug! - 25/01/2012 10:40:33 PM 368 Views
Yankees are weird - 26/01/2012 08:03:54 AM 359 Views
I'm a military brat. *NM* - 26/01/2012 10:31:45 PM 144 Views
I'm sure the Führer, looking down from heaven, is weeping. - 24/01/2012 03:17:16 PM 373 Views
starting to look a little like a Porsche ain't it? - 24/01/2012 04:47:03 PM 365 Views
Yeah, one of the pictures is very Porschey. *NM* - 25/01/2012 10:41:13 PM 140 Views
Double post *NM* *NM* - 24/01/2012 04:49:57 PM 184 Views
Even worse, Triple post!! *NM* - 24/01/2012 04:50:08 PM 162 Views
hehe. *NM* - 24/01/2012 04:53:28 PM 138 Views

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