My father once had a VW Beetle, as did much of America. He loved the car for its reliability, and hated just about everything else about it. Believe it or not, they were still making old style Beetles in Mexico up until 2003. When they finally shut down the last assembly lines, over 21 million of the little buggers had been built. That’s just how popular “the People’s Car” was across the world. VW, of course, has the New Beetle now and, well… meh. It seems popular with high school students and secretaries, and not much else. The coolest New Beetle I have ever seen had a rocket attached to it.
But the New Beetle is getting old, and a replacement is due soon. Volkswagen has its sights set clearly on MINI, and the new New Beetle could get both a turbodiesel and a hybrid drivetrain to lure customers looking for more fuel efficiency.