If the design evokes too little of the original, VW risks alienating those with the deepest affection for the underdog. Yet if it fails to break ground in its look or in its technology and performance, the next Beetle will be dismissed as a relic.
PHOTO: Gallery - The 2012 Beetle
PHOTO: Gallery - VW Beetle through the years
“It’s very tricky doing an update. You can only stray so far without losing the ‘magic sauce,’” says Tom Janiszewski, vice president of the Volkswagen Club of America and one of those eagerly awaiting the unveiling.
The new design is the latest incarnation of the car that put VW on the automotive map in the U.S. The Beetle reigned as a humble hero, a favorite of hippies and frugal workers alike. The pioneering economy car kicked sand in the face of Detroit’s Big 3 for 30 years until U.S. sales ended in 1979.
The version that just ended production, called the New Beetle, was a sensation when first shown as a concept in 1994. It kicked off a nostalgia craze that spawned BMW’s Mini and others.
But strolls down Memory Lane only go so far — at least in auto design — and Volkswagen set out to find a new direction for the Beetle.
Volkswagen has kept the new design closely under wraps. It hinted at the look by releasing an outline of the car that shows a longer hood and a flatter roof, a more traditional look than the current model. That’s been validated by some photos of test cars that have slipped out.
It’s no surprise that the first teaser reveal of the 2012 car’s profile was on the female-centric The Oprah Winfrey Show. The current Beetle has the highest percentage of female buyers — about two-thirds — of any model sold in the U.S., says research site TrueCar.com. But making the design a little less “cute” might broaden its audience.
A million sales within seven years
VW needs a hit. The world’s third-biggest car company stunned the industry last year by setting a goal of becoming No. 1 — leapfrogging Toyota and General Motors — by 2018.
To get there, Volkswagen and its companion luxury brand, Audi, set a target of together selling a million vehicles in the U.S. within seven years. That’s almost triple the 360,179 cars that Volkswagen Group of America collectively sold last year, according to Autodata. While that was a big 20.1% gain from the year before, it’s still a long way from where the brands will need to be.
Volkswagen
VW says that the shape and use of color in the dashboards harkens back to the first Beetle.“It’s going to take some luck,” says Dave Cole, chairman emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. The marketplace has become so crowded with new brands and choices that it’s harder for anyone to stand out.
Plus, VW still must fix a reputation for uneven quality. VW, not including Audi, ranked 31 out of 33 brands in the most recent, closely watched Initial Quality Study by J.D. Power and Associates. Only Land Rover and Mitsubishi were worse.
Complicating matters, VW is rolling out several new models in a short span. In January, it unveiled a new 2012 version of its Passat midsize car.
And an all-new version of its volume Jetta compact rolled out for 2011 to mixed reviews. Influential Consumer Reports recently branded it as inferior to the model it replaced, a “shadow of the agile, well-finished car it had been.”
Likewise, though it has yet to be driven, some critics have reservations about the new Passat.
In both cases, the cars are being criticized as less luxe and less stylish than previous versions. But to help achieve its sales goal, VW has set about reducing the traditionally higher prices of its most popular cars to be more competitive with rivals.
he new Passat, for instance, is targeted to start at about $20,000, about $8,000 less than the outgoing version, even though the new one will be bigger. VW is trying to cut costs to reduce prices, a move that critics say cheapens the cars. Passat is to be built at a new factory in Chattanooga, Tenn., which also will help control costs. The new Beetle, however, will have an edge that other VWs lack: the tug of heartstrings. The Beetle was designed to evoke emotion, both through its standout design and its history.
The outgoing model, for instance, had a signature “bud vase” mounted to the dashboard, a quaint feature revived from the original bug. Flower power, remember?
‘A very different feel’
The Beetle “does show the playful side of the brand,” says Rebecca Lindland, auto analyst for IHS Global Insight. “You smile when you see it.”
The bug stands in contrast to other German cars, which are usually intended as serious business. “They are driving machines,” she says. The Beetle “is a beach machine … a fun weekend car. It’s a very different feel.”
Volkswagen sold about 5 million original Beetles in the U.S. from 1949 to 1979, making incremental improvements along the way.
When the New Beetle went on sale two decades later, it was a hit right from the start. About 83,000 were sold in 1999, the first year, although sales tapered off in succeeding years.
Volkswagen executives introduced it as “optimism on wheels” and created a plucky ad campaign that poked gentle fun at the earlier Beetle’s modest engine power. “Less flower. More power,” read one print ad. “0-60? Yes,” read another.
Beetle’s debut as a concept sparked a wave of nostalgia cruisers. Chrysler had the PT Cruiser and the Prowler. The revived Mini became movie character Austin Powers’ favorite shag wagon.
Not all succeeded, exposing the complications of trying to cash in on nostalgia. Ford never captured many hearts with its new Thunderbird, a throwback to the 1950s. Likewise, Chevrolet’s SSR, a compact paean to the classic ancestor of the Suburban, faded fast.
The 1990s Beetle’s secret was its simplicity of design, the profile of three arches, that captured the essence of the original.
“It’s so distinctive and recognizable, you don’t even need a name or a badge to know what a Beetle is. You can see it from a mile away,” says John Heitmann, an automotive historian and history professor at the University of Dayton in Ohio.
Surviving the test of time
As he awaits a peek at the latest Beetle, one of the designers of the outgoing New Beetle remains impressed that the look stayed fresh for so long.
“It has not only survived the test of time, but the madly mercurial mood of the customer,” says J Mays, now Ford Motor’s global design chief. “It’s kind of done its job.”
There are some designs that are so ingrained in customers’ brains that you can’t let go of them. The goal is to keep them forward-looking, incorporating the essence of the original but not losing sight of the march of time.
Mays faces the same test now as he oversees successive generations of the Ford Mustang, which was revived as a long-running successful franchise after losing its way for a time. He’s now overseeing design of the 2014 Mustang, the pony car’s 50th-anniversary model. No pressure there.
It “is weighing pretty heavy on my shoulders, and I’m not about to screw that up,” he says.
The “tricky balancing act” of trying to update a classic requires taking a step back to keep the car’s heritage in perspective and the stomach to understand that a lot of the proposals for changes will end up being thrown away in order to please particular, but loyal, fans. “They are buying into a club,” he says about owners of cars that are part of a unique slice of history.
That’s literally the case with Janiszewski, whose participation in the Volkswagen Club of America involves owning six VWs from various eras. Two are Beetles: a 1965 model and a 1999 model, which remains in regular service despite having 291,000 miles on the odometer.
The product manager from Woodstock, Ill., says affection for Volkswagens is driving something that’s truly different. “There’s no mistaking the Beetle shape.”
Janiszewski says he is thrilled that VW plans to keep the Beetle alive after jitters that it might be dropped. Now he’s hoping the new model will come in a “value model” priced around $15,000, a diesel-powered version, may be a convertible.
It wouldn’t hurt if the next Beetle might have design elements considered a little more manly, especially because he doesn’t use his bud vase for much more than dropping in a writing pen now and then.
But in his mind, there’s no mistaking the role of the Beetle: “The original Beetle is what built the company. Americans refuse to forget the Beetle.”