Beetle Lovers, Christmas is just around the corner! Aside from swapping VW parts with each other, have you any idea what else to give a Beetle lover this season? Well, the usual Herbie DVDs are probably old news…some cute Beetle accessories will probably do, but then they are quite hard to find nowadays. Accessories will work for the New Beetle, but for the Classic Type 1, you will have to scout more than the typical shops to find good stuff. Vintage Volkswagen shirts will do too, especially when it bears a timeless illustration of the Beetle. But then, there is also that cutesy Beetle Levitron.

The Levitron is a very interesting piece. This invention is genius as it draws both fancy and curiosity among the people. Now, the Levitron also comes with a Beetle. Although it may not be geared up with real VW parts, the Beetle Levitron is still a screaming gift for Beetle lovers out there. Just imagine the look on their face once they see this cutesy piece. They will show a huge grin of course, and then probably wonder, if they should put the Levitron on their office desk, or on their Beetle dashboard. Either way, the Levitron says that they are real Beetle lovers, so this is really a perfect gift for this season.

We have seen our beloved Beetle take on different forms. It is pretty easy to dress up the Love Bug as we have all seen the many roles that it has played. Its VW parts are pretty easy to tweak to make a whole new thing from it, but we love it even in its plain and usual self. From cartoon characters, animals, to super cars—the Beetle has been it all. While many people appreciate the Beetle in its inherent image and quality VW parts, many still find the bug as a piece of blank canvass, waiting to be painted on.

This is probably what William Burge thought. This Texan artist morphed a 1968 Volkswagen Beetle into his very own “art car”. The picture above is Burge, sitting proudly behind the wheels of his Beetle art car. Onlookers perhaps will not immediately get Burge’s idea, compared to a Beetle that is turned into a Pokemon. But his artistic views greatly fused with the contours of the Beetle, and that is reason enough to showcase this art car at the Essen Motor Show in Germany next month.

Source: BBC.com 

The makers of the high-quality VW parts announced that there will be a notable change in how they will be making their future cars. According to the company, they will be developing four new architectures which shall be made available to all the marques of the company’s portfolio. This echoes the company’s aims to cut expenses, increase in sales, and eventually overtake Toyota as the global leader in automaking.

This new mind set as a manufacturer allows the makers of the VW parts to build their cars faster (about a year off the times spent on development), while also reducing expenses by at least 25 and 40 percent. The target for the group sales is to reach 10 million by 2018 from the 5.7 million it earned since 2006. Six million units will be taken care of by the company’s transverse-engine architecture or MQB, for both their small-lower-medium and upper-medium models.

According to a company spokesman, MQB is geared for a broad application, from small cars up to their upper-medium. In fact, they were pretty confident in saying that their first model can be expected already come 2010. The company was not too keen on specifying the number of models that are to be based on the MQB architecture. However, other sources said that MQB will serve as a replacement for at least 20 small, lower-medium and upper-medium models. They will also be creating some addition to the old family line-up like: Polo, Golf, Jetta, Beetle, Touran, Caddy, Eos and Passat; Audi’s A3 and TT; Skoda’s Fabia, Roomster, Octavia and Superb; and Seat’s Ibiza, Cordoba, Leon, Altea and Toledo.

A second plan of architecture is in the works too, and it is dubbed as the MHB. This plan encompasses Volkswagen’s new fleet of rear-engine in the company’s minicar range. Witnessing their roster of the Up! concept vehicles is said to be like a preview for their upcoming new models.

Source: Cartoday.com

News from the Baja Race? We have it. The most recent is how an Alaskan team was able to reach 147 miles…until their their clutch dulled.

Patric, Kolt, and Kash Bell were three Alaskan brothers who participated at the 40^th Tecate Score Baja 1,000. Around 32 years ago, it was their father who went out with the VW parts of a stock Volkswagen Beetle, wanting to win as well and bring pride in their hometown. While the trio did not make it through the entire race, they were very grateful to their supporters and were even eager to share their experiences through the race. “This was a crazy experience,” Kash Bell commented in an article.

This event is expected to be aired by late December. The Alaskan trio, however, is preparing for their next race: The Baja’s Desert Series. Will they trust the same VW parts? This we shall see.

Who would have thought that a Beetle could feed a Porsche with dust?

Certainly not the driver. In an E.T. which was held in Santa Pod, many people were shocked to witness a 42-year-old Beetle complete with VW parts, as it went in 10.88 seconds at 128 mph. The Beetle swiftly delivered this E.T. result, completing one fourth of the mile in Santa Pod, where the E.T. was being held.

Its golden body paint is probably made for the win. But the highlight of this win became more controversial since the Beetle raised its VW parts to glory as it trashed a Porsche 997 Carrera S! Imagine that, it may sound like a movie plot about good guys winning over the flamboyant mean ones, but only this time, it happened for real! Proud as he was for this win, owner Martin Greaves could not believe it himself.

“I am delighted. After achieving the 10.88 seconds in the morning, I told the owner of the Porsche that he should race me. I said I thought it would be close, but that he was going to win because my car’s only a Beetle!” Greaves said in an interview by Carpages UK. The showdown began and ended when the Beetle cut through the track with an E.T. of 11.04 seconds with a terminal speed of 129.77 mph, leaving the porsche’s 13.18 seconds in E.T., and a terminal speed of 113.03 mph.

The Beetle is tricked out with a 2276cc engine which is geared with a 650cfm Holley and Turbo Dynamics. Turbo Dynamics became the fairy godmother for this enchanting win. They “modified and blueprinted” the Beetle’s TO4B turbo, helping it to achieve a spot in the magical 10-second bracket. With this, winning pilot Greaves only have good praises for his fairy godmothers. “Turbo Dynamics have been professional with friendly help,” he said in the Carpages UK article.

Amazingly, this testifies the real power that the People’s car has over those supercars.

Source: Carpages.com

In the remake version of Herbie, it was kind of cute to see the Love Bug all decked-out with a spoiler on its rear. Since Beetles have a unique, peculiar shape, it is not likely for people to spot a spoiler or other performance parts attached to it. But aside from performance parts, Beetle lovers must be keen when it comes to installing some Volkswagen bumpers. These VW parts act as the main safety device in case force is impacted onto the Beetle. Interestingly, while the Beetle’s engine is located in its rear, one still should not be complacent that nothing valuable will be destroyed in the Beetle’s front fascia.

Bumpers are VW parts that are basically geared towards protection. They aim to protect important car parts such as the grille, the headlights, and the engine bay and its contents. In a Beetle, the trunk is located in front. So its bumpers will be able to protect the contents of the trunk. Bumpers are not sturdy enough to protect the whole car—one must not expect the bumpers to protect the car’s passengers too. After all, bumpers are generally only a few inches thick so it really cannot act as a shield. But, despite that, it is still good to have a damper in case of external forces. The effect of the force which is impacted onto the car will not be grave when it reaches the car occupants. That is all because the bumpers caught the immediate force.

At the same time, bumpers are easy ways to add a little jazz to the Beetle. (They have to fit perfectly though.) So there it goes, install some Volkswagen bumpers today and the Beetle will be better-looking, and better-protected.

From the home of the VW parts, the biggest indoor soccer contest will be bearing the Volkswagen badge. The Volkswagen United Masters, a tournament that will be held in 35 towns and cities, will kick off in Germany next spring. About 35,000 players were said to participate in the said event. In line with this, Volkswagen will be producing special edition “United” cars such as the New Beetle, the Polo, Golf, Jetta, Touran, and the Sharan. A “United” logo will be seen on the side section of each car’s rear. The VW parts of these cars were not changed much, but there are tons of added helpful devices. For instance, the new “Surprise” design will be seen in the middle sections of the seats. Also, these cars come with sporty car accessories—a Nike football, sports bag, and a towel.

The United models are available now. They can be powered by either a diesel or a petrol engine, and the Golf and the Touran comes with a double-clutch gearbox. Price list includes 14,275 euros for the Polo, 18,525 euros for the Golf, 20,475 euros for the New Beetle, etc. Excited Volkswagen and soccer enthusiasts are up and ready to line up for the United cars. So if you want one, you better fly off to Germany now and avail of it.

Source: Autospectator

Here are some really cool Beetles from the 5^th China (Guangzhou) International Automobile Exhibition. These tricked-out VW parts are also in preparation for Beijing’s bit as the host country for the 2008 Olympics. These six pictures of the New Beetle are just a few of about 100 cars that were exhibited in the auto show. The show was said to be the last, “grand automobile exhibition in China” for the year of 2007. And what better way indeed to cap off the year with a big auto show like this.

Beetle lovers, auto lovers, or just interested citizens alike enjoyed the display of colorful and artful cars. These Beetles still carry the same trademark VW parts, but they have been decorated as if they are now wearing clothes made of authentic Chinese silk. (Let us look for the Cheongsam-donning Beetle.) The cars were all enhanced by over 400 local and international enterprises.

From a typically solid-colored Beetle, what we can see in these pictures is more than art—it also reflects Chinese culture. Some bear drawings of the Dragon, the Panda, or artful Chinese patterns. Nevertheless, they all bear Chinese elements. Not ironic at all even if the Beetle was originally crafted in Germany. After all, whatever country a Beetle might be, its versatility will reflect a country’s culture. And that, is one of the many reasons why a Beetle is still loved by all.

Source: China.org

Volkswagen is said to be cooking up plans for the next generation of the New Beetle, including a Roadster version which was said to be due by 2012. This good news erased all hypotheses that the makers of VW parts will kill the New Beetle’s production. This report is according to Germany’s auto-motor-sport magazine, but a Volkswagen spokesman described the magazine’s report as only a “speculation”. Hm… Could Volkswagen be bluffing, and keeping the project as a secret first?

According to the magazine, the Roadster version of the New Beetle will replace both the closed and the convertible models of the New Beetle. They even said that the German makers of VW parts were inspired by the concept of the two-seater “Ragster”, which is how they will go about the next-generation New Beetle. The Roadster was said to bear a 3.2-liter V6 engine which makes 206 horsepower. It comes with a brake system that uses the brake-regeneration technology to answer the issues on fuel economy. At the same time, Volkswagen was said to end the production of the Eos convertible.

This news is exciting, but then the excitement gets killed as Volkswagen continues to deny what the magazine reported. As for Beetle lovers out there, let us just keep our fingers crossed that this German magazine is telling the truth.

Source:  Earthtimes.com

Volkswagen of America CEO and President Stefan Jaocby has confirmed the sad news: There will be no Volkswagen Sirocco for North America. According to a report by Car and Driver, the American makers of VW parts already have the GTI and the R32 in place of the Sirocco. The Sirocco will be available for the European market by mid-2008.

Jacoby also said that they needed to focus on their company’s “core products”, such as the Rabbit, the Jetta, the Passat, and their latest addition, the Tiguan.

“The [2009 Scirocco] is lovely, but we can’t have everything,” Jacoby said in an interview by Car and Driver. At the same time, Jacoby truthfully announced the improvement of the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta Parts. He said that its launch will be moved later to late summer of 2008 because of some flaws in the emissions system. “We need to launch with proper emissions and quality,” Jacoby said in the same interview. Despite the delay, the American makers of the VW parts are still the first carmakers to offer diesel technology compliant with emissions regulations, Stateside. This will open the doors for future generations of Volkswagen’s diesel vehicles.

Source: Car and Driver