The Bug is coming back.
Volkswagen confirmed that the Beetle, last sold here in the mid-’70s, will return next spring as a 1998 model, finally putting a date on the long-awaited return of a car in the works for three years.
In tribute to an old car considered so ugly it was cute and won a cult following that referred to it lovingly as the “Bug,” VW said it will call the ’90s version the “New Beetle.”
The New Beetle, however, will not carry a chrome, plastic or metal name badge boasting of this or of its Volkswagen heritage, perhaps testament to the fact it will be instantly recognized without a moniker bolted on.
The German automaker caught the world by surprise in January 1994, when it unveiled a concept car at the Detroit Auto Show bearing striking resemblance to the Beetle, a vehicle that once had a legion of followers and in 1970 was this country’s best-selling import with sales of 560,000 units.
In 1975 VW replaced the venerable Bug with a new vehicle called Rabbit and almost immediately the troubles began.
Though Beetle aficionados accepted cramped quarters, mediocre ride and handling, and a lack of amenities–from fuel gauge to radio to heater–as part of the vehicle’s appeal, Rabbit was suspect because of poor quality, starting with temperamental fuel injection.
It didn’t help that a $2,000 Beetle was replaced by a Rabbit that would soar in price based on an increase in the value of the German mark against the U.S. dollar.
VW held its national unveiling of Rabbit for dealers at the Arie Crown Theatre in McCormick Place, where an official proudly announced anntroductory price of $2,995.
However, mark’s rise against the dollar had pushed the price up to $3,495 by the time the car arrived in showrooms only a week later. Price increases became as frequent as trips to the repair shop.
When unveiling the New Beetle concept in Detroit in 1994, VW officials said they were considering resurrecting the old car as a means of “going back to our roots with an honest, reliable, timeless and youthful design of an affordable car.”
Reaction was immediate, and positive, and VW promised to build it by 2000.
As a tease, this year VW gave out plastic scale model toys of the New Beetle at the Detroit and Chicago Auto Shows. Hundreds waited in line to get the toy.
The New Beetle is expected to sell for around $18,000.
The two-door will borrow the same basic inverted bathtub shape of the Bug but have a longer wheelbase and wider body (so it can hold four adults) and offer such technologically advanced features as dual front and side air bags as well as anti-lock brakes.
And there will be a heater, fuel gauge and radio.
It will be offered with a 4-cylinder gas or turbocharged diesel engine, the latter capable of 50 mile-per-gallon fuel economy.
The New Beetle will be built on the same platform as the new VW Golf that goes on sale in Europe this fall. About 100,000 will be built in Mexico for shipment around the world in the first year. VW said the bulk of production has been earmarked for North America.
The car’s first public appearance is expected to be at the Detroit Auto Show in January.
