The New Beetle is built on VW's MK4 platform. That platform is shared with the Golf, the Jetta, the Audi A3, and the Audi TT.

The MK5 platform will be unveiled next year. The first vehicle will be an MPV, then the Golf, then the Jetta and Audi TT get released in the 1-2 years following the release of the MPV.

Thus far VW has been strangely silent about the future of the New Beetle. So here's the question. Should VW:

1) Update the NB for the MK5 platform

2) Let the NB languish on on MK4 platform while the other cars move on to the MK5 (note: this is possible since the current golf based cabrio is still on the MK3 platform, while the rest of the cars are on the newer MK4 platform).

3) Have the NB pass into the ether at the end of the MK4 production.

 

I've heard that VW will discontinue the Cabrio after 2002. Maybe it has to do with platform issue. I had always thought it was the same as the Golf and GTI. I know Audi/VW has been talking for the past few years about reducing the overall number of platforms it builds.

 

Yes the Cabrio will be discontinued and the Beetle will be released in convertible form.....
I would think they most likely would keep the MK4 platform for non-convertible models because I have seen the convertible Beetle and it has the same body style, but with a soft top (I am not impressed at all, but to each their own....I have never been a big fan of the New Beetle)....
With the release of the convertible I don't think there is really any need to revamp it. Personally I feel there are too many of them on the road now....

 

I traded in my new Beetle in order to buy Sprog. It really was a great little car, cornered reasonably well, got decent mileage... though I had to take constant flak for driving a chick car, I liked it. Better have, I was the one who bought it, lol. Apparently NB sales are falling, the Beetle Cabrio and the NB Turbo S are intended to boost sales. If they can build the car on a newer, better platform, that would be great... the body and suspension weren't too my likeing... too loose, railroad tracks HURT. Maybe VW should let the Beetle die for awhile, or at least get rid of the "New" before the "Beetle". Its not that new anymore!

 

Kill it! The New Beetle is a chick car anyway - I don't think a guy would be caught dead in it (although I have seen a few!). That's old news...People only liked it so much because it was so "NEW"

 

Who cares about the beetle? This is a MINI site!!!! Go to VW site and ask them what to do......

 

>>Who cares about the beetle? This is a MINI site!!!! Go to VW site and ask them what to do......

Hence the forum....OFF TOPIC.

 

>>I've heard that VW will discontinue the Cabrio after 2002. Maybe it has
>>to do with platform issue.

Or maybe it has to do with low sales do to the fact that the new Cabrio design is about as boring and uncharismatic a vehicle as VW has ever built. Even the name is worse. Is there a more uninspiring small convertible on the market? (Keep in mind they don't make the Geo Metro convertible anymore).

 

The current VW Cabrio still rides in the old MKIII platform. In fact it was never updated to the current MKIV platform. The Cabrio is manufactured in Mexico and the car has many bits and pieces of the old MKIII generation Golf/Jetta models.

What VW should do with the Beetle? Well if VW is serious about making the Beetle a feasible contender of the new MINI Cooper, here is what they should do:

1) Make it RWD, just like the original one was.
2) Re-locate the engine in the back (Behind the axle), just like the old one was.
3) Make the engine Air cooled or at least make the current 1.8L Turbo powerplant standard.
4) Get rid of the huge dashboard, which looks and feels like it is 1 mile long.
5) Dump the stupid dashboard mounted Bud Vase.
6) Develop an entirely new platform for the Beetle and independent from the one used in the Golf/Jetta models.
7) Make the car smaller. The current Beetle is a compact car, bigger than the MINI.
Fix the mushy suspension, this is one of the biggest handicaps of the MKIV platform.
9) get rid of the Cartoonish exterior and interior styling. This car after 4 years since introduction, looks totally silly.
10) Reduce production to 20K to 25K units per year.
11) Build exclusivity and resale value.
12) Stick to the original principles that made the classic Beetle a car with a great following and enthusiast community.

Notice that MINI did everything that VW didn't do with the new Beetle. VW had a great thing going with this car and they blew it in the name of profits and the quick buck. The MINI is an evolution/revolution of the original model faithful to every detail right down to the powertrain location (FWD/Transverse mounted engine).

The current New Beetle is just a cheap copycat fad car that is well past its prime. Dr. Piech (VW/Audi former CEO) had a thing going with this car but they simply blew it by flooding the market with them, failing to launch in 1998/99 high performance version and a convertible. Basically VW helped fueled the poor image of the Beetle as the car of choice by Chicks and Gays. The current TurboS model came too late to market. It was aimed at attracting male buyers that otherwise would not be caught dead driving a base model. The Cabriolet is tooooooooooooo late to market. I saw a prototype being driven around here in Miami a few months ago. Nice car but the MINI has it all over VW at this point in time.

The MINI intrudes effectively in the New Beetle and Audi TT's market segment. I guess VW management haven't been sleeping well recently!

 

I've always had an idea for what to do with the New Beatle (keeping in mind that I used to own a 72 Beatle, which is SO much cooler):

First- get a squadron of bomber planes
Second- load the planes FULL of New Beatles
Third- turn on lights, music, wipers, alarms, etc. of all the cars
Fourth- fly the squadron over a heavily populated area with a large park in it (when I came up with this plan, I was living in Savannah, GA, so I always picture Forsyth park
Fifth- drop all the cars (and here I'm thinking thousands of them) onto the park for everybody to celebrate

 

Maaaan, you guys are ruthless! I'm glad I sold mine...

 

>>I've always had an idea for what to do with the New Beatle (keeping in mind that I used to own a 72 Beatle, which is SO much cooler):
>>
>>First- get a squadron of bomber planes
>>Second- load the planes FULL of New Beatles
>>Third- turn on lights, music, wipers, alarms, etc. of all the cars
>>Fourth- fly the squadron over a heavily populated area with a large park in it (when I came up with this plan, I was living in Savannah, GA, so I always picture Forsyth park
>>Fifth- drop all the cars (and here I'm thinking thousands of them) onto the park for everybody to celebrate

You missed a step....between 4th and 5th.....
Make sure everyone is out of the way....if anyone were to be smashed by a falling New Beetle, it would be a tragedy.
Then everyone can celebrate because noone would have gotten hurt.

 

>>You missed a step....between 4th and 5th.....
>>Make sure everyone is out of the way....if anyone were to be smashed by a falling New Beetle, it would be a tragedy.
>>Then everyone can celebrate because noone would have gotten hurt.

Before the various tragedies of last year, the idea was to use these horrible little vehicles as ordinance on enemy cities, but then we went into this pseudo war and that got to be a little bit in bad taste...

Now we just have to do it for entertainment purposes.

But just imagine about 200,000 New Beatles covering the ruins of Saddam's palaces...

 

>>Kill it! The New Beetle is a chick car anyway - I don't think a guy would be caught dead in it (although I have seen a few!). That's old news...People only liked it so much because it was so "NEW"

KILL!!! KILL!!! KILL!!!

Seriously, don´t fancy that car a bit...

 

I got one. lets take all the new beetle's to a lake and see if they float like the old one could.......

 

What about using them as nuclear waste containers?

R