Renewable Gossip

By Larry E. Hall

Will the next New Beetle that debuts at January’s Detroit auto show take design cues from this 2005 Ragster Concept? And, will Volkswagen announce the arrival of a Hybrid Beetle?

Three weeks ago we attended a press conference at Volkswagen’s Electronics Research Lab in Palo Alto, Calif., where VW chairman Dr. Martin Winterkorn presented the automaker’s plan for hybrid and electric vehicles. I checked my notes and there was no mention of an upcoming Beetle hybrid but Britain’s Autocar.com is reporting that their sources have confirmed a hybrid model is planned for the new “Peoples Car,” which is scheduled for next year.

When it debuts next January at Detroit’s North American International Auto Show—will it be named the New, New Beetle?—Autocar says it will have a “radical design,” that is a completely fresh, modern take on the classic “People’s Car.” Several industry pundits have already tagged the 2005 Ragster Concept as the guide for the car’s new styling. If that’s so, it isn’t a radical design when compared to the current model. In fact, the Ragster is not much more than a George Barris chop job from the 1950s.

Regardless of the Beetle’s new exterior design, it won’t be a difficult task to incorporate a hybrid system. It is fashioned from the new 2011 Jetta platform, and the hybrid version of that car arrives in 2012. That would seem to validate Autocar’s report that the hybrid Beetle will be equipped with VW’s twincharger TSI in-line four cylinder, which incorporates both a supercharger and a turbocharger. The TSI engine will make its first U.S. appearance in the Jetta Hybrid, according to Dr. Winterkorn. And, if it duplicates the Jetta, it will be a full-hybrid system, enabling the car to be powered by the electric motor(s) only, the gasoline engine only or both.

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