Is Volkswagen Ready To Bring Back The Beetle?
Speaking at an industry round table during the 2024 Los Angeles Auto Show, Volkswagen opened up about the possibility of bringing back its most iconic model, the Beetle. Sorry to any of the counterculture hippies in our reading audience, but the Beetle doesn’t appear to be the company’s number one priority right now.
“Bringing a version of the insect [the Beetle] out here [the United States] would be quite beneficial from an image perspective, but there also has to be a business perspective,” said Andrew Savvas, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at Volkswagen North America. “Beetle was extremely successful at launch – very successful here in North America, in fact – but cars like that taper off [in sales] as well.”
GTIs & Rs Over Bugs?
This news might be disappointing to anyone who’s been patiently waiting for VW to revive the Beetle, which has now been discontinued since 2019 after being relaunched in 1997. Though the Beetle isn’t the right product for North America right now, American VW enthusiasts will be delighted to hear that other eminent subvariants could finally be expanded in the US.
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“Could something like [the Beetle] come back as a limited edition in the future? Maybe, but I’d be pushing my bosses to focus on things like GTI or the R brand to help build our brand, rather than bringing back the insect [the Beetle]. It would not be my priority in the short term. Let’s take the strong and beautiful cars we’ve got, and bringing iconic halo variants like the R Line or the GTI into those things. That’s where our strength is.”
– Andrew Savvas, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at Volkswagen North America
VW fans living in the US are painfully aware that the company has often reserved its sportiest and most enthusiastic models for the European market only – cars like the Passat R36, Touareg R50, and Scirocco R. While Savaas didn’t outright confirm that the GTI and R monikers will finally expand to more vehicles in the US market, it’s at least something the company will consider.
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More Halo Products
During the round table, the VW executives spoke glowingly about the ID. Buzz, the company’s newest arrival in the US lineup and a halo model for the brand. They also elaborated on how the company needs to offer more products that tap into people’s emotions, like the original Beetle and Type 2 Bus.
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“We have products like the Buzz, which are absolutely great halo products. We’re constantly debating what opportunities we have going forward to bring more Halo products to North America to build the brand because this is what differentiates us and builds value for our customers,” said Thomas Schäfer, Chief Executive Officer of Volkswagen Passenger Cars and a Member of the Board of Management of the Volkswagen Group.
“You think of the iconic moments in the American counterculture and the part that Volkswagen played. Very few brands can do that, and we have to tap into that,” Savvas added. “Things like the Buzz will do that and obviously GTI does that as well, because that’s what sends goosebumps into people. That, to us, is our strength, that we’re a fun to drive product, but we are ingrained in the culture of this wonderful region, and we need to work hard on those in that space.”
