Next Gen New Beetle Rumors

[mel72349]

VW's Mexican operations grow strong, but plans for retro-car uncertain.

AutoWeek:7/24/07

PUEBLA, Mexico - The CEO of Volkswagen AG's rapidly expanding Mexican affiliate says the unit will be profitable this year after a break-even 2006. "There was a $2 billion investment program between 2002 and 2006," CEO Otto Lindner said in an interview this month. "This year and next year will be profitable." The key reasons for the expected black ink: big boosts in production and efficiency. "Cost levels will be 30 percent lower in 2008 than in 2005," Lindner said.

With the euro at all-time highs against the dollar, VW will boost production to 400,000 vehicles from 348,000 in 2006 and 301,000 in 2005. The Puebla plant makes Jettas, Boras, Golfs and New Beetles, along with medium- and heavy-duty trucks. For all of North America, VW reported an operating loss of 607 million euros, or about $806.5 million, in 2006.

Export sales booming

Lindner, 58, an Austrian telecommunications and economics graduate, directed the Audi assembly plant in Ingolstadt, Germany, for several months before starting his current job three years ago. He said Puebla now produces 1,600 cars a day in 250 working days a year - or 400,000 cars a year. "In the coming weeks, we will increase our capacity to 1,800 vehicles per day, and so next year we will be at our full capacity of 450,000 vehicles per year."

The Puebla plant began producing the new Jetta in 2005. "This is our volume car for the United States and the volume car for Puebla," Lindner said. "We are producing 1,000 Jettas per day for all markets except for China and South Africa. "In China and South Africa, we deliver the parts, and they assemble the cars themselves."

Lindner said that in 2006, about 30 percent of the Mexican unit's production went to Europe. "In 2007, we will increase this to 40 percent of total production," he said. "There is one reason: the Golf Variant. It is mainly a European car."

Asked whether announcements about new investments in Puebla were forthcoming, Lindner said, "We are talking about projects, for sure, and we are expecting to be successful in getting new projects for Mexico."

Million New Beetles

The Puebla plant will celebrate the production of the millionth New Beetle next month. But VW's long-term plan for the vehicle is a secret that Lindner is not about to reveal. "We are not planning to end the New Beetle's life in the short term," he said, noting that the vehicle's sales had exceeded VW's expectations by about 100 percent. "But of course, sooner or later we will have to start thinking about a successor. And it will not be easy, considering the special character of this car. And we hope to produce the successor in Puebla."

When pressed, Lindner acknowledged that the parent company was talking about "whether we will have a successor" to the New Beetle. Production of the car started 10 years ago. The New Beetle was the first VW car for world markets that was assembled outside Europe.

Lindner was asked whether VW might build a small car for the United States, either under the VW badge or for another automaker. "There are no such plans in the near future, not for Volkswagen de Mexico," he said. "But we are aware that the opportunity is there, not only for the U.S. but also for the Mexican market. This is for the Volkswagen Group (to say). We can't say it is a Volkswagen de Mexico project. It depends on future strategies for North America."

Meanwhile, the plant's productivity gains will be crucial benchmarks. "That is very important for the future because, thinking about new plants in eastern Europe and India, we have to increase productivity in Mexico," Lindner said. "The biggest change on the shop floor is to implement a production system that compares with elsewhere. We are really stricter. We started this in 2005 and are really on the way. "Thirty percent productivity improvement is a realistic figure. I don't think we will stop at 30 percent. To increase productivity 10 percent per year should be possible in the years after."

Asked how the savings had been achieved, Lindner responded: "At the beginning, we weren't able to do this by ourselves. We have started to work with experts - mainly experts with Toyota or Japanese experience or such lean-production-system contacts - and the main point is to train and develop our people. We are now working with the people on the shop floor on typically lean modules that are state-of-the-art in the industry. But we have a lot to do to catch up."

As part of the retooling for the new Jetta production line, Volkswagen doubled its robots to 800, mainly in the body shop. Increasing the number of robots "will only come with new production lines," Lindner said. "It depends on whether we get them or not." The Puebla plant also is under pressure to help its parent company deal with the record high value of the euro compared with the dollar. That means buying more parts and services locally.

"We make constant efforts to increase the share of our purchasing in the region," says Rafael Pinero, purchasing chief of Volkswagen de Mexico. "We also want our Tier 1 suppliers to maximize the value of the subcomponents that they buy in the region."


http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dl...8/newsletter01

[M VELASCO]

Thanks For The News!!!!!
A Million New Beetles!!!!! Wow!!! I Am Glad The New Beetle Exceeded Its Original Sales Axpectartions By 100%!!!!!!

Regards To All!!!

New Beetle Sport 2002 Glx Reflex Silver - 8000 Miles!!newbeetle Cabrio 2003 Royal Navy Blue - 2300 Miles!!

[M VELASCO]

EXPECTATNS, SORRY

[Jharmari]

Originally Posted by 71beetle

If you are going to build a new Beetle VW, build a real Beetle. I don't want to see some generic clone of evey other two bit hatchback on the market. If I can't look at it and say Beetle right off the bat it's not a Beetle. Build a real Beetle replacement or you can stuff it.

Couldn't of said it better myself.

Those sketches better not be real, or even being considered for that matter. Dear God, NO. Hideous.

[NBTurboFreak]

To me, in the original link, the reddish one looks like it is geared more like a mini EOS, the orange one reminds me of the new Scirocco design, and the grey/silver one looks like Dodge Omni rear end. The b&w sketch looks like chicken scratch.

I have heard that the new design it supposed to have a lot of the ragester lines in it.

Regardless of what they go with the beetle is synonymous with the round shape and not hard lines. I think the 06-on styling was a way of softening us up to the idea of harder lines on the car and still call it a New Beetle. IMHO.

[Shamucruiser]

Autobild and Huckfeldt like us to believe the following.
He did use the ragster as one of the donors.

To be honnest, if they would put complete new (2009) technology (VI platform) in the New Beetle, I would instantly choose a possible redesign as my next car. Need to order one for February 2009 (currently driving an A4)

For a lot of the Audi's Huckfeldt was quite right.
http://www.autobild.de/erlkoenige/ne...tikel_id=14746




Ragster

[NBTurboFreak]

Originally Posted by Shamucruiser

Autobild and Huckfeldt like us to believe the following.
He did use the ragster as one of the donors.

To be honnest, if they would put complete new (2009) technology (VI platform) in the New Beetle, I would instantly choose a possible redesign as my next car. Need to order one for February 2009 (currently driving an A4)

For a lot of the Audi's Huckfeldt was quite right.
http://www.autobild.de/erlkoenige/ne...tikel_id=14746





Ragster

[Berry]

If this car in pics will look like the New New New Beetle,then I think that it will be super! Although this must have been the facelift that happened in 2006...

[largefilipino]

I think car designers get things wrong. That original pic on this thread as what a bug would look like is too pizza cutter. I say leave the original design and improve on that. For example,Porshe 911. Those guys got it right.
Look at what happened to the Camaro. They took a great design from '67 to a different design from 72 on to that door stop design in the 80's. Now they are trying to relive the 60's again with their new design. They should have left the original design alone to begin with.
Same goes with the Challenger. The Mustang.
You can't mess with the beetle's design. It would be anarcist.

[Billsbug]

Neat photoshop, LOVE the fenders and front fascia, obviously grabbed from Porsche, too bad the '06+'s didn't get this treatment. No way the 2010 will look anything like this, especially the seats and side mirrors, the Ragster's are much more 'futuristic'.

[lucian]

Got this article from Yahoo
http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/02082007/36...ankfurt-0.html

VW's stand in Frankfurt will play host to a wealth of new fuel-efficient models, including a city car concept.

Though members of the media may groan at the thought of the expansive 9.000 square metre VW show stand at next month's Frankfurt Show, buyers and car fans will have plenty to see with the company announcing that its display will focus not only on the new Tiguan SUV, but on the future of 'greener' motoring.

In production terms, we'll witness the debut of six new additions to the BlueMotion range. VW slaps the BlueMotion badge on models that have been developed first and foremost for their efficiency and low emissions. The Polo and Passat BlueMotion are already on sale so it's likely that the new models come from the Fox, Golf, Jetta, Touareg, Touran and maybe even the Beetle range.

VW states that a total of nine BlueMotion models will be available to buy next year, so presumably the technology will be applied to the new Tiguan too.

Perhaps of more interest, though for the future, will be the unveiling of a new concept car named the City Expert. Few details have been released as yet, other than that it will be "sensationally flexible" (is it made of paper?!) and that its engine will be in the rear. We think it's quite telling that VW makes reference to the original Beetle, as it's possible that a production version of the City Expert could be a true 'people's car'. We'll know more in just over four weeks.

[tracy_5pm]

I don't understand what VW is doing with this NEW Beetle design. Like the other poster said, it looks like a Ford Focus. What makes the Beetle so beautiful and eye catching is, it looks different from any car out there. In a few years, EVERY damn car on the road is going to look the same. It is utterly boring. Why this trend in the motor world

[2nd_BugMan]

http://www.autozeitung.de/online/ren...=0062525&size= I cant read it but it looks cool

[tracy_5pm]

Originally Posted by 2nd_BugMan

http://www.autozeitung.de/online/ren...=0062525&size= I cant read it but it looks cool

You think? Kinda looks like one of those hybrid cars (Prius). Speaking of hybrid, I thought VW would one of the first ones to jump on the hybrid scene because it seems many VW consumers are Hippy Green people

[NBTurboFreak]

Originally Posted by 2nd_BugMan

http://www.autozeitung.de/online/ren...=0062525&size= I cant read it but it looks cool

Gives me a nauseous feeling thinking that my car's (NB) future generations could look like that. It is nowhere near a Beetle shape. IMO it looks like a PT Cruiser reject with a reminiscent flat front end of a SSR with higher headlights, a flatten and puffed PT rear end, and Renault R5turbo mini side scoops wanna-bes. The only VW I see in it is the TruboS style light placement, and the mirrors other that the badge.

[Beeble]

Oh, come on now. Surely you can see the strong resemblance in the front end, as well as the roof line? Nope, it's not a retro take on the classic Käfer, but at least they tried to keep some family resemblance.

The good news is that they have improved the aerodynamcs with the snubbed-off rear end. No, I don't like the look of it either, but it will improve fuel consumption, so it's a good thing technically, if not aesthetically.

[NBTurboFreak]

Originally Posted by Beeble

Oh, come on now. Surely you can see the strong resemblance in the front end, as well as the roof line? Nope, it's not a retro take on the classic Käfer, but at least they tried to keep some family resemblance.

Only family resemblance i can remotely see is of a distance MkV gen Golf in the lines of the roof and a more rounded front end.

To each their own but personally I think it would hurt Volkswagen to badge this with the VW emblem for a production car. What service did to VW in the 80's and 90's I think this would do by style.

[Billsbug]

Not bad, certainly an improvement from the first renderings.

[lucian]

Where does it say that this is a new Beetle model?

[silverspeedbuggy]

It doesn't say this IS the new New Beetle. I can't read German, but me thinks this is an article about the upcoming "City Expert" concept car coming from VW at the Frankfurt Auto Show next month. The photos are merely an artist's rendering of what the car MIGHT look like.