Volkswagen / Beetle / 2.0 Ikon 3-dr hatch

The Car

CAPTURING the essence of the original Beetle was the task faced by VW's styling team - an interesting prospect with the powerplant being in front, rather than behind, and one that generated some interesting juxtapositions in terms of proportional balance. The windscreen seems way too far forward but had to be there to keep something like the original shape. That said, the car probably works best in side view where the shapes flow in a nice, distinctive way. It looks a little blunt in front view, lacking any original Beetle connection apart from the lack of a grille. The sloping rear roof negates any possibility of comfortable headroom in the back. The rounded shapes also do not necessarily mean good aerodynamics - the Beetle's Cd figure is an unimpressive 0.38.

Did you know?

The VW factory in Wolfsburg produced limited numbers of vehicles in the early years of World War II but did not begin mass production until post-war, under supervision from the English military