The New VW Beetle: the Creation of a Twenty-First Century Classic

by Jonathan Wood

Hardback book featuring VW Beetle

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Librarian note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name
This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name

Reviews

[Jeff Koeppen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received The New VW Beetle from a fellow down the street. While walking my dogs one day he asked me if I was the guy with the Beetle - I was - and he gave this book. How nice! While my car is actually a 2012 Beetle, one of the redesigned versions of the New Beetle featured in this book, bit it was still a fun read.

This is the story of the 1990s re-imagining and re-engineering of the Volkswagen Beetle, first introduced in 1938. The Beetle is the most popular car ever. Who first envisioned the Beetle? Hitler! When Hitler became German Chancellor in 1933 he initiated his automotive strategy, his first action was establishing the autobahn program and his second action was to have the Nazi state mass produce a small car that any German could afford. The famous Austrian engineer, Ferdinand Porsche designed the Beetle. There is a picture in the book of Hitler with one of my car’s ancestors.

This was a fun, short read. The book is packed full of historical Beetle photos and detailed information and photos related to the redesign of the New Beetle. Sadly, Volkswagen again pulled the plug on the Beetle. 2019 was the last year of production. I love my Beetle and might try to nab a 2019 model when my 2012 is on its last legs. We’ll see.