Volkswagen announced Tuesday, one day before the opening of the 2015 Los Angeles Auto Show, that it will sell two new special editions of the Beetle that harken back to previous specials offered up by the automaker.
The Beetle Dune is as close as you can get to a Murano CC without getting all-wheel drive or a Land Rover Evoque. The jacked-up Beetle will wear unique body cladding and Dune stickers that are in no way a nod to the Frank Herbert novels of yesteryear.
Powering Dune through a sci-fi universe during its morning commute will be the same 1.8-liter TSI available in other Beetles. There’s no mention of a diesel, obviously. Available as either a coupe or convertible, Dune will be shod with 18-inch Canyon aluminum-alloy wheels wrapped in 235/45 all-season rubber, further proving this is a special edition that’s all fashion and definitely isn’t the buggy your father converted into a sand rail. However, it does get a 0.4-inch lift and a 0.8-inch wider track, so there’s that, I guess.
The other special edition Volkswagen looks to bring to production is a redux of their Beetle Jeans model, this time called Beetle Denim, which will sport multiple surfaces covered in only the finest mom jeans and totally explains the high beltline.
It, too, will be powered by the same 1.8-liter TSI engine, though the Demin model will only be available as a convertible.
Dune Coupe and Demin Convertible will be available this spring, with the Dune Convertible following later in the year.
This should have been the Sun Bug… Dune Buggies need to have big tires, raised height, and evoke outdoor activities like cruising on the sand.
Dune Beetle? Why? No one buys normal Beetles.
I love the Moab photo op, though. At least it is honest in that the car is completely on the tarmac. Where every one of the 5 or 6 they sell will remain, because the moment you take a fat, low slung FWD car with those tires onto any of the trails most Moab photo-ops are taken (or that original Beetle could go), it will break or get stuck. And when the tow truck comes to pull it out and sees those Dune badges, what dignity you had left will break as well.
At least it’s not the Dung Beetle.
Give me a fine paintbrush and some dark grey modelling paint to connect the middle and lower horizontals of that capital E on the side, and I can make it a DUNG beetle soon enough.
Every wag with a sharpie will be vandalizing these at the beach.
Dang, you beat me to it FFF.
LOL, made me spit out my Starbucks!
Yes. They really shouldn’t have had a real buggy in the background for comparison.
OMG, true.
The new one reminds me of the fat Star Wars kid video.
Oh Volkswagen, it really is bad. As in awful.
I thought it was the Dung Beetle.
The old one makes the new one look like a Grade A – POS.
Agreed. Can someone get that gold thing out of the way so we can get a better look at it? I’d love to know more, but I grew up in Beetles so I have a soft spot for the original. I don’t often like them all modded out, but that one looks fantastic. Also, one of the least silly uses of the LED light bar I’ve seen (in my part of the woods, the trucks around here are attempting to match the mother ship from Close Encounters in light output).
It would have been oddly *compelling* if they’d put 15″ wheels on it, raised it up to 8″ of clearance, and put on an AWD system and light-offroad suspension.
At least it wouldn’t be such a damned lie, and it’d give the S60CC some weird sort of competition.
“It’s like if you wanted an Allroad, that was a coupe and not a wagon.”
Awww, I was hoping someone did a modern interpretation of the old Manx drop on fiberglass body.
This thing fits firmly into the category of “what were they thinking”. Just needs Rommel reincarnated standing up in it with a peaked cap, sand goggles pushed up holding it on, one hand grasping the windshield header and the other holding a pair of brass Leica binoculars to espy the camels while he barks “Schnell! Schnell!” to the driver. Mrs Rommel chose the wheels.
In a lighter yellow and a set of Sachs and you have a Formula Vee.
Thank God for the Denim Beatle, I really needed something to match my jeans, jean shirt, and jean jacket.
…i much preferred their previous dune concept, circa turn-of-the-millenium…
http://www.supercars.net/cars/2029.html
I never thought I’d see the day they jacked up a Beetle. They should at least have sold it with the diesel engine. As a second car for drivers of jacked up diesel trucks. Heck, they could even advertise it as rolling coal, straight from the factory….
It looks like it has a silly scowly face and a little moustache. Cartoonishly bad.
Not really a beetle fan, but I like the looks of the dune. They’ll probably sell a bunch if they’re not too pricey.
A diesel version would have to be called the VW Beetle Doom.
This is wrong on soooo many levels. Jacking up a beetle to make it some sort of half-a$$ed CUV. You gotta be kidding me. Volkswagen haven’t you had enough embarrassment this year?
Half an inch of list is hardly “jacked-up”. Unless your’re proud to drag the muffler of your own car. This isn’t much more than a wheel-and-stripe custom job, hardly enough to get upset about.