Happenings

Volkswagen Chops The Top Off Its New Beetle

BY Joel Tam

Now in its third generation - after the original Beetle Cabriolet and New Beetle Cabriolet - the latest Beetle drop-top is now larger, more powerful and also more fuel-efficient.

Longer, wider and with a lower roofline, the Beetle Cabriolet's soft-top will unfold away in just 9.5 seconds thanks to a standard electro-hydraulic drive. It can even be opened while driving at speeds up to 50 km/h. Pretty cool!

Compared to the outgoing model, the new cabriolet is 152 mm longer and 84 mm wider. Resulting in more dynamism and road presence - simply because of these proportions. The gain in length promises more interior space and boot capacity. With the new car, the rear bench seat can now be folded down, thanks to a newly developed rollover protection system. The standard rollover protection system pops up from behind the rear head restraints within milliseconds when a predefined lateral acceleration or vehicle tilt value is exceeded.

We'll tell you more when the car arrives on our shores, but we're expecting our local cars to be powered by the punchy and economical 1.2 TSI engines and the usual DSG gearboxes, making the Beetle Cabriolet a breeze to cruise anywhere.