Missed the Mark

This was a hard one to take, the brand new 2011 VW Beetle was introduced.  I have to give it to the designers they made an apt effort at making this car less effeminate in an attempt to attract more male buyers. they did so by removing the flower vase which came standard on most VW beetles following their relaunch in 1994 as a concept vehicle.  Going quickly into production we saw many special editions of the VW Beetle including the very special Barbie edition.  

Point made that a remodel was necessary, but really did you hit the mark? I'll give you this, it looks a lot better from the back, the more aggressive roof line beefier tires and rims.  I mean the designers did about all you could do to make this car look better.  But, then I think to myself, "Who is going to buy this car?" With starting prices in Canada around the $21000 mark I thought VW already had small sporty type vehicle that chewed up this price range, what could it be?  Oh right, the hugely successful VW Golf which doesn't seem to have any issues attracting male buyers. 

My real concern is that this is such a specialty vehicle but the price range doesn't really specify that.  I mean if you want to make it basically a bubbled up Audi TT then great, but I had better get the same performance with the same premium qualities.  I somehow doubt at this price range that you are going to get that.  As a younger male I can honestly admit I couldn't walk into a showroom and say that that is the car I would want. 

However, VW did something to reconcile this clear issue they created this:

Well they almost did.  Recently VW announced that they would not be producing the VW Jetta Coupe because of production limitations.  Now you might call me crazy but I have this strange feeling that we would have seen this coupe enter the market around the same price at the aforementioned Beetle.  In my opinion those male drivers that were scared off by the Beetle could have been easily brought into dealerships with the quite palatable designs of the Jetta Coupe.  I for one was extremely interested to see if VW was going to grace us with a sport model of this car, perhaps with similar packages as the Golf GTI.  The point here is that VW missed with this one.  Is this once again an issue of European applications being thrust upon North American markets?  I guess we will have to see, and I will fill you all in on the Beetle if I can get my hands on one to check it out.  I doubt I will be let down by the interior or what will likely be a very peppy and smooth 4 cylinder, no it will be when I get out and walk away and don't want anyone to know that I was the one that drove up in this car that I will be let down.  

VW you missed the mark.

Later Days, 

J.R.