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CNN Live Sunday
The Volkswagon Bug: A Lagacy
Aired August 03, 2003 - 18:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: It has been a very emotional week for fans of the original Volkswagen Beetle. Beetle lovers around the world bid farewell to their legend and icon that small set of wheels that famously and ironically seemed to bring people just a little bit closer.
CNN's Hala Gorani has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the end of the road for Volkswagen's most famous model and arguably the world's most famous car and there will be many heavy hearts.
AMMANDO PASILLAS, VW BEETLE WORKER (through translator): I feel a bit of sadness, a bit of nostalgia but we are conscious that one day its production had to finish and, well, we've got to accept it in the best possible way.
GORANI: Ironically, the Love Bug owes its existence to one of history's most hated tyrants. The story goes Adolf Hitler instructed his engineer, Ferdinand Porsche to design a car that looked like a beetle. About 600 were built before the end of World War II mostly for Nazi officials.
Following allied victory, Beetle production was ramped up helping to fuel West Germany's recovery but outside Germany the car took on a whole new meaning. The Love Bug came of age during the hippie revolution of the 1960s and was one of the most striking symbols of the counter culture.
The Beetle also made its way into feature films, including a Disney classic title "The Love Bug." So, with such a rich legacy will scrapping the legend hurt VW?
JAMES MACKINTOSH, FT. MOTOR INDUSTRY REPORTER: Ironically, the end of the original Beetle could be good for them and it's given them a boost of their traffic in the U.S., number of people visiting their showrooms because it's got so much publicity that effectively it acts as free advertising for them.
GORANI: And Volkswagen hopes that free publicity will help it sell the new Beetle which was unveiled in 1998. It went over well at first but many doubt its holding power.
CHRIS LUDLOW, HENRION LUDLOW SCHMIDT: The new Beetle is a kind of retro styling exercise which will no doubt appeal to a certain target audience which does appeal to a certain target audience but it's not the same functionality as the original Beetle. It's not, I don't think, destined for the same kind of sales success.
GORANI: So, the original people's car gone but not forgotten. Perhaps it's fitting that there's a Beetle parked on the cover of the Beatles legendary 1969 album "Abbey Road," right there in the back corner of an album which ends with the song called "The End."
Hala Gorani, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA: For more on the Beetle legacy, history, and what all this could mean for Volkswagen we are joined by Csaba Csere, editor-in- chief of "Car and Driver" magazine from Ann Arbor Michigan, welcome.
CSABA CSERE, "CAR AND DRIVER": Glad to be here.
ARENA: So, did I hear right, this idea was spawned by Adolf Hitler?
CSERE: Absolutely, shortly after Hitler came to power in 1933 he decided he wanted to put Germany on wheels just like the Ford Model-T had done to Americans only there was no inexpensive, affordable, reliable car in Germany.
So, he sought out Ferdinand Porsche, then the best known automotive engineer in Europe. He had been chief engineer of Mercedes. He designed grand prix cars and he said I want you to build me a cheap car that will be the people's car and he called it the Volkswagen which, in fact, translates to people's car in German.
ARENA: We won't hold it against it and obviously no one has over the years. What is it about this automobile that just fascinates Americans?
CSERE: Well, there's all kinds of things. It started getting popular in the late '50s when Detroit was really going through one of its excessive periods. Detroit sedans were getting really big. They had giant tailfins. They had grills on them that looked like they were going to eat small children.
And, the Beetle was just a sensible alternative to this. It was small. It was efficient. It was sensibly designed. It was also cheap and good on gas. So, a lot of people bought it because it was a reaction to the classic Detroit machine.
ARENA: Now, how does the new Beetle compare? I know it's quite popular already but how does it compare to the old one?
CSERE: Well, from a look standpoint it's very similar to the old one and that's what they tried to do. It has that same bubble-shaped body work, the separate fender look, but mechanically it's a completely different car.
The original Beetle had its engine in the back. It was a water- cooled engine - an air-cooled engine driving the rear wheels. The new Beetle has a motor in the front. It drives the front wheels. It's water-cooled. It's actually basically a Golf underneath with Beetle skin on it so it's a much more modern machine.
The problem with it is that that bubble-shaped look that's so distinctive doesn't really give you a lot of space inside the car for how big it is on the outside and that's why modern cars tend to be more boxy.
ARENA: Yes. What does this mean for collectors? I know that there are people out there who have dozens of classic Beetles. Will it up the value significantly?
CSERE: I don't think so. This is a car in which so many were produced, something like 21 million were produced over the lifetime of the car that there's no shortage of Beetles around the world. There's also no shortage of parts for them so if you're a collector don't expect your Beetle portfolio to skyrocket in the near future or even in the next ten or 20 years.
ARENA: Do you think that the new Beetle, though, will garner the same affection and fan base as the old Beetle?
CSERE: I don't think so. I think the new Beetle is a fashion item and a lot of people who had warm feelings for the old one bought the new Beetle and enjoyed it but it's not going to be a widespread winner because functionally it's not as good in today's market as the old Beetle was in its market.
There is a new version of the new Beetle that's just coming on the market with a convertible top, though, and I think that's going to get another round of enthusiasm, at least in the short term going for that car because the original Beetle also had a convertible and the new one again looks much like that car.
ARENA: All right, so Version 3, but the end of an era. Csaba Csere of "Car and Driver" magazine, thank you for joining us.
CSERE: My pleasure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 3, 2003 - 18:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: It has been a very emotional week for fans of the original Volkswagen Beetle. Beetle lovers around the world bid farewell to their legend and icon that small set of wheels that famously and ironically seemed to bring people just a little bit closer.
CNN's Hala Gorani has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the end of the road for Volkswagen's most famous model and arguably the world's most famous car and there will be many heavy hearts.
AMMANDO PASILLAS, VW BEETLE WORKER (through translator): I feel a bit of sadness, a bit of nostalgia but we are conscious that one day its production had to finish and, well, we've got to accept it in the best possible way.
GORANI: Ironically, the Love Bug owes its existence to one of history's most hated tyrants. The story goes Adolf Hitler instructed his engineer, Ferdinand Porsche to design a car that looked like a beetle. About 600 were built before the end of World War II mostly for Nazi officials.
Following allied victory, Beetle production was ramped up helping to fuel West Germany's recovery but outside Germany the car took on a whole new meaning. The Love Bug came of age during the hippie revolution of the 1960s and was one of the most striking symbols of the counter culture.
The Beetle also made its way into feature films, including a Disney classic title "The Love Bug." So, with such a rich legacy will scrapping the legend hurt VW?
JAMES MACKINTOSH, FT. MOTOR INDUSTRY REPORTER: Ironically, the end of the original Beetle could be good for them and it's given them a boost of their traffic in the U.S., number of people visiting their showrooms because it's got so much publicity that effectively it acts as free advertising for them.
GORANI: And Volkswagen hopes that free publicity will help it sell the new Beetle which was unveiled in 1998. It went over well at first but many doubt its holding power.
CHRIS LUDLOW, HENRION LUDLOW SCHMIDT: The new Beetle is a kind of retro styling exercise which will no doubt appeal to a certain target audience which does appeal to a certain target audience but it's not the same functionality as the original Beetle. It's not, I don't think, destined for the same kind of sales success.
GORANI: So, the original people's car gone but not forgotten. Perhaps it's fitting that there's a Beetle parked on the cover of the Beatles legendary 1969 album "Abbey Road," right there in the back corner of an album which ends with the song called "The End."
Hala Gorani, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA: For more on the Beetle legacy, history, and what all this could mean for Volkswagen we are joined by Csaba Csere, editor-in- chief of "Car and Driver" magazine from Ann Arbor Michigan, welcome.
CSABA CSERE, "CAR AND DRIVER": Glad to be here.
ARENA: So, did I hear right, this idea was spawned by Adolf Hitler?
CSERE: Absolutely, shortly after Hitler came to power in 1933 he decided he wanted to put Germany on wheels just like the Ford Model-T had done to Americans only there was no inexpensive, affordable, reliable car in Germany.
So, he sought out Ferdinand Porsche, then the best known automotive engineer in Europe. He had been chief engineer of Mercedes. He designed grand prix cars and he said I want you to build me a cheap car that will be the people's car and he called it the Volkswagen which, in fact, translates to people's car in German.
ARENA: We won't hold it against it and obviously no one has over the years. What is it about this automobile that just fascinates Americans?
CSERE: Well, there's all kinds of things. It started getting popular in the late '50s when Detroit was really going through one of its excessive periods. Detroit sedans were getting really big. They had giant tailfins. They had grills on them that looked like they were going to eat small children.
And, the Beetle was just a sensible alternative to this. It was small. It was efficient. It was sensibly designed. It was also cheap and good on gas. So, a lot of people bought it because it was a reaction to the classic Detroit machine.
ARENA: Now, how does the new Beetle compare? I know it's quite popular already but how does it compare to the old one?
CSERE: Well, from a look standpoint it's very similar to the old one and that's what they tried to do. It has that same bubble-shaped body work, the separate fender look, but mechanically it's a completely different car.
The original Beetle had its engine in the back. It was a water- cooled engine - an air-cooled engine driving the rear wheels. The new Beetle has a motor in the front. It drives the front wheels. It's water-cooled. It's actually basically a Golf underneath with Beetle skin on it so it's a much more modern machine.
The problem with it is that that bubble-shaped look that's so distinctive doesn't really give you a lot of space inside the car for how big it is on the outside and that's why modern cars tend to be more boxy.
ARENA: Yes. What does this mean for collectors? I know that there are people out there who have dozens of classic Beetles. Will it up the value significantly?
CSERE: I don't think so. This is a car in which so many were produced, something like 21 million were produced over the lifetime of the car that there's no shortage of Beetles around the world. There's also no shortage of parts for them so if you're a collector don't expect your Beetle portfolio to skyrocket in the near future or even in the next ten or 20 years.
ARENA: Do you think that the new Beetle, though, will garner the same affection and fan base as the old Beetle?
CSERE: I don't think so. I think the new Beetle is a fashion item and a lot of people who had warm feelings for the old one bought the new Beetle and enjoyed it but it's not going to be a widespread winner because functionally it's not as good in today's market as the old Beetle was in its market.
There is a new version of the new Beetle that's just coming on the market with a convertible top, though, and I think that's going to get another round of enthusiasm, at least in the short term going for that car because the original Beetle also had a convertible and the new one again looks much like that car.
ARENA: All right, so Version 3, but the end of an era. Csaba Csere of "Car and Driver" magazine, thank you for joining us.
CSERE: My pleasure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
