German tuner conjures up bahnstorming Beetle

It’s all a bit Herbie Goes Bananas, but German tuner ABT has conjured up its take on the new VW Beetle, and the end result appears a credible (if tarted-up) rival for the Beetle R concept rolled out at last September’s Frankfurt motor show.

The ABT boffins started by tweaking the 2.0-litre turbo engine’s ECU to yield 176kW, a handy 29kW increment over the donor car.

As an interesting aside, 29kW is all the 1965 Beetle had to offer its driver… in total. Obviously, it was no livewire, but anyone who’s driven an old Veedub will be able to testify to its durability and versatility.

Unfortunately, ABT hasn’t released any performance figures for the hotted-up Beetle, but we’d guesstimate it will be capable of clocking 0-100km/h sprints in the 6sec bracket. Not too shabby for a ‘Dak-Dak’ (even though the modern version no longer lives up to this endearing moniker).

That said, the Beetle Limousine 5CO should emit a fruity exhaust note as ABT has seen fit to bin the standard exhaust in favour of a free-flow system with a pair of oval rear mufflers.

Rounding off the dynamic upgrades are ABT brakes with black calipers, along with stiffer, lower suspension and a range of beefier wheel/tyre packages offered in 18 to 20-inch sizes. Proving Germans aren’t completely devoid of a sense of humour, the company’s blurb states: “All these upgrades make the new Beetle a... well-rounded thing.”

There’s no mistaking the ABT creation for a bogger Beetle as the car is festooned with carbon-look decals, contrasting with red accents on the flanks, wheels and front spoiler. Where the whole thing goes a bit wrong is with the eyelid-mimicking headlight covers, which look plain cartoonish. 

The ABT offering won’t be sold here, but in case you like what you see, you can order all the bits individually from the company and retro-fit them to your Beetle.

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