NEW YORK MOTOR SHOW: Volkswagen’s four Beetles

Volkswagen has hit the New York motor show with four different Beetle-based concepts.

It spread its two hard-top and two convertible concepts along the back wall of its corner stand in the Big Apple's Javits Center.

Volkswagen showed convertible Beetle Denim and Beetle Wave concepts along with the Beetle Pink Edition and an R-Line concept that is the most likely of the four to see production, probably as the Beetle R-Line.

With its future under pressure from a management faction bent on reducing model complexity, the New York show marked Volkswagen’s pro-Beetle faction hitting back at recent leaks about its long-term future.

“There are people inside the company that are pushing hard to reduce the manufacturing complexities on the basis of lifting margins,” a Volkswagen source, who preferred not to be named, said.

“But we still sell 100,000 Beetles a year, which is not bad at all for a niche product. Show me other niche models doing 100,000 cars a year.

“Besides being higher-margin cars, you also have to ask where, if we kill the Beetle, are we going to get that 100,000 in volume back from?”

To headline its New York assault, Volkswagen concentrated on giving its Beetle more power, more grip and more speed styling with the R-Line concept.

The performance-focused R-Line uses a 165kW version of its venerable 2.0-litre turbocharged, direct-injection petrol engine to deliver its performance, along with a six-speed dual-clutch transmission and front-wheel drive.

It gets visual fiddles at the front and the back and it’s also 14mm wider than the standard Beetle – though it’s all in the bodywork and not in the wheel tracks.

It sits on 20-inch alloys all round and has a large rear spoiler to complement the thicker, deeper looking snout.

There are heavily bolstered sports seats up front, with an experimental combination of carbon-fibre and leather – at least in the look, if not in reality.

The other coupe concept is the Pink Edition which, surprisingly, is dominated by the colour pink. Its bodywork is Fuchsine Metallic and the pink works its way on to the seats and the other detailing.

Volkswagen finished its Beetle Cabriolet Denim in Stonewashed Blue and while it seems radical today, it actually echoes the “jeans editions” of the Beetle from the 1970s, the 1980s and the 1990s.

The soft top is, unsurprisingly, made from denim while lighter blue denim, complete with red and white stripes, dominates the interior. VW is planning a limited-production run for the US, at least, with up to nine colours on offer.

It also showed the Beetle Cabriolet Wave, which it insists was inspired by the surfing culture of both the east and west coasts of the US. Derived from last year’s Dune concept, it is painted in Habanero Orange and will be on sale in the US next year.