Next Volkswagen Beetle here in February

Volkswagen’s new Beetle will go on sale in Australia in February – almost 18 months after it was released in Europe and the US, because of the German giant’s overloaded launch agenda in the latter part of this year, when it will launch the all-new up! micro car and Passat Alltrack adventure wagon.

Originally due on sale here late this year, the new Beetle will be offered with just one engine choice, according to official ADR documents: a 1.4-litre twincharged four-cylinder petrol engine outputting 118kW/240kW.

Two transmission options will be offered with the sole petrol engine the Mexican-built Beetle, a seven-speed dual-clutch DSG automatic and a six-speed manual.

Not to be confused with the previous-generation 'New Beetle', the 2013 Beetle is an important car for Europe’s largest car-maker, says Volkswagen Group Australia Managing Director, Anke Koeckler.

Ms Koeckler said the new Beetle will be the first in a number of “emotional” new models to be released in 2013, and will be followed by the all-new Golf 7 in the second quarter.

But she also admitted that adequate stocks of the new Beetle would not have been secured in time for its planned local launch in late 2012.

“We couldn’t get all the cars in time here in the country,” she said. “We decided it was better off to start in the proper way in the New Year instead of rushing through.

“We are going to postpone the Beetle for good reasons, because we are busy enough for the end of the year - we are actually going to do that in February. That will be our start in 2013, and it is one of our most emotional and fascinating products.”

Volkswagen is experiencing big growth in Australia and expects to reach the magic 60,000 sales milestone by year's end, including both the Volkswagen and Skoda brand, which would triple the sales volumes it was achieving in 2009.

However, Volkswagen says the Beetle's modus operandi is not to boost yearly sales numbers.

“The beetle is not about volume, it's about the brand,” said Ms Koeckler, adding that the Beetle was the “iconic model” that kick-started the global automotive giant's success after World War II.

“In some markets like the US it's a big success. For us it's more or less talking about the brand, and putting the brand under the headline of emotionalisation,”

The latter part of 2012 will see Volkswagen's new model onslaught continue as it launches its pivotal sub-$15,000 up! city-car in September, followed by the Passat Alltrack in November. Then the Beetle hits the streets in February 2013. followed by Volkswagen’s most important launch of all - the all-new seventh-generation Golf, which arrives here in the second quarter of next year.

The new Beetle Cabriolet is also on the cusp of its global debut, possibly at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, but Volkswagen is unlikely to make it available in Australia.

Scheduled to be launched globally from later this year, the topless Beetle would attract fewer sales than the hatch in Australia, where Volkswagen already has the Golf Cabriolet and Eos convertible in its stable. Karl Gehling, General Manager for Press and PR at VW Australia, told motoring.com.au that the company's position was to "maintain a minimal convertible range".

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