Volkswagen Neo Beetle Cabrio
2003-2010

Concept 1
At the 1994 North American International Auto Show Volkswagen unveiled the Concept One, a "retro"-themed concept car with a resemblance to the original Volkswagen Beetle. Designed by J Mays and Freeman Thomas at the company's California design studio the concept car was based on the platform of the Volkswagen Polo.

First Generation (A4 Platform)
Strong public reaction to the Concept 1 convinced the company to develop a production version which was launched as the New Beetle in 1998, based on the Golf IV's larger PQ34 platform.   The New Beetle is related to the original only in name and appearance (including the absence of a car emblem script with the exception of the VW logo).  A convertible was added in mid year 2003 to replace the Volkswagen Cabrio.

The New Beetle carries many design similarities with the original VW Beetle: separate wings, vestigial running boards, sloping headlamps and large round tail lights, as well as a high rounded roofline.  It is assembled currently in VW Puebla factory in Mexico.

The Volkswagen New Beetle was the car that started the retro-futurist design craze.  It was a modernized version of the legendary VW Beetle and struck a chord with consumers who had grown tired of standard conservative car designs and had fond memories of the "Bugs" from their youth.  However, this modern version, being much more complicated than the simple design of the original "people's car" envisioned by Ferdinand Porsche was prone to several machanical defects.  The automatic transmission, for example, is a well-documented issue, often failing after only a relatively short period of use and requiring expensive repair.  Other issues associated with the retro design are poor access to even simple maintenance areas making changing a front bulb, for example, an expensive service operation.  The convertible was also prone to failing window mechanism which requires the window to "shuffle" when opening and closing the door in order for the window to seal with the roof due to the pillarless door design.  The power roof mechanism also suffered from a very complex mechanism of pulleys and plastic flaps in order to simply cover and uncover the folding structure.   This was "rectified" by VW in the 2006 model onwards by removing one plastic cover panel from the mechanism reducing failure likelihood but at the expense of esthetics.

Safety
The car achieved 4 stars in the Euro NCAP tests scoring 25 points (33 to reach 5 stars).   The IIHS gave the New Beetle a Good overall score in their frontal crash test.  2004 models come standard with side airbags, however the IIHS rated the Beetle Poor in their side impact test.

From "Wikipaedia" - so it must be true