The Iconic Bug

Page 1

The Beetle


CONTENTS

1 . The Beetle


01. The iconic bug

02. Once upon a logo

03. Advertising

04. Inside out

05. Is bigger better?

06. The old and the new

The Beetle . 2


photo by Jeferson Felix

The iconic bug

1930 - 1945 PEOPLE’S CAR PROJECT It’s no secret that the Volskwagen Beetle concept evolved as the one bright spot in a dark period of German history, when Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party were twisting nationalistic pride and militarism

3 . The Beetle

into ugly forces to drive a horrific political movement. What better way could there be to sway people in that era to your side than offering them a car for the masses? Hitler promised to put Germans on wheels with the Volks-Wagen (People’s Car) and hoped it would make him very powerful. The car itself, though, didn’t spring from Hitler’s mind.


VW Beetles assembled in lines at the It was the brainchild of Dr Ferdinand Porsche, an engineering genius who devised the idea of a reliable, affordable car while working at Austro-Daimler. It

Volkswagen auto works plant, which manifactured nearly 900 automobiles each day in Wolfsburg, West Germany. (Credits: the Washington Post)

was called the Type 130 W01 and at least one prototype was made. It had a pusher-type layout with the engine in the rear, as well as a swing-axle rear suspension. Since Austro-Daimler wanted to build limousines for royalty, it wasn’t very much interested in making an entry-level car. Porsche disagreed with that thinking and headed for the door. In 1930, Porsche struck out on his own and formed an engineering consulting company. He called it Dr. Ing H.c. Ferdinand Porsche Gmbh. This was the real start of the Volkswagen story.

Early in the new engineering firm’s history came Project 12, which Porsche saw as a car perfectly suited for the Great Depression. The Type 12 was essentially a two- door sedan that from the cowl to the rear looked almost like a Citroen deux chevaux with a more rakish windshield. Up front it had a snob-hosed hood and long MG TF -style headlights protruding from the front fenders and rear fenders with large enclo sures or “skirts”. Three Type 12 prototypws with Reutter coachwork were built. These would ultimately evolve into the Beetle over the next fifteen years.

The iconic bug . 4


Volkswagen started referring to the car as the VW Beetle in the late 1960s, but this iconic car has actually many nicknames worldwide! In France, it’s called “Coccinelle”, which means ladybug. It’s “Maggiolino” and Fusca in Italy and Brazil, respectively, both of which mean “beetle.” Mexico calls it Vocho; it’s Peta (turtle) in Bolivia; and Kodok (frog). in Indonesia.

5 . The Beetle


Ben Pon Sr., a businessman and former racing car driver from the Netherlands, called the Volkswagen his “Victory Wagon”. It was the car that helped Ben Pon achieve his greatest success as an automobile dealer. In 1898, Mijndert Pon opened a shop called

1948: THE

Pon’s Automobielhandel. They became Volkswagen’s first foreign distributors in 1947. Export sales were very important to all European automakers in the early

photo by Giovanni Ribeiro

“VICTORY WAGON” COMES TO AMERICA

postwar years. World War II had devastated the economies of many nations and the exportation of automobiles was a way to help rebuild battered economies. The Pons were the first to sell Volkswagens outside of Germany.

On Jaunary 17, the ship pulled into New York Harbor carrying the first Volkswagens to come to the United States. Max Hoffman’s Hoffman Motor Car Company on Park Avenue in New York City was the first American dealership to officially take on Volkswagens. However, the reaction to these new vehicles wasn’t exactly warm in the United States. During a press conference on the Westerdam, autophoto by Fernando Venancio da Silva

motive journalists slammed the Volkswagen for being “Hitler’s homely-looking honey”. That’s when Pon came back at them with the term Victory Wagon. “We did win, after all”! he said.

Characteristics of early Volkswagens included single-acting rear shocks (1945-1951), a T-shaped luggage compartment handle (1945-1949), pullout door handles (1945-1959), and a license plate pressing on the rear engine cover (1945-1949). The iconic bug . 6


When it was introduced in the States in 1949, only two Beetles were sold in the first year. But after that, sales grew quickly. By the 1960s, hundreds of thousands of Bugs were sold every year, topping out at 570,000 in 1970.

7 . The Beetle


The iconic bug . 8 photo by Matthias Zeller


Once upon a logo The logo of Volkswagen, as is seen currently, is a simple

24°

representation of the initials of the company. While “Volks” in

24°

K = 8.5 % D B = 10 % D A = 2.5 % D

German stands for people, “Wagen” stands for car. Originally, the logo is said to have been designed in 1938. The logo was later modified in 1996 and then again in 2000. At the time of the last modification, aspects such as color blend and three-dimensional were introduced, to present the logo with a unique design.

B

A

K The beauty of the logo lies in its simplicity, it contains only two letters (a V over a W),Dwhich seem to be interacting with each other. The letters are held together with a circle of the same line weight, effort has been made to include just the right amount of “air” in the spaces around the central image so as not to affect the legibility of the logo while at the same time, making the logo visually distinct.

9 . The Beetle


Once upon a logo . 10


OFTEN COPIED, NEVER EQUALED

11 . The Beetle


The initial logo comprised of the ‘Nazi’ flag designed in the shape of a swastika symbol. Furthermore this symbol also signified an ancient Nordic symbol called ‘Ginfaxi’ a binding in ancient rune that supposedly granted victory in any battles fought. supervision of Major Ivan Hirst. It was under him that the re-establishment of the line took place in order to build and repair all the machines so that the factory could be brought back on its feet. One remarkable achievement during this period of 1945 was the unearthing of machine parts from the debris in the factory. These parts were then used to build over 2000 vehicles.

It was made available in pastel green, medium brown and bordeaux red. According to the general director of Volkswagen, Mr. Rieger, the new paint job was more than just a visual enhancement, it was symbolic of peacetime.

Once upon a logo . 12


Advertising

13 . The Beetle


In 1949, William Bernbach,

Bernbach’s artistic approach

uninterested in the prod-

along with colleagues,

to print advertising was

uct. Bernbach’s team of

Ned Doyle and Maxwell

innovative, and he understood

“agency creatives” was

Dane, formed Doyle

that advertising did not sell

headed by Bob Gage,

Dane Bernbach (DDB),

products. The strategy was to

who hired Helmut Krone,

the Manhattan adver-

keep customers by creating

as an art director in 1954.

tising agency that would

and nurturing them as brand

Krone owned a Volkswagen

create the revolutionary

ambassadors, rather than

before the agency pitched

Volkswagen ad campaigns

attempting to attract the atten-

for the account. They were

of the 1950s and 1960s.

tion of those who were

impressed with the “honesty”.

Advertising . 14


THINK SMALL

“Think small” was one of the most famous ads in the advertising campaign for the Volkswagen Beetle, art directed by Helmut Krone. It was ranked as the best advertising campaign of the 20th century by “Ad Age”.

15 . The Beetle


The ad agency was founded by William Bernbach, Ned Doyle and Maxwell Dane in 1949. Its greatest success was pitching clients with small budgets, and delivering smart, catchy, soft-sell campaigns, rather than the in-your-face advertising that most agencies were producing. Helmut Krone was DDB’s art director, 1955 Chevrolet Ad

hired in 1954. He was an early Volkswagen customer, years before DDB ever pitched Volkswagen for its business. Helmut Krone, William Bernbach and copywriter Julian Koenig were all fans of the car, and their impression led them to actively pursue VW as a client. VW’s headquarters was in Germany, but it had just opened its Volkswagen of America sales arm in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey in 1955. It was up against an American automotive juggernaut. In 1955, America bought more than 8 million cars, the vast majority of those produced by Ford,

Think about how those cars were advertised:Big, splashy,full-color illustrations, packed with superlatives. A typical 1955 “Motoramic” Chevrolet advertisement shouted “NEW LOOK! NEW LIFE! NEW EVERYTHING!”, boasting two new six-cylinder engines, with all-new transmissions, festive colors and generous appointments. Volkswagen had none of that, and creative director Helmut Krone saw it as an advantage. From the beginning, DDB’s “Think Small” advertising campaign used stark, unretouched, black and white photographs of dark-colored Beetles. The copy — written by Julian Koenig — focused on particular facets of the car. Each one stood on its own, highlighting one of the car’s advantages, and they were so cleverly written and art-directed that they made readers look out for the next one. Even more importantly, the ads were almost exclusively self-depricating.

Advertising . 16


REMEMBER THOSE GREAT VOLKSWAGEN ADS?

Clocking in at just under 20 minutes, the film mixes archival footage with interviews to present a brisk, bouncy stream of fun and incisive commentary from Alfredo Marcantonio and numerous Mad Men-era luminaries who either contributed to DDB’s VW work or were influenced by its style. VW’s ride into the American zeitgeist got off to a bumpy start, given the nameplate’s genesis in the 1930s as a form of affordable, reliable transportation for working-class Germans living under the Third Reich. VW’s ride into the American zeitgeist got off to a bumpy start, given the nameplate’s genesis in the 1930s as a form of affordable, reliable transportation for working-class Germans living under the Third Reich.

17 . The Beetle


Simplicity was key. The car itself offered basic, no-frills functionality. Likewise, its advertising was in most respects bare bones. This was especially true of print efforts, defined for a decade by monochrome executions in newspapers and magazines. These often used self-deprecating headlines—”Lemon” and “Think small” rank among the most renowned—and a shot of a single Beetle (either unadorned or, in some cases, satirically in sync with the surrounding copy).

Advertising . 18


The Beetle in

Volkswagen—the “people’s car”—occupies a special niche in American popular culture, an unlikely outcome for a vehicular brainchild of Adolf Hitler. It’s a pretty uncanny coup, really, that VW and its original model, fondly known as the Bug or Beetle, could be conceived at the dawn of the Third Reich and still find their way into myriad American hearts and households, so soon after World War II, no less. In the 1960s, the loaf-shaped VW bus (dubbed the “Type 2” when it arrived in America in the early 1950s) turned into at least as much of an icon as the famed Beetle, but it was of course the Beetle that first paved the way for VW.

19 . The Beetle


Pop Culture “With their novel rear-mounted,

Disney and Woodstock. That

air-cooled engines, the original

says something, and further

Bugs and buses were built to

examples of how the Bug

be simple, practical, relatively

made inroads across the

cheap to buy, and easy to

culture are too numerous to

maintain. That’s one reason so

count, from the much-mulled-

many are still on the road—and

over Beetle on the cover of

why even today people get

the Beatles’ (!) Abbey Road

the joke when Woody Allen’s

album, to Herbie Fully Loaded

character in Sleeper stumbles

(Disney’s 2005 Love Bug

upon a 200-year-old Bug and

reboot), to the recurring role of

the dust-encrusted relic starts

the indigo-hued New Beetle

right up.

in TV’s Breaking Bad. The bus has been variously known as a microbus, minibus, van, transporter, station wagon, and a few other monikers reflective of the vehicle’s multipurpose applications.

The Beetle in Pop Culture . 20


The Beetle with the license plate “LMW 28IF” on the cover of The Beatles’ Abbey Road album was sold at an auction for $23,000 in 1986. It is now on display at Volkswagen’s AutoMuseum at the company’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany.

“The bright yellow and white bus in the movie (nowadays on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum) fairly evokes sunshine on wheels, despite the stormy interactions among the six passengers—and in what other car could they all sit, scattered on utilitarian bench seats, as if in pews? Drive through any Southern California beach city and you’ll find that such buses (and Vanagons, the microbus’s boxier 1980s successor) figure prominently in the streetscape. When I think about it, I had my own bit part in building VW lore, back when I would load up my Sunshine-style bus with my buddies and their surfboards. It all felt pretty cool, but where did that elusive notion of coolness come from? The VW “Beach Bomb” in my Hot Wheels collection? Perhaps the blue VW bus that figures prominently on the cover of Bob Dylan’s album The Freewheelin’ somehow seeped into my consciousness. The lyrics to The Who’s “Magic Bus,” a staple of classic rock, might have fortified the pop alchemy, too, even if the song wasn’t about a VW.”

21 . The Beetle


“My youthful bus driving days were still a few years before Sean Penn, as stereotypical Southern California surfer dude Jeff Spicoli, tumbled out of a smoke-filled VW bus in 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Yet I drove a similar bus, and with my sun-fried, shoulder-length hair, I looked a lot like Spicoli (but had fewer tardies, and probably better grades and health habits). Many years later, I was watching Little Miss Sunshine with my wife and kids and we laughed harder than most in the theater when (spoiler alert!) the microbus’s horn stuck. Our family’s own VW Vanagon—bought used and by then 20 years old— had had the same quirk. And in our gleeful response, in 2006, I heard echoes of Disney, Woodstock, Woody Allen, and many more.”

Ben Hellwart

The Beetle in Pop Culture . 22


photos by Lorenzo Rezende

Inside out. The VW Beetle doesn’t need a long front hood because the engine’s in back of the car. This gives you a couple of advantages over the longnosed jobs. Obviously, it makes for a shorter car. So you can move in and out of traffic. And in and out of tight little parking spots. Your chances of denting a fender in the process are practically nil, too. Because the VW’s short hood lets you look right down your nose at the road.

Everything on the VW is there for a reason. Including our changes. Unless you’ve nosed around VWs for years, you may not be aware of things like our fully synchromesh transmission. Or our quieter, more powerful engine. Or our 3012 other inside improvements. On the face of it, the VW looks the same; underneath, it’s changed. Which is one reason the VW depreciates so little and stays in style year after year. Nose and all.

23 . The Beetle


SOME FEATURES photo by OC Gonzalez

The standard 1973 Super Beetle had a new curved, panoramic windshield with a greater glass area and an improved flowthrough ventilation system. To go along with the new wraparound windshield was a redesigned safety dashboard with added padding and relocated gauges that appeared to be adaptable to airbags. It also had new, face-level blower-assisted air vents. Like all 1973 Beetles, the Super Beetle featured black windshield-wiper arms, larger “elephant’s feet” taillights designed especially to meet US safety standards, and 5-mile-per-hours bumpers. The new front seats could be adjusted seventy-seven ways!

Inside out . 24


25 . The Beetle photo by Frank Albrecht


photo by Burak K

The rear suspension was significantly revised and included a widened track, softer torsion bars and the addition of a unique Z-configuration equalizing torsion spring. On US, UK and Ireland models, the generator output was increased from 180 to 360 watts, and the entire electrical system was upgraded from 6 volts to 12 volts. The clutch disc also increased in size and changes were made to the flywheel. New equipment included a driver’s armrest on the door and locking buttons on both doors. Safety improvements included two-speed windscreen wipers, reversing lights (in some markets), and a driver’s side mirror. In accord with the newly enacted US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108, North American models received a dual-circuit brake system, the clear glass headlamp covers were deleted; the headlamps were brought forward to the leading edge of the front fenders, and the sealed-beam units were exposed and surrounded by chrome bezels. In the rest of the world markets the 1967 model retained the older headlights. Another oddity of the 1967 North American market Beetle is the rear bumper overriders (towel rails) – the overriders have a different shape than the older models besides the one-year only engine decklid.[clarification needed] The Brazilian market model (Volkswagen Fusca) retained the pre-1967 headlamps until 1972.

Inside out . 26


“Ours is the most inexpensive 4-seater convertible you can find today. But that doesn’t mean we cut any corners. Take our top, for example. On the outside it’s top quality vinyl, windproof, waterproof and easy to clean. On the inside it’s insulated and fully upholstered. (Even the metal braces are covered.) It flips up and down with the flick of a wrist, as there are no complicated motorized devices to get stuck when you’re stuck in a rainstorm. In addition, the rear window is a real window. Made of glass, not plastic. And because it’s glass, we’re able to offer an electric rear window defogger as standard equipment something no other convertible has.”

“Underneath it all, same dependable and economical Volkswagen you get when you buy a regular Beetle. Which means that this year, you can definitely afford not to have a roof over your head. You can also afford to choose from many accessories. Like mag-type wheel covers, floor mats, fog lamps and a front spoiler, bumper overriders, vent shades. Even a tunnel console and a sports gearshift lever. Also, a luggage rack, lockable ski rack or trailer hitch can help you bear a heavy load. An AM/FM radio is a sound investment, as is optional air conditioning. After all, when you own an economy car like the Beetle, you can afford the luxury of adding on to it.”

27 . The Beetle


There is a great emotional tug of the Beetle on Americans. It’s something that filmmaker Damon Ristau, who made the documentary The Bug: The Life and Times of the People’s Car is very familiar with. His Beetle documentary, which premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in 2016 and is now available on Amazon, iTunes, and other streaming platforms, is a loving homage to the greatest automotive cultural icon of the past century. As Ristau sees it, the Beetle is as famous as it is because of a unique confluence of historic, technological, design, political, and cultural events.

photo by Evan Kirby

Inside out . 28


Is bigger better?

The sheer volume of things that are measured in terms of the classic VW Beetle is staggering. From whale hearts to heavy artillery, one object is used more often than any other to give a perspective of size and weight. The Beetle’s role as a standard unit of measurement is an unsung achievement. Let’s take care of that.

“It’s the measure of things. It is the ruler itself”

The classic VW Bug, with its nearly immutable design, has been driven all over the world and all over the movies for the better part of a century. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who couldn’t pick its shape out of a lineup or, more realistically, a weedy Southern California backyard.

So its not surprising the Bug, so imbedded in our culture, is an object of reference. If you need to describe something about size of a Volkswagen to someone who can’t see it, well, you know they’re going know size of the Bug. What’s odd is how the VW absolutely eclipses all other objects of comparison.

Soyuz capsules are the Volkswagen Beetle of the space program

bonus points, your math teacher asked how many basketballs or dollar bills put end to end you need to reach this or that. It’s true Quarter Pounders and other McDonald’s menu items are forever being stacked to the moon. But these things don’t compete with the massive number or variety of comparisons made to the VW.

example, Mack trucks are exclusively used to describe objects we are to think of as large. But Volkswagens are used to describe things as too small and too large and, more importantly, as they

29 . The Beetle

“Beetles from the 1960s, cramped but useful.”

Sure, things are judged the size of a Buick or a 747, and maybe, for

Most other objects are limited in their comparative function. For

really are.

The examination of a subject would be incomplete without a Bug comparison.

Why the VW Beetle is a universal standard of weight and measure


photo by Raban Haaijk

Is bigger better? . 30


As such, science writers make the most use of the vehicle, deeming everything in or from space, made or conceived by man or God to be about the size of a Bug. The VW-size Mars Global Surveyor looked down at the planet with cameras capable of resolving VW-size objects such as the “nearly” VW-size Spirit and Opportunity, which themselves captured images of VW-size rocks in their travels

photo by Olia Gozha

Soyuz capsules are the “Volkswagen

leading to the impression that many writers feel the examination of a subject would be incomplete without a Bug comparison. Some subjects even appear to require it. With hundreds of thousands of Google references to the size of a blue whale’s heart being that of a Volkswagen, I think I would have to be a genius or a fool to attempt describing it any other way. This intense desire to make the comparison manifests itself most plainly when an author, struggling with an object 31 . The Beetle


It fits everywhere.

Is bigger better? . 32


Selection of Things “The Size of a Volkswagen” Leatherback turtles Hitler’s “Columbus Globe” King Kong’s artificial heart A death wish of a fictional yakuza boss The world’s largest bomb, the “daisy cutter” Nomad, a meteorite seeking robot Mature lace-leaf Japanese maples Armadillos living 2.5 million years ago A DJ’s rig in a Polish restaurant Tarantulas in the movie TARANTULA The testicles of Paul Bunyan’s blue ox, Babe Shells of “Big Bertha,” German WWI Cannon A “humming blue box” treating human waste A computer disk drive circa 1968 A CAD workstation circa 1979


These weight comparisons prove less common, presumably because a limited number of people can heft the weight of a Beetle in their head, as you would, say, a bowling ball. So why the persistent need to describe objects in Bug-terms? Is it the fan-boyish love of the brand (possibly found more prominently in free-spirited “writer types”)? Is it just the iconic stature of the car? Is it the snowballing popularity of the metaphor itself? Maybe it’s all of these. Or maybe something more is going on. Perhaps we’re missing a unit of measure. Maybe the size in question is particularly useful for illustration and classification— an expression of the Goldilocks Principle as applied to measurement. The Bug is not too big or small. It’s just right. It filled a descriptive void. If this is true, why not bestow upon it the status of a formal scientific unit, the vw? No less arbitrary than our current measures, it’s already proven to be enormously relatable. Consider these hypothetical uses: “Office space for rent! 7.5 vw,” or “Researchers are experimenting with a new artificial liver, only 3 mvw in size.”

Is bigger better? . 34


The old...

“While the size of the Beetle has grown and its technology and safety features are as modern as any other car, its essence remains.”

35 . The Beetle

photo by Lorenzo Rezende

“While the size of the Beetle has grown and its technology and safety features are as modern as any other car, its essence remains.”


...and the new One of Volkswagen’s goals with

as the Volkswagen Coccinelle,

the model was to give it a more

Volkswagen Maggiolino, Volkswagen

aggressive appearance while

Fusca in some countries) is a compact

giving it some stylistic aspects

car manufactured and marketed by

reminiscent of the Beetle’s

Volkswagen introduced in 2011 for the

design.This was an attempt to

2012 model year, as the successor to

distance the new model from

the New Beetle launched in 1997. It

the Volkswagen New Beetle,

features lower profile while retaining

produced from 1997 to 2011, which

an overall shape recalling the original

never approached the success of

Volkswagen Type 1 Beetle.

the first Beetle.

photo by Jeerayut Rianwed

The Volkswagen Beetle (also sold

The old and the new . 36


photo by They say great things stem out of two

different names, has gone on to become

things: sheer desperation or sheer

the most recognizable automotive form

passion. The Beetle’s story has similar

in history. The Beetle’s association in

beginnings. One man, Adolf Hitler’s

India too has been long and fruitful. With

desperation to take over Europe and then

the first official Volkswagen authorized

the world, and another man, Ferdinand

importers setting shop in Goa by the mid

Porsche’s passion to make the best

to late 1950s, the Beetle was a roaring

automobile for the German masses. Of

success with crowds all over the country

course, the story behind the inception

who wanted something slightly different

of the Beetle and it’s shady beginnings

than the run of the mill Fiat 1100 and the

have been told time and again so we

Hindustan Ambassadors. Fast forward

wont go into details here. But as we all

to 2008, Volkswagen officially brought

know, the Beetle, originally called just the

the new Beetle to India for the first time

‘Volkswagen’ or ‘People’s car’ but known

much to the delight of the growing V-Dub

to different people the world over by a

fanbase in India and despite its exorbi-

horde of different names, has gone on to

tant price tag, the fashionable little car

become the most recognizable automotive

found quite a few buyers in India. And

form in history.

then just last year in 2015, the newest Beetle made its long overdue debut in India. So does the new car still have what it takes to go straight up against its grand

37 . The Beetle


and despite its exorbitant price tag, the fashionable little car found quite a few buyers in India. And then just last year in 2015, the newest Beetle made its long overdue debut in India. So does the new car still have what it takes to go straight up against its grand pappy? So lets start with introductions. The classic Beetle you see here belongs to the father and son trio, Sangram Shirke, Santaji Shirke and Dhanaji Shirke who are also known to be huge V-Dub enthusiasts and collectors. Made in the mother plant at Wolfsburg, this particular car made its way to Kenya and was then imported to India. The Shirke family has had it for about 10 years now and as you can see here have kept it in great and pretty much original condition with the exceptions of a few tiny modern additions. As known by Beetle-people, the Shirke’s car has an American

spec bumper with the larger guards and the tubular over-riders, the large and distinctive hub caps and is an early rectangular-window (as it is known in VW circles) car. A few minutes with the classic Beetle and the new Beetle side by side and the design similarities are obvious. The overall shape is pretty much similar with its swooping lines that can be traced all the way from the front to the rear in one stroke. The round headlamps and round tail lamps too can be equated and even though the new Beetle is much MUCH larger than its grandfather here, there is still an unmistakable connect in the two. We also like how the Volkswagen design team has incorporated things like the Porsche inspired spoiler that found its way to several older Beetles around the world and now is a part of standard equipment.

The old and the new . 38


A lot has changed in the new Beetle when you compare it to the older one from the inside. And yet, put the two cars next to each other, and there are still glimpses of inspiration. Of course, the single large speedometer gauge and small square fuel gauge on the side inset into the art deco dashboard console has made way for a more current instrument cluster but the essence of design still exists similar to a new Mini or a Fiat 500 for example. The new car also gets a really good centrally mounted infotainment touchscreen that comes with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto which is a real joy to use! Thankfully, the daft flower vase attachment which was passed down from the classic Beetle to the last generation one has been omitted in the new Beetle which means your singular sunflower will have to stay at home!

39 . The Beetle


Reasons to Love the 2015 Volkswagen Beetle 1. The Fuel Economy The 2015 Volkswagen Beetle’s fuel economy is perfect for the road, especially since gas prices have peaked at an all time high lately. Therefore, everyone is looking to save where they can on gas, and this car is the perfect way to do so. 2. Safety Features The 2015 Volkswagen Beetle comes equipped with the Intelligent Crash Response System, which increases your changes of staying safe while driving in this little super car. The system works by turning on the hazard lights, cutting the fuel line and unlocking the doors, all through the automatic safety feature should you happen to have an accident.

3. Compact, Perfect Size Volkswagen Beetles have always been a small, adorable, compact size, which is perfect for those who are looking for a smaller, more appealing car. The 2015 Volkswagen Beetle is no different from it’s ancestor cars before, especially when it comes to being compact. The size makes it easy to handle and allows the driver to maneuver into small, tight spaces.

The old and the new . 40


CREDITS Free University of Bolzano - Bozen Faculty of Design and Art Bachelor in Design and Art - Major in Design WUP 18/19 | 1st semester foundation course Project Modul: Editorial Design Design by: Rebecca Toscan Book | The Beetle Supervision: Project leader Prof. Antonino Benincasa Project assistants Maximilian Boiger, Gian Marco Favretto Photography: Ahmad Ramadan (11), Chelsea London (11), Christin Hume (11), Dimitri Iakymuk (11), Dope Squad (11), Eugen Popescu (11), Evan Kirby (11-27-28), Fernando Venancio da Silva (6), Frank Albrecht (25), Giovanni Ribeiro (6), Jeerayut Riandwed (36), Jeferson Felix (3), Lorenzo Rezende (23-35), Manjunath Kiran (37), Mathias Zeller (7-8), OC Gonzalez (24-26), Olia Gozha (31), Tadeu Jnr (1-2-11) Paper: Munken Lynx 150 gr. Burano Luce Grigio Grafite 72 250 gr Fonts: Futura Didact Gothic Printed: Bozen-Bolzano, January 2019 Inside pages – Digital Print | Canon Cover – UV-Serigprahy

40 . The Beetle


The Beetle . 41


he Iconic Bu he Iconic Bu he Iconic Bu


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