Frankfurt Motor Show 2011: VW Beetle R

VW want more male buyers for their 2012 Beetle and in an effort to attract the boys they ironed-out a few of the out-going car's more effete curves, flattened the roof and added a sterner stare for the up front face. Clearly they’re not done getting the boys on board with hot news and pics of this altogether hotter Beetle R concept from the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show.

Nothing attracts the chaps like a big-bhp engine transplant so the Beetle R gets 267bhp from a boosted-up version of the 2-litre TSI turbocharged petrol engine. The thin side of 300bhp and a decent dollop of turbo-torque could make this by far the quickest production Beetle ever built. The current Beetle 2.0 TSI gets a mere 198bhp. No wonder it’s one for the ladies!

Stance is everything and bigger and brighter is better for us boys, so VW redesigned the R’s front and rear bumpers, making them wider and deeper and filling them full of engine- and brake-cooling air vents and menacing “High Black Gloss” painted inserts.

There’s a distinctly manly, motorsport-inspired front splitter and double-trouble twin-exit exhausts out back, no doubt playing a female-frightening growl of a tune. Bright bling is taken care of by large 20-inch “Talladega” alloys tucked tough-guy-style deep into the softly rounded (oh no!), but now edge-sharpened (phew!), wide wheel arches. Even the current Golf R and Scirocco R only get 18- and 19-inch wheels each. A couple of chick-mobiles, then.

A bigger – but could be even bigger still – rear spoiler discourages female attention, but probably encourages police attention, and rear axle downforce. Downforce is a very manly word.

Us lads like a logo and we like a bit of leather, so for this Beetle R concept there are look-at-me “R” logos everywhere and more leather than Steven Seagal’s long black trenchcoat. There’s also a Yorkie bar in every R glovebox! 







www.vw.co.uk/beetle

Enjoying the show so far? Why not check out our Frankfurt Motor Show 2011 mega gallery of hot new models…


By Daniel Anslow

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