Categories
Motor Shows Volkswagen

LA 2012: Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet

Volkswagen Beetle Cabriolet

Volkswagen has lifted the lid off its latest Beetle and given the new Cabriolet version a world premiere at the LA Auto Show.

It’s the third time they’ve made a ragtop Beetle and this new model can take you from covered roof to open sky in 9.5 seconds. The roof can be opened at speeds up to 50km/h. Closing the roof takes a little longer, at 11.0 seconds.

Well over 500,000 Beetle Cabrios have been made in the past, including nearly a quarter of a million of the previous-gen New Beetle Cabriolet. Volkswagen will be hoping their latest model will achieve similar success.

The Beetle Cabriolet is on sale in the United States now and will launch in Europe early next year. It will be coming to Australia, with an official launch date still to be scheduled. We reckon it’ll be here before the end of 2013.

For the LA show Volkswagen has created three special themed examples of the Beetle Cabriolet, based on the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. They’re pretty cool, too, you can check them out, and more, after the break.

Categories
Green Machines Mercedes-Benz Motor Shows

LA 2010: Mercedes-Benz BIOME

Mercedes-Benz BIOME

Check out this crazy thing, it’s called the Mercedes-Benz BIOME. We’re half expecting it to be some sort of joke. Read the press guff after the break and you’ll see why.

Truth is, the BIOME was created as an entry into the LA Design Challenge and it is a stunning looking creation. But the explanation of how it works and how it draws its power, well—honestly, you just can’t make this stuff up—it’s extraordinary. Who knows, maybe one day the joke will be on us.

Oh, the winner of the LA Design Challenge was the Cadillac Aera, an equally hair-brained concept powered by fiction.