Bug Bytes

For the ladies

2009-08-06T15:50:00.002-05:00

A friend sent me this classic Volkswagen ad this afternoon and I just had to share it. We've all seen the cutesy black & white ads touting the venerable VW's easy of use, simple maintenance, and super reliability. Well this one is obviously targeted to the male population, not because it mentions complex specifics such as cubic engine size, or horsepower and torque, but because it tells you not to worry if your wife stops cooking and cleaning long enough to actually leave the house and she accidentally wrecks your prized 'Dub. Classic 60's advertising, probably pulled from a Sports Illustrated or Playboy.

Karmann Go: Legendary coachbuilder shuts down as last car comes off the line

2009-06-24T09:01:00.002-05:00

Karmann Go: Legendary coachbuilder shuts down as last car comes off the line

Shared via AddThis

Bug'n in July Car Show

2009-06-23T09:53:00.002-05:00

A talented group of guys in my VW club (the North Alabama Volkswagen Club) came up with this awesome television spot promoting our annual charity car show, Bug'n in July.
It's a clever take on the "Meet the Volkswagens" commercials airing now and it stars Rosie, the '72 Standard of Todd Carlson, voice of Dolphe Mills, and the editing handy of Jim Walker. Enjoy!

Man creates life-size classic Bumblebee VW

2009-06-22T15:15:00.002-05:00

Tom Rhoads from Lemoore, CA loves the Transformers so much that he built a life size replica of the cartoon version of Bumblebee in his front yard. Wow. Just wow!

Is this thing on?

2009-05-21T12:55:00.003-05:00

Hello V-Dubbers! I know it's been awhile since my last post, but I've been on a much needed sabbatical. I've been busy at my new job (well, it's hardly new since I've been here a whole year now), and I've been working on a special pet project for the last 6 months. I've been designing and building a custom "chopper" bicycle when I'm at home not working on house maintenance, VW club stuff, or shop stuff. If you're into that kinda thing, you can read up on my build over at the Rat Rod bike forum. I've still got some more work to do on it, but once she's ready to hit the road (hopefully in the next week), I'll be spending the rest of my free time cruising the trails in style!

I will try to post more updates to the blog in the future, but to be honest, I haven't found anything VW-related that's really knocked my socks off. I haven't done anything to my bug in awhile, and most of the new watercooled Volkswagen news has been kinda ho-hum. I do like the new "Meet the Volkswagens" commercials that are airing lately. This one below really made me laugh out loud. Maybe it's because my boss has a Prius or the whole eco-smugness things some Prius owners exhibit, but this one's a gem.

Virtual racing in the VW Polo

2009-03-04T16:22:00.003-06:00

To help sell the new Volkswagen Polo, launched at the Geneva auto show, Volkswagen is also launching, in conjunction with partner Fish Labs, a Polo racing game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Like the Audi A4 racing game launched last year, the Polo game takes advantage of the accelerometer in the iPhone and iPod Touch, letting you control your car by tilting the devices. Unlike that earlier game, the Polo game is in 3D.

The object of the game is to post winning times on all eight tracks. Each successive track is unlocked by a win on the current track, but the difficulty increases on each track. A soundtrack for the game is provided by German rock band Feinkost.

I tried to find the new app via the App store on my iPod Touch and had no luck, so I can't report on the price or just how entertaining the game actually is. I just hope it's better than that horrible Audi test drive game released last year.

Source: CNET

LEGO my Volkswagen

2009-02-24T07:58:00.003-06:00

One of the hardest things to make with LEGOs has to be a Volkswagen. Think about it, you have to make one of the curviest vehicles out there with little square bricks. I'm sure it gets pretty easy the larger you make your scaled version, but at a smaller scale, will it even look like a beetle?

Super LEGO artist MadPhysicist begs to differ. He has made some awesome LEGO car recreations and among them are not just a Volkswagen Beetle, but a VW Bus AND a New Beetle! Check them out here:

Looks like Volkswagens to me!

Volkswagen still in control, for now

2009-01-30T09:39:00.004-06:00

The German government today upheld the so-called Volkswagen law preventing Porsche from taking full control of Volkswagen AG. The law allows shareholders with a 20 percent stake to block major company decisions. Porsche wants the law struck down because it favors Volkswagen’s home state Lower Saxony, which owns 20.1 percent of VW stock. With the law in place VW can still maintain control of it's major financial operations.

Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries said in a letter today that the law is in line with an EU court ruling over the issue,

“The federal government is convinced that it swiftly and completely implemented the EU court ruling,” Zypries said in an e-mailed statement about the letter to the commission, the 27- nation EU’s regulator in Brussels. “We consider it in line with EU law to keep the 20 percent blocking minority.”

In October 2007, the European Court of Justice ordered Germany to modify the Volkswagen law that gave Lower Saxony special rights. The revised Volkswagen law took effect Dec. 11. Two weeks earlier, Germany received a final warning from the European Commission in Brussels, which said it’s a step away from taking the German government back to court if it doesn’t get rid of the blocking minority.

The Hippie Strikes Back

2009-01-27T15:55:00.005-06:00

A little over a year ago or so ago I posted a video that was almost too painful to watch. A hapless hippie visiting a large corporation accidentally parked in the president's spot. His cherished VW Beetle was subsequently shredded.

Well, it's time for the hippie to get his revenge! Go hippie!

All Your Beetle Are Belong to Us

2009-01-22T10:29:00.003-06:00

German sports car manufacturer Porsche has finally taken over Volkswagen, the biggest European car manufacturer, after increasing it's ownership of VW shares from 42 percent to 50.76%. Porsche plans to raise its stake in VW again to more than 75 percent this year, which would give it total financial control over the Volkswagen Group.

The state of Lower Saxony still owns 25 percent of VW's shares and can block strategic decision

In Germany, a minority investor that owns 25 percent of a company's shares can block strategic decisions, but in the case of VW that level is currently set by law at 20 percent.

Porsche has challenged this so-called "Volkswagen Law" and has received support from the European Commission, which has threatened to haul Berlin into European court again after a revised version of the law retained the 20 percent minority blocking threshold.

It'll be interesting to see what happens to Volkswagen now that Porsche is acquiring a controlling interest in them. Will they drop some underperforming models? Will they introduce a radical twin-turboed New Beetle design with a large whale-tail on the back? Only time will tell.

When one Bus just isn't enough

2009-01-21T11:16:00.003-06:00

One of my buddies spotted this over on the Samba and I just had to post it.

I understand that the front of the single cab pickup truck might have been smashed, but what gets me is that it looks like they grafted it onto the back of nice looking split window bus! Whiskey... Tango... Foxtrot?!?!?

Historic win for VW in Dakar rally

2009-01-20T08:36:00.004-06:00

Team Volkswagen made a historic win in Argentina on Sunday, claiming 1st and 2nd place in the 30th Paris-Dakar rally. What makes this win even more historic is that the TDI-powered Touaregs are the first diesel-powered vehicles to win in the history of the world’s toughest motorsport events.

The Volkswagen team’s South African driver, Giniel de Villiers and his German co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz, crossed the Buenos Aires finish line in their TDI-engined Race Touareg after more than 5000 km of racing. They were nearly nine minutes ahead of the other Touareg driven by Mark Miller and Ralph Pitchford. Third place went to American Hummer pilot Robby Gordon, who was more than 100 minutes behind.

Volkswagen’s 2009 Dakar Rally win is actually the second time that VW has claimed 1st and 2nd place podium wins. In 1980, Swede Freddy Kotulinsky and Frenchman Patrick Zaniroli raced their Iltis machines to the top two overall.

For some awesome pictures of the 2009 Paris-Dakar rally, visit "The Big Picture" on the Boston.com website.

Bio Runner: stranger than fiction?

2009-01-19T20:42:00.003-06:00

There were some amazing concept cars that came out of the LA Auto Show's Design Challenge: Motorsports 2025. Take the example below, created by the Volkswagen/Audi Design center in California.

This is the Volkswagen Bio Runner, an extreme hybrid vehicle designed to partake in the fictional Baja 1000's "One Tank Unlimited Solo Class". The only stipulations of this race are there can only be one driver and one 10-gallon tank of fuel, forcing competitors to use every bit of technology, strategy, and wit to finish. It's an interesting spin on racing and environmentalism, but I think even 2025 is a little optimistic for a vehicle capable of conquering one of the world's most grueling races and do so with a minimum of 100 mpg.

Here's the Bio Runner's write-up from the LA Auto Show:

The Baja 1000 now introduces the “One Tank Unlimited Solo Class.” The only stipulations are one driver and one 10-gallon tank of fuel, forcing competitors to use every bit of technology, strategy, and wit to finish.
In the Bio Runner, the rider is positioned inside a protective cage on a motorcycle-like saddle with controls attached to the hands and feet. These controls manipulate all wheels via synthetic muscle-based suspension which offers unparalleled control and traction.
Much like a motorcycle this system allows the rider to lean into turns as well as shift the center of gravity by changing the position of the wheels
in relation to the cab. This system offers an unparalleled degree of control and traction which ultimately results in much higher speed runs.
The vehicle is powered by dual-turbine engines that run at an ultra-efficient 500,000 rpm and operate on a patented bio-synthetic jet fuel.
The vehicle also boasts an Arial Reconnaissance Drone (AR-D) which feeds video to the driver when visibility is limited.
The Support Team Chopper transports, follows and in the event of a crash, swoops down to perform repairs. It also contains telemetry analysis software, which in the case of emergency, takes over piloting to avoid danger unseen by the driver.

Click here to view the media gallery of the Bio Runner.

Polo coming stateside

2009-01-19T09:02:00.005-06:00

European website Automotive News has learned that Volkswagen is planning on bringing their diminutive Polo to the States.

Development chief Ulrich Hackenberg said the automaker plans to sell the car in the U.S. to take advantage of American buyers' increasing enthusiasm for smaller, fuel-efficient cars.

"The small-car segment is the fastest growing segment in the U.S.," Hackenberg told Automotive News Europe at the Detroit auto show. "Oil prices will rise again and that will drive small car sales up further."

For those stateside and unfamiliar with the model, the Polo would be larger than the Toyota Yaris, but smaller than the Honda Fit.

The Polo would also help Volkswagen to increase it's sales and meet its goal of tripling its U.S. sales to 800,000 vehicles annually over the next decade. With increasing oil prices and depressed economy, this might be the perfect climate to bring a reliable, well-built, and fuel-efficient car to market. I love small cars and I'm a big VW fan, so I'm eager to check out the Polo when it arrives in the U.S.

It's not known when or where the Polo will debut before American audiences, but my money is on the the New York Auto Show on April 10-19.

Below is a shot I found on NextAutos.com of the current model Polo. I'm not sure what, if anything, will change for the American version.

Sources: NextAutos.com, Automotive News

Bug Bytes in 2009

2009-01-19T08:51:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone! Just wanted to say a belated Happy New Year and apologize for the lack of posts recently. My new job allows me to take off for the week between Christmas and New Years and I used that time to vegetate and practice my CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) skills. I've also been busy putting those skills to good use by redesigning the website for Airkooled Kustoms. There's still some small changes to be made there, but the site was overdue for a freshening.

I've got a backlog of VW links to post, so I'll try to get those online quickly and get back to a regular posting schedule. Speaking of CSS and site redesigns, I will probably redo the Bug Bytes blog in the next few months. I've found that if you don't practice something enough it becomes unfamiliar and I don't want to have to relearn XHTML and CSS every year!

Now that my blog has moved to it's own domain name, along with the redesign, I will also add a few extra features. I'm planning on creating a Cafe Press store where I can sell some t-shirts and schwag. There probably won't be very many VW-related ones as the copyright lawyer for VW are ferocious, but probably some tongue-in-cheek and satirical ones.

I've also been spending a lot of my spare time working on a custom-built chopper bicycle. I'm going to build another one this winter and I'll probably post updates here as well.

Hope everyone is having a great year so far and ry to stay warm out there!

It's a Girl Thing

2009-01-18T22:56:00.004-06:00

Hey Girls! Get your pocketbooks ready, because your chance to help out the MaryEllen Locher Breast Center in Chattanooga and maybe win a Volkswagen Thing! There's lots of other great prizes and the proceeds go to a good cause, so make your reservations now. Here's the information I received about the event:

The Memorial Health Care System Foundation’s distinctive gala Pink! will be held Friday, January 23, 2009 at 7 p.m., at the Chattanooga Convention Center .
This year’s theme, Hot Pink! In The City, highlights an elegant and fun evening. Guests will enjoy cocktails, dinner, entertainment and an amazing silent auction. Some of the auction items include golf carts, scooters, designer jewelry, and a Yamaha WaveRunner from TRC Yachts just to name a few.

A special highlight of the evening will be a live auction featuring a Volkswagen vintage car – “The Thing.” This one-of-a-kind vehicle, outfitted with pink interior and exterior, is available for preview at Village Volkswagen of Chattanooga.
Tickets for Pink! are $150 per person including cocktails, dinner and entertainment. Patron tickets of $300 per person provide access to an exclusive Pink! patron party in addition to dinner, entertainment, table-side bar service, valet/reserved parking, and premium seating at Pink!
For more information about sponsorship opportunities or to purchase tickets, please call Memorial Health Care System Foundation at 423.495.4151 or visit www.memorial.org/foundation.

There is no spoon...

2008-12-22T11:07:00.003-06:00

There's an awesomely clever new VW Golf commercial now airing that has to been seen to be appreciated. Below is a description from the Guardian UK website to tease you. Video can be seen here.

Volkswagen has drawn inspiration from the Bourne and Matrix movies for a TV ad to promote the new VW Golf that features a car designer having a series of vicious running fights with sinister clones.

The TV ad, created by ad agency DDB London, opens in the German VW factory where the Golf is made, in the chief designer's office.

He answers a knock at his door and is confronted by a sinister clone of himself who punches him. The designer fights back then tries to escape from his attacker, only to be confronted by more and more clones as he is pursued through the VW factory.

After he has defeated the last of his assailants the chief designer is seen looking at the new VW Golf. "Sometimes the only one you have to beat is yourself," runs the voiceover.

The action is set to MJ Lan's remix of Keine Melodien. VW's new TV campaign, "The Fight", breaks on Saturday, December 27, and will run until the end of February. It will also run in cinemas nationwide.

"The Golf sets the benchmark in its segment. So when we set ourselves the challenge to improve on the Golf Mk V our main target was to outdo ourselves. This commercial highlights in dramatic fashion exactly how hard that challenge was," said Morna Steel, communications manager at Volkswagen UK.

Media planning and buying has been handled by Mediacom, with production by Stink and post-production by The Mill.

Punch Buggy, now on the iPhone

2008-12-19T15:22:00.003-06:00

Back before there were full color LCD's integrated in the back of headrests or flip-down monitors for high-resolution gaming, children used to have to entertain themselves via more primitive means during lengthy car trips. You could either draw imaginary lines between you and your siblings and defend your borders at the cost of life, limb, and your parents sanity, or you could color, read books, or play Punch Buggy. Punch Buggy was only good for so long though. Eventually someone would lose count of the buggies and everyone would regress to do line warfare or some other irritating endeavor.

Well, if the color LCD's and onboard entertainment no longer suffice, fear not! Now you can play Punch Buggy on your iPhone or iPod Touch!Thoroughly updated for kids of this generation, this slick little mobile app will keep track of player scores and even allows for specific cars worth more points to be tracked and scored. There is a free version and a 99¢ version, so head on over and pick one up before that long Christmas trip to grandmother's house.

One Dog Ugly Commercial

2008-12-15T11:42:00.003-06:00

Weirdest... Volkswagen... commercial... EVAR!!! I've never heard of the Space Fox, maybe it's a VW mini-ute from another planet, but there is already a commercial, albeit quite disturbing one, for it.

Dog-Fish - Volkswagen SpaceFox - video powered by Metacafe

For Testing Purposes only

2008-12-12T08:28:00.002-06:00

My Volkswagen Beetle (1972) has always been an incredibly reliable car. Hard to believe, that even after 30+ years, I can count on it starting up every morning, rain/shine/snow/whatever, and ferrying me to work.

I've heard the new Volkswagens are just as reliable (well, maybe not the first-gen New Beetles). One advantage they have over my classic VW is safety. Volkswagen does rigorous testing on all of it's vehicles. Sure, they do front, side, and probably even rear impact tests... those are industry standards. But you'd never guess what other kinds of tests go into making a solid, reliable German car. Thankfully, someone caught a few on film:

Paper or Plastic?!?

2008-12-09T21:52:00.002-06:00

Vintage VW's are getting harder and harder to find, especially older and rarer models like split-window and oval Beetles, or 21-window Buses. So what's an eager VW enthusiast to do if he wants one of the more sought-after models? Well, you could scour the Samba and Craigslist and hope to get lucky. You could poke your head into in every back alley garage and "off the paved road" barn, and hope to come across an unmolested original dubs. Or you could always have someone make one for you!
That's what some clever Japanese enthusiasts did. They've recreated an early split window bus out of what they call FRP (fiber-reinforced plastic)... more commonly known to American veedubbers as fiberglass.

Volkswagen's have nearly really ranked very high on safety. That's one of the reasons the beloved little Beetle was no longer imported to the States. It was getting harder and harder to meet federal emissions and safety standards (have you seen the bumpers on a '79 Super? Blech. That said, I can't imagine how dangerous it would be to tool on down the highway in a giant plastic box that's supposed to look like a VW bus. Sure, it's probably a lot lighter, but I would think that'd make crosswinds all the more exciting!

Don't get me wrong, fiberglass is great and serves lots of useful functions. Baja VW's use a lot of fiberglass replacement panels to save weight and they're easy to mend or replace when they're damaged. However, with a fiberglass creation of this size, I imagine it would get damaged quite a bit. Just think of stress that would be exerted on this body as it's being pushed into a headwind at 60 mph. Without proper reinforcement, this thing would be full of stress cracks after good summer's worth of cruising.

Anyway, enough of my babbling. To see the build-up pictures of the FRP Wonder Bus, visit their gallery. But if you really want some kicks and giggles, make sure to visit the "Engrish" page for an amusing translation of the FRP bus's features.

Chattanooga's Prototype VW caught on film

2008-11-24T14:11:00.002-06:00

The NewsChannel 9 website claims they have obtained a picture of a car that the photographer says is a prototype of the new mid-sized sedan (NMS) scheduled to be produced at Chattanooga's Volkswagen Plant by 2011.

VWoA hasn't confirmed the rumor and are instead insisting that the car pictured is just another Jetta. For more details and to see the picture (hopefully before VW has it yanked), head on over to NewChannel 9's website for the whole article.

Fahrvergnugen, Fahrvergnugen Gump

2008-11-21T09:49:00.000-06:00

This is a cute commercial from Brazil that takes a little fahrvergnugen and mixes it with a little Forrest Gump. Why don't they show these kinds of commercials in America?

VW wins Car Ad of the Year, 2008

2008-11-19T15:05:00.002-06:00

The recent ‘Polo Confidence’ advertising campaign for the Volkswagen Polo – also known as ‘Singing Dog’ – has been honoured at this year’s Autocar Awards, being named Car Ad of the Year 2008. This award is voted for by the readers of Autocar on-line.

The ‘Polo Confidence’ advert features a Jack Russell dog which is shown to be nervous and timid in everyday situations, yet, while in the Polo, ‘sings’ happily and confidently along to the soundtrack of ‘I’m a man’ by the Spencer Davis Group.

On accepting the prestigious award, Chris Craft, Director of Volkswagen UK commented: ‘We’re delighted to receive this award from Autocar – and it’s really special because it’s voted for by the public.

‘We wanted to develop the advert to reinforce the key messages of the Polo – safety, security and therefore confidence. We are really proud to have produced such a memorable advertisement and one which has clearly captured the public’s imagination.’

Charles Hallett, Editor of Autocar added: ‘We agree with our readers’ choice. It’s funny, memorable and in keeping with some excellent Volkswagen adverts over the years.’

Conceived and produced by Volkswagen’s advertising agency, DDB London, the advert was filmed over three days in Los Angeles, USA. Two Jack Russells, Bear and Cody, were used during the filming. Though almost identical, the two male dogs are not siblings.

One of the trainers from the dogs’ agency, Worldwide Movie Animals, said: ‘On screen, Bear did all the happy, singing in the car stuff and Cody did all the scaredy cat, shaking stuff. Cody has a command called "head down" where he lowers his head as you see in the commercial and it makes him look very timid. As soon as you release the behaviour, he pops his head back up and looks super happy again. They love chicken, playing ball, frisbee and tug of war. Both are really good tempered, well trained dogs that are fun to be around.’

The advertisement has so far registered over one million hits on the internet video site, YouTube, while 36 fan groups were set up on social networking site FaceBook. The soundtrack, which was not re-released, also peaked at number six on the UK Rock Top 100 on iTunes.

Volkswagen gets $outhern Ho$pitality

2008-11-19T14:17:00.009-06:00

You may have heard the news last year... several cities in the U.S. were fighting to bring a new Volkswagen plant to the States. Having a manufacturing facility like this in your backyard brings lots of jobs which can help stimulate your cities economy and make you seem more attractive to our suppliers and corporations. Eventually the dust settled and a site was selected in southern Tennessee. What did it end up taking to lure a major European car manufacturer like Volkswagen to a little old town like Chattanooga? Incentives, and LOTS of them.

The Chattanoogan has published an excerpt of the 49 page Memorandum of Understanding that outlines a long list of incentives that helped lure the $1 billion Volkswagen plant to Choo-choo town.

There's some real no-brainers in there, like VW gets to name the streets in the industrial complex (heck, they can even rename the complex if they like), expedited permits, abatement of real and personal property taxes but there's a lot benefits you might not have thought of, like Chattanooga has to build a fire station near the auto plant, provide $24 million for job training assistance and $3.4 million for on-the-job training. The state and local governments will spend $40 million on a worker training facility and equipment near the plant. It is "for use by the company and their suppliers at the park in accordance with the requirements and standards of the company." Chattanooga State will operate the training center, while receiving $2 million per year for eight years from the state.

Chattanooga better keep this huge project on track too, because according to the memorandum, VW is to be paid $25,000 per business day lost as a result of construction delays in getting the site ready.

I'm sure the new VW plant will bring in a lot more money into Chattanooga than the city is spending to bring VW to town. If you'd like to see the entire Memorandum of Understanding, click here.