To me, it says GM is biting at Honda’s heels, trying to take some market share away from them. GM is identifying Honda as the benchmark to which they aspire. Just look at all those Hyundai and Kia commercials that say the car sells for ______ less than a new Camry or Accord.
I am in Mexico, and if you live here, you can get an older Beetle, called affectionately Vocho instead of Bug, for perhaps $3,000. It might be 20 years old, but they can run as good as new if you work on them. A few years ago, a niece said you can get one reupholstered for around $300 USD.
Parts are still available.
The newer Bugs, since 1993, have fuel injection and cat. And, the later ones were indeed corresponding to the Super Beetle.
The Thing, I also wouldn’t mind having one, I think are called the Safari here. There aren’t many, but I have seen a few in near perfect shape. They are indeed tempting.
The Beetle has no heater at all here. I have been asked to take a towel and keep the inside of the windshield wiped clean so the driver can see when the temps and humidity are wrong. And, if it is cold, you wear a warm coat.
People used to bring old Beetles into Mexico and have them completely rebuilt, body, chassis (hee, hee); upholstery; motor; transmission; etc., thus getting around the import prohibition. I dunno’, maybe they still do. Customs figured it out, and when you come back into the US with a legal Bug, but in great shape, you may be forced to pay customs on the FMV of the rebuild.
The replacement for the Old Beetles here is principally the Chevy, I forget spelling. It is a small car of modern design, well below $10,000 USD, but they are tough. You see them in the boonies banging along like the Beetle did, and the motors go a very long time without an overhaul. They also come with a tiny pickup body. They go flying along the high speed highways at 80 or 90 mph. And, I see them crowding 7 or 8 people in them, just as they do the Bug.
There are others, such as the Atos, but the most common that I see tends to be that Chevy.
I hope it is not prohibited to post a link of a picture of the Chevy. Picture does not show it but its size is sort of like the Bug.
Agree-Kevin
Sad, but true,I had a cousin killed in a Beetle-Kevin
“GM is identifying Honda as the benchmark to which they aspire”
Well, at least they are being a bit more upfront about this issue nowadays!
Years ago, when GM decided to launch the Saturn division, they bought a number of Honda Civics, tore them apart to see what made them tick–so to speak–and came up with the original Saturn sedans.
Based on what resulted from that exercise, I think I have to conclude that GM was not very good at copying, or even at emulating.
“Based on what resulted from that exercise, I think I have to conclude that GM was not very good at copying, or even at emulating.”
GM appears to be much better at it now. They used to be saddled with restrictive design rules that produced uninspired cars, like the early 2000s Malibu. The redesigned Malibu was the first car that the design rules were lifted for. Chevy has other new cars and trucks that have gotten excellent reviews. The Cruze is supposed to be a good update for the Cobalt. Cadillac has also changed dramatically, and I think for the better. Who would have imagined 5 years ago that Cadillac would produce the fastest production sedan in the world; fully capable of competing with Jaguar XKF, BMW M5, and MB AMG E63? Isn’t it amazing what the almost going out of business has done for them? At least they finally understood that they had to do something besides hope that customers would come around to their way of thinking.
Exactly,I really dont like someone bad mouthing the competition,when the competition is pretty good to start with(man all the new trucks are overloaded with power compared to the eighties) its bad sportmanship,Chevy is starting to get a good line again.Let thier quality be thier best ad-Kevin