Volkswagen Beetle

The Beetle is a compact car originally marketed by Volkswagen from the forties to seventies, and in Mexico for decades thereafter. It was originally created by Ferdinand Porsche for Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler as a "people's car", a car anyone could afford. Despite this association, the Beetle (or "Bug") became popular in the United States amongst hippies. In the US the Beetle was often given a hippie color scheme with tye-dye paint and peace signs among other decorations. The Bug competed in touring car racing, including the Trans Am Series under two liter class. The Beetle was revived in the late nineties as the "New Beetle". This revival model was criticized for being front-engined while the original was rear-engined, for being less "bare bones" than the original, and for retaining the gimmicky "New Beetle" name years after its introduction. The "New" was recently dropped. In the popular action cartoon Transformers, the character Bumblebee transformed into a yellow Beetle. In the revival, however, he transforms into a Chevrolet Camaro. This has been criticized as not being true to the series' roots. The New Beetle, also untrue to its roots, has only been used in spec racing.