Volkswagen Premieres Its Very Orange And Slightly More Rugged Beetle Dune At LA Auto Show

At the ongoing Los Angeles Auto Show, Volkswagen just pulled back the curtain on a new special edition Beetle called the Dune, giving it added ruggedness and transforming it into a crossover model in the process. 

Paying homage to the highly recognisable desert Beetles of yesteryear that scaled the dunes of Baja California (or just the usual surf spot), the new Beetle Dune is dressed with numerous off-road accents such as its higher ride height, 18-inch wheels, and ruggedised panels around the wheels, front lip, and rear. 

There’s black side trim strips that has stylised Beetle running boards with the “DUNE” badge imprinted that you must have already spied and is available as both in both coupe and cabriolet body styles. There are a total of nine body colours available for the Beetle Dune, with the new options being Sandstorm Yellow Metallic and Dark Bronze Metallic. 

Anything’s better than silver on a car so wilfully a throwback to the desert racing days of the Beetle’s past. 

Inside, the Beetle Dune retains all the creature comforts one expects from a Volkswagen. The rugged desert motif does not carry over inside, and thankfully so, because there’s leather upholstery, a 400-watt stereo and all the other bells and whistles. 

Volkswagen hasn’t strayed far from the norm when it comes to engine choices, and should the owners want to take their new Beetle Dune out onto the rough stuff, they’d be wading into the thick with a choice of three turbocharged petrol engines (producing 105PS, 150PS, or 220PS) and two turbodiesel options (generating 110PS or 150PS) in the North American markets, with availability dependent on market.