To those who aren’t music fans—or perhaps are really into pressed metal—this Beetle concept being shown at the Frankfurt auto show may at first sound like a tribute to a specific body panel. This is not true. It is a tribute to guitars, specifically those made by Fender. It is a further extension of a partnership that has seen tiny Fender badges affixed to stereos in several current VWs. It is also cool.
The exterior is low-key, with retro-sized tailpipes jutting from under the bumper like tiny herald’s horns, red window trim, a lower and wider stance, and subtle Fender badging. The interior is what makes this show car special, though.
The cabin is lined with genuine wood trim finished in Fender’s signature Sunburst coloration, and there’s a tube amp on top of the dash. The plastic radio surround has been replaced by light-colored mesh like you’d find on an old amplifier (with an iPhone dock in the middle), and the HVAC controls have been metalized to remind of guitar and amp knobs. A quarter-inch socket and tone adjustments are located in the hatch area, allowing you to plug in a guitar and play it through the subwoofer.
If that last bit sounds familiar, Volkswagen halfheartedly delivered on that idea a few years ago, when it gave away First Act guitars with some cars. The instruments came with an onboard pre-amp, and they worked when plugged into the car’s aux-in port, basically like an iPod. But where that was a gimmicky trick designed to move some metal, this Beetle Fender comes across as a genuine tribute to music and guitars. It doesn’t go overboard with the association, avoiding caricature—the pick holder near the gearshift treads dangerously close to that line, but we’ll let it slide.
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