It’s been a long time coming and after all the teaser videos and Oprah giveaways, the newVolkswagen Beetle has finally been revealed. VW chose the Shanghai Motor Show as the first stop in the reveal, with the New York Motor Show to follow. With all the hype that has been building up around the new Beetle, VW have a tough time on their hands to live up to it.

New VW Beetle based on the classic

VW have gone back to their roots for the new generation Beetle, taking design cues from the original Beetle, released over 73 years ago, as apposed to the previous Beetle released in 1998. In that regard, the new generation Beetle is longer, wider and lower which creates a more “masculine” appearance. The new VW Beetle is also a lot more practical, with 309 litres of boot space and 4 seats, with a split-fold rear seat for further utility.

Under the hood, the UK version of the new VW Beetle comes with 4 engines to choose from including a 1.2 litre TSI, a 1.4 litre TSI, a 2.0 litre PS and a 1.6 litre BlueMotion diesel engine. VW have included Stop/Start technology and battery regeneration in the 1.6-litre which gives it an estimated fuel consumption of 4.3 litres / 100km and a CO2 emission rating of 112g/km.

The new VW Beetle goes on sale in the States in their autumn of this year, with a release in mainland Europe in early 2012. No word is out on a local release yet, but it will likely be soon after it arrives in Europe.