Thursday, February 11, 1999

Classic Beetle selling briskly

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Ads for new VWs help

BY JOHN ECKBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer

David Rueve tries to keep a number of used beetles for sale on his lot. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

        Almost a year after its North American introduction, the updated Volkswagen Beetle continues to sell at a brisk pace and has accelerated consumer interest in vintage Beetles.

        No corner in Cincinnati has seen such an obvious mutual coexistence of new and vintage Volkswagens as at Dana Avenue and Montgomery Road in Evanston, where Northland Volkswagen still maintains a waiting list for some Beetles.

        Nearby, at Auto Foreign Ltd., owner David Rueve thinks he will sell 30 vintage Beetles during the next year, most brought in from California, where he finds plenty of the rust-free vehicles.

INFOGRAPHIC

Beetle sales over the years

        “We're competitors, but we're pretty much friendly competitors,” said Mr. Rueve, who has four old-style Volkswagen Beetles for sale. “People come down here, and if they decide they're looking for a new VW, they go down the street.”

        His foreign car repair shop — where three vintage Beetles from California have been sold in two months — is a short block away from Northland Volkswagen, where new Beetles carry a $15,900 base price.

        That sticker price apparently means very little to today's affluent Beetle-buying consumer. As far as sales go, the new version is blowing the doors off the old one.

        “Since March, we've sold 100 Beetles, about 10 a month,” said Tim Marsh, vice president of Northland Volkswagen. “We could have sold three times as many if the production was there. They're selling extremely well.”

        The 100,000-car mark was set for the new Beetle Jan. 23, according to Volkswagen of America.

        Experts say the new Beetle sales effort is a good example of echo advertising: dollars spent to create a brand identity in the 1960s that fuels positive feelings and generates sales decades later.

        “It's amazing to me — and I'm a car buff and ad guy — how powerful and enduring this VW brand imagery

        can be,” said Tom Rentschler, creative director at Hensley Segal Rentschler, a Springdale advertising agency with annual billings of $50 million.

        The latest Beetle campaign by Arnold Communications of Boston is about product and nostalgia, said Charles Powers, president and chief executive officer of Powers & Associates, a marketing communications firm in downtown Cincinnati.

        “I recently saw a man at a car wash in Oakley,” he said. “He is a wealthy, successful, individual who could purchase any automobile he wanted. He drives an expensive BMW, but he also bought this bright yellow new Beetle.

        “He said he had so much fun in the old Beetle that he had to do it again.”

        Millions spent on a national advertising campaign since March to hype the new Beetle have not hurt sales of the old Beetles. A spokesman for Arnold Communications refused to detail how much has been spent to advertise the new Beetle.

        But Nielsen Media Research Adviews, which analyzes the advertising industry, pegs the campaign at $46.3 million. The 1998 advertising cam paign apparently reminded vintage owners that a worn-out Beetle might be worth some bucks.

        “People who have old Beetles are bringing them out of their garages and barns to see what they're worth,” Mr. Rueve said.

        Known as a vehicle that delivered basic transportation, the vintage Beetle has about as much in common with the new Beetle as a pair of clamp-on roller skates circa 1958 has with a sleek set of Ultrawheel Sabotage 15 in-line skates.

        The 1960 Beetle was bare-bones: no air-conditioning, sporadic heat from an air-cooled engine, windshield wipers that were more whimsy than wiper and 0-60 mph in a breakneck 32.1 seconds.

        The new Beetle is plush with plenty of muscle: a 115-horsepower two-liter engine, telescoping steering wheel, a six-speaker cassette stereo, fully-galvanized body, optional leather seats and lighted vanity mirrors.

        “Initially, the interest in the Beetle was overwhelming. We had 100 people on a (waiting) list,” Mr. Marsh said. “Sales are still brisk.”

        “It brings back memories,” Mr. Marsh said of the new Beetle. “Almost everybody has a Beetle story.”

       

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