| Nine am and Zurich airport is already a busy place. While Sirish rushes to the Swiss desk to change tickets I head out of the terminal building to locate the Europcar car rental desk. The funny thing is that the car we have to pick up is a Volkswagen Beetle cabriolet from the press fleet but press cars could also be collected and dropped off at Zurich airport at the Europcar counter.A convenient system that makes life simple for us journalists - get off the plane, get to the rental desk and drive out with the test car. Excellent. Our plan is drive the Beetle a 1000 kilometres from Switzerland to Italy. But rather than the quick route which is nearly a hundred kilometres shorter, we decided to go via the Grand Saint Bernard pass, which at just 8100 feet is more historical (the dog is named after the pass) and spectacular than formidable. On the way we would spend the night at Nayan’s place at Montreux, a close friend of Sirish, before taking on the famous Saint Bernard pass the next and onwards to Milan. Ten steps in the right direction and I spot our Beetle in a parking bay. Unfortunately the coupe wasn’t available at Zurich, so we had to settle for the cabriolet. There however is no mistaking or even overlooking the Beetle anywhere in the world, the shape is just too recognizable, so recognizable in fact that I’m surprised Volkswagen haven’t tried to trademark it. I doubt I would even have to describe just how it looks, you’d have already formed a picture of it in your mind. It however is not a shape that I like or love, though I quite respect just why it is so adored. Part of that adoration comes from the fact that the Beetle is cute, warm and fuzzy just like your favorite teddy bear you had as a kid. The adoration is also more prevalent among an older generation who grew up on a diet of the Beetle. The sixties and the seventies was a time of the flower children, youth who believed in the ‘make love not war’ ideology. I completely agree with that train of thought, though it still does not make me like or even love the Beetle the way the Europeans, Yanks and rest of the world did. In all ways Americans took to the Beetle like South Indians to rice, the North Indians to tandoori and the cow belt to Mayawati. At it’s peak more 13 lakh cars were being manufactured every year. Quite unlike the new Beetle which in small measure has adapted the older cars silhouette to little effect. Minor detail changes to the current Beetle, such as the clear lens headlamps which are a little more oval than the hardtop and minor revisions to the bumpers add a bit more definiton to the bug-eyed shape. And then of course there is hardly a car with such a non-car like silhouette that does not conform to any traditional shapes. If I had to put a finger on it, the design would not exactly fit as sedan, hatchback, coupe or whatever cliches there exist. This distinct design and the unique character and personality it lends to the Beetle are just what has made it so endearing to millions of people around the world. Oh there was also ‘Herbie’ in the late eighties, Hollywood immortalized the Beetle by making it the star of several movies and I am certain at some point we’ve all loved those movies and the car even more. |
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