Of the two new models - one a concept, the other a production car - headlining the Volkswagen stand at the Detroit auto show this week, it is perhaps the less flamboyant which is the more significant.
Nevertheless, it is the E-Bugster, a chopped-and-channelled, battery-powered Beetle, which will inevitably attract the most attention.
Derived from the 2005 Ragster concept, the Bugster is a hardtop based on the 2012 Beetle, with chunky 19” alloys, black A pillars, no rear side windows and its roof lowered about 75mm from that of the standard car, making it look at the same time very West Coast and a little claustrophobic.
But this is 2012, so the E-Bugster has an 85kW/270Nm electric motor driving the rear wheels and a 315kg lithium-ion battery back under the rear parcel shelf, in an ironic return to the layout of the original Beetle of 1934 that would have had Ferdinand Porsche, a staunch proponent of electric cars, grinning all over his face.
Performance is about what you'd expect from a battery car, with a range of about 150km (if you're happy to drive like your name was Cyril) and a rapid recharge time on three-phase power of 30 minutes to 80 percent - or a lot longer from a 220V domestic socket.
Volkswagen has confirmed that the E-Bugster is just a concept, but its drivetrain, which it calls “Blue-e-motion” will be used in future battery cars such as the Golf Blue-e-Motion.
JETTA HYBRID
Now this is the real thing, expected to go on sale in the US in the third quarter of this year (and thus to be catalogued as a 2013 model), the bisexual Jetta has a 1.4-litre turbopetrol engine rated at 112kW and 249Nm hooked up to a 27kW electric motor for a combined output of 127kW.
They drive the front wheels through a seven-speed DSG gearbox that can be disconnected to allow the Jetta to be driven as a pure electric car at up to 70km/h for about two kilometres.
Wolfsburg claims 0-100km/h in less than nine seconds and fuel consumption of 5.23 litres per 100km in the combined cycle - although not both at the same time, mind you.
What's also worth noting is that as hybrids become more mainstream the weight penalty imposed by the battery and motor is being reduced. The Jetta Hybrid is only 100kg heavier than a conventional model.