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Volkswagen Beetle Targa 4S Looks Like the 911's Affordable Cousin

For many years, the Porsche 911 was the butt of the joke for being a distant cousin of the Volkswagen Beetle. Of course, both models have changed a lot since then. The Bug was a front-engined relative of the Golf for a couple of generations while the 911 stopped being air-cooled and took on supercars in Turbo format.
Volkswagen Beetle Targa 4S Looks Like the 911's Affordable Cousin 2 photos
Photo: Kleber Silva
Volkswagen Beetle Targa 4S Looks Like the 911's Affordable Cousin
But it's still easy to see the connection between the two in the design department. All the later versions of the Beetle try to keep the classic, rounded fenders and lights. The last one even had a squished roof, so you might mistake it for a Porsche... if you had your eyes closed.

Like a crocodile that achieved killing perfection, the 911 also evolved quite slowly in the design department. The current generation is a little bit more modern but wouldn't look out of place next to its predecessors from decades ago.

Neither Porsche nor Volkswagen embraced the connection that once existed. In fact, it even looked like they weren't on speaking terms after the takeover attempts.

But today, we're going to imagine that the Beetle was fully allowed to associate itself with the Neunelfer. How? By looking into a Beetle Targa 4S rendering by Kleber Silva.

A new Targa just came out, looking just as spectacular as its predecessor. Unfortunately, the technology that makes the roof close automatically is quite expensive, so it's not something that could be directly implemented on a Beetle. But we'll remind you that Mazda had no problem adding a complex roof to the MX-5 RF (costs about $3,000 extra).

The other major hurdle for this crazy idea is the fact that Volkswagen recently stopped making the Beetle with no plans for a replacement. There have been rumors suggesting a fully electric successor might be planned, but that wouldn't come until much further down the line.
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About the author: Mihnea Radu
Mihnea Radu profile photo

Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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