David Cardoso designs a VW Beetle for the 21st Century

David Cardoso, a Belgian car designer, has been hired to redesign the VW Beetle in-keeping with modern aesthetics and environmental policies.

The new model seems to making an impact as it has a more aggressive design with an elongated body, a lower roofline, new sporty alloys and a black rear hatch.

As well as modern design features, the car has also been engineered to be more environmentally friendly, with the 2012 model having an all-electric drivetain that gives each wheel its own electric motor.

Explaining his design David Cardoso said, “Because the drive train is electric (one electric motor for each wheel), there is little need for cooling and the nose has limited air inlets increasing the aerodynamics. The headlights for example, are open and used to aspire air into the interior.”

These improvements increase the Beetle’s performance and reduces drag; with the more pronounced headlights and bolder front grille make more of a design statement.

Although Beetle enthusiasts will be glad to hear that even though the design is new, it still has many of the features that made the car an icon. These include the rounded headlights, a curved roofline and the bulging wheel arches, all of which are features that have been present since the first model in 1938.

Mr Cardoso commented, “It had to be smoother and a little bit more aggressive, without losing the looks of the original Beetle.”

At present the vehicle is only a concept car, however with Volkswagen having plans to release an all electric vehicle in 2013, David Cardoso’s vehicle may very well be a car you could lease in years to come.