The new New Beetle is due to appear in spring 2011 and will, like its predecessor, be built in Puebla, Mexico. It will adopt suspension components from the last-generation Golf. U.S. buyers will choose from three familiar engines: a 2.5-liter five-cylinder (170 hp), a 2.0-liter turbo unit (200 hp), and a 2.0-liter turbo-diesel (140 hp). Transmission choices will include manuals and dual-clutch automatics with up to seven speeds.

The new version grows by 3.5 inches in length and sports a flatter roofline, a more upright windshield, a wider track, and a reduced front overhang. The extended rear end accommodates a larger cargo area, and the roomier passenger compartment offers more headroom. The overall shape is reminiscent of the Ragster concept from the 2005 Detroit auto show. The cabriolet retains the old-fashioned stacked roof (when lowered). A speedster spin-off is under consideration for the midcycle update.

Things get more interesting when we look further out, to the third-generation car due around 2017. That version could see the Bug return to its boxer-engine roots, given some cooperation from Porsche. Porsche has proposed a new horizontally opposed four-cylinder engine for use in its upcoming entry-level model and as a base engine in the Boxster/Cayman. Four years ago, when VW chief Martin Winterkorn approached Porsche's then-CEO Wendelin Wiedeking seeking to use that boxer engine for a sporty variant of the New Beetle, Wiedeking refused. Just recently, though, Winterkorn again went to Zuffenhausen, obviously in a much stronger position now that the VW Group controls Porsche. If Winterkorn gets the small boxer engine this time, it would become the mainstay powerplant for the third-generation car, which would switch to a rear-wheel-drive, mid-engine layout. How's that for a metamorphosis?

Meh, slightly less hideous.