The 2012 VW Beetle tuning wars have began. Leaving aside the Beetle RS project with some very light styling modifications by the enthusiast website VWVortex that we showed you back in June, ABT Sportsline is the first mainstream tuning firm to take on the all-new 2012 Volkswagen Beetle, or as the company likes to call it, the Speedle.

The noted VW Group tuner said it is still working on the performance upgrades for the latest Beetle, which won’t arrive in customer hands until September, but it can give us an idea of what to expect based on its current offerings.

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And no, despite what you may have heard or read, the Audi TT ain’t the most popular car among hairdressers – or at least not in Britain. According to a new study made available today by UK women's car insurance specialist Diamond, that title goes to…*drums please*…the one and only, MINI One hatchback. In fact, the BMW Group’s MINI brand had two vehicles in the top five positions.

The UK insurance firm came to this conclusion after looking at data from over 18,000 hairdressers in Britain. The company said the MINI One is three and a half times more likely to be driven by someone working as a hairdresser than everyone else.

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Volkswagen has announced pricing for the all-new 2012 Passat, the firm’s midsize sedan design to meet the needs of U.S. consumers. The four-door saloon will have a starting MSRP of $19,995 (€14,110), not including a $770 destination charge that increased the price to $20,675.

Built at Volkswagen’s newly inaugurated Chattanooga plant in the state of Tennessee, the Passat is available with three engine options and eight equipment levels. The starting price corresponds to the 2.5L model, which features a 170HP 2.5-liter petrol engine mated to a manual gearbox. The entry-level Passat comes equipped with automatic dual-zone climate control, Bluetooth connectivity, steering wheel audio controls and VW's no-charge three-year/36,000 mile Carefree Maintenance Program as standard.

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Here’s an idea: why not simply ask the public what they want in a car? Focus groups are one thing, but Volkswagen is taking this concept to extremes with its newly launched People’s Car Project. The ostensible goal of the project is to solicit advice from some of China’s 450 million internet users; advise that will shape a new model for the Chinese domestic market.

Dubbed “mass manufacturing” by Volkswagen, the Orwellian-sounding project will run for one year and gather Chinese consumers’ input in the form of text, images and film through the Zaoche website. There will also be competitions where users can vote for their favourite designs, and prizes will be handed out to the best. If proven successful, the same idea could be implemented in other regions as well.

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As the adage goes, there is no such thing as bad publicity and it is better to be reviled and even mocked at than to be ignored. In the case of Larry Roesch Volkswagon (that’s how the name of the German automaker is spelled on the dealer’s Youtube account), making the automotive ridiculist was intentional to grab some media and customer attention. And since we’re here talking about it, you could say that their goal has been achieved…

The VW dealer has published a series of intentionally cheap and corny commercials starring one of the company’s salesmen, Nick Pontarelli. In two of the videos, Pontarelli abuses a Volkswagen Golf GTI and a Jetta by forcefully shutting and climbing onto the doors to prove the cars' ‘German’ strength and quality. His final statement is “try that with a Hyundai or a Honda”. Watch the clips after the break.

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A new trim level that brings sportier looks and enhanced equipment features has been added to the UK range of the latest Volkswagen Transporter. The Sportline specification is available on the panel van and kombi models, in both short and long-wheelbase versions, with prices starting at £28,220 (€32,000) for the panel van, and at £30,100 (€34,150) for the kombi.

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Volkswagen has dropped pricing details for the new Amarok pickup truck in Britain. At launch, the Amarok will be offered only as a double-cab in three trim levels and with a choice of two turbo diesel engines. Prices start from £16,995 for the Startline model and £18,995 for the Trendline, while the range-topping Highline will cost from £21,575.

The entry-level powerplant is the 2.0-litre TDI with 122-ponies, which is available on the Startline models. A more powerful 2.0-liter BiTDI with 163-horses is standard on the Trendline and Highline models.

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The 2011 Geneva Motor Show will mark the return of the Cabriolet nameplate to the Golf range after an almost decade-long hiatus. Based on the underpinnings of the latest generation Golf hatchback, the two-door four-seater features a soft top with an electro-hydraulic drive that can be raised or lowered in only 9.5 seconds. The process can also be performed during driving at speeds of up to 30 km/h (19 mph).

The exterior styling is similar to the three-door Golf Mk6, with the Cabriolet featuring a unique rear section, lower profile roof line and more swept-back angle of its front windscreen frame.

Whereas previous Golf Cabriolets featured a fixed central rollbar, VW's newcomer gets a pop-up rollover protection system similar to the one found on its sister Audi model, the A3 Convertible. Minus the four-seat layout, the Cabriolet's interior is identical to that of the hatchback.

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If you never fancied the Eos as a replacement for the good ol' traditional Golf Cabriolet, then you'll be happy to know that the Geneva Motor Show will host the world premiere of an all-new soft top Golf model. The last time Volkswagen offered a convertible variant of the Golf range was almost a decade ago with the facelifted Mk3 version that was marketed alongside the Mk4 Golf.

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Carscoop reader Torben tipped us off this morning about the addition of two Volkswagen concept cars penned by the Italdesign Giugiaro studio at the European patent office. Given the recent reports on the world premiere of two new design studies from Italdesign Giugiaro to mark its integration to the VW Group at the Geneva Salon next week, we'd say it's almost certain that these are the cars being readied for the Swiss motor show.

The first concept is a tall and narrow five-door hatchback model with seating for four passengers, while the second model appears to be a sportier looking three-door variant with a lower roofline and more aggressive lines, in the likes of the Scirocco. We can't tell for sure, but it is possible that these two cars are roughly the same size as the Polo.

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One of the most highly anticipated world premieres of the 2011 NAIAS, the new U.S. market 2012 Volkswagen Passat, turned out to be one of the less exciting -at least in terms of design- introductions of the show. The US-built replacement for the European-sourced Passat literally looks like an extra-large Jetta, which drew its own share of criticism for its uninspired and generic looks. For comparison, we've added a few shots of the Jetta after the jump.

While the design may not be engaging, the car's lower sticker prices will certainly attract more buyers as the new Passat will start from around $20,000 or some $7,000 to $8,000 less than the 2011MY it replaces.

However, keep in mind that while the base 2011 Passat was offered with a modern 200HP 2.0 TFSI, the entry-level 2012MY Passat will come with VW's old 2.5-liter five-cylinder unit rated at 170HP.

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For Oettinger, tuning the Volkswagen Amarok 2.0 BiTDI didn't mean offering impressive exterior and interior modifications, neither insanely boosting the power, just simply rewriting some of the engine management software. But hey, it gets the job done.

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We're not sure if the beautiful women surrounding the redesigned 2012 Eos coupe-cabriolet at VW's LA Show booth made it look better, but das Germans definitely scored some media points, especially with the presence of former Victoria's Secret supermodel, Heidi Klum.

Leaving the femme fatales aside, Volkswagen's hardtop convertible enters the 2012 model year with a mid-life facelift that brings it more in line with the company's latest products and includes a more Golf-like fascia with new headlamps and a far less prominent front grille. The reshaped front and rear bumpers, plus new two-part LED rear lights and mirror designs round off the exterior makeover.

For the interior, VW made some subtle upgrades in the form of new trim on the instrument panel and doors, and different controls on the air conditioning system.

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At the 2010 Paris Motor Show, we saw three new mid-size sedans making their way to the halls of the Parc des Expositions Porte de Versailles. Two of them, the all-new Peugeot 508 and the redesigned VW Passat B7, received their world premiere, while the Kia Optima was presented for the first time in Europe.

Now, we all know you can't and you shouldn't buy a car based upon looks or preliminary specs alone. It's the whole package that counts. However, in this case, we simply want to find out which one of these new family sedans captured your attention for the right reasons.

Place your vote in the poll after the jump and be sure to have your say in the comments section.

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[Fresh pics added] What can we expect from the crisp, facelifted B6 Passat? Well, for one thing, it's actually labeled a seventh-generation model even though it's clearly B6-derived. In its defense, VW says "every body panel apart from the roof is new".

Said new panels extend the car by 4 millimeters (4,769 mm for sedan, 4,771 mm Estate), while the width and height remain the same at 1,820 mm and 1,474 mm, respectively.

Up front, the nose gets a more attractive grille / headlight treatment and is more in-line with VW's current styling. On the outer edges of the new, chromey grille reside LED running lights. At the rear, the tail lights get chrome accents and blend nicely with the sharper lines of VW's family saloon.

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In an effort to stem the outpouring of criticism aimed directly at the recently-revealed B7 Passat, VW has released some more pics of the upcoming American NMS (New Midsize Sedan). Thankfully, we here in the States won't have to deal with the reskinned Passat and its - according to our readers - "boring" looks. Instead, we'll be getting a production version of the car seen here, Teutonic and built in Tennessee.

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Europe's largest carmaker, the Volkswagen Group, completed the acquisition of Italdesign Giugiaro S.p.A. (IDG) on Monday and now holds a 90.1 percent stake in the Italian design and engineering firm as well as the company's brand name rights and patents. The German automaker said the shareholding has been purchased by Audi's Italian subsidiary Lamborghini with the remaining stake held by present owner family Giugiaro.

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This is the GENeco Bio-Bug, a methane-fueled VW Beetle cabriolet converted by The Greenfuel Company to showcase yet another alternative fuel possibility. Using "specialist equipment", GENeco processes waste using anaerobic digestion. Basically, anything biodegradable is eaten by bugs that, in an oxygen-free environment, release methane.

In order to make that methane usable as biogas (i.e. work without noticeable side effects), the CO2 has to be filtered out.

The firm claims that the Bio-Bug can run for up to 10,000 miles annually using gas collected from just 70 homes. Also, if it were possible to convert all the gas collected from the Avonmouth location, GENeco says it could potentially use this process to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 19,000 tons.

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Volkswagen's UK dealers are now accepting orders for the redesigned 2011 Touran minivan with first deliveries set to take place on 22 September. Prices for the seven-seater MPV range from £17,585 on the road for the Touran with the 1.2-liter TSI petrol, to £25,535 for the range-topping Sport model with a 2.0-liter TDI diesel and DSG transmission.

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The 100,000th third-generation Scirocco today came off the production line at Volkswagen's Autoeuropa plant in Portugal, just two years after the compact sports coupe / hatchback was launched into the market in 2008 and even though the German company does not offer the vehicle for sale in North America. Car number '100,000' is a Scirocco R 2.0 TSI, in a Rising Blue Metallic exterior finish, with a Titan Black interior.

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