Back in the early to mid ‘70s, two transverse-engine, front-drive cars were introduced to give Americans the first true alternatives to the Volkswagen Beetle. No other car had been able to accomplish this feat, which is why even after twenty years on the American market sales were still strong, actually peaking in 1970. One of those cars was Volkswagen’s own Rabbit, while the other was the original Honda Civic. Only one car, however, can claim the title of the Beetle’s true spiritual successor.
Recently, Paul had found a 1977 Honda Civic for sale and posited – not for the first time – that it was this car. He didn’t mention the Rabbit, the de jure successor to the Beetle, which came to the U.S. two years after the Civic in 1975. In the past, he has written at length about Volkswagen’s transition from Beetle to Golf/Rabbit and counts himself as a fan. So, was the Civic or the Rabbit the de facto successor to the Beetle?
A quick history: By 1971, the Beetle was early in its fourth decade. Though it had benefitted from a series of evolutionary changes throughout its long lifespan, the Beetle was still very much like the original 1938 KdF-Wagen. In Europe, where the Beetle had significantly more small-car competition, sales were already starting to fade. Over here, the Beetle, along with the Microbus, was the sixties’ symbol of the counterculture revolution against “the man”, a Germanic middle finger to the monsters that were coming out of Detroit, a movie star thanks to Disney’s The Love Bug, and just an all-around good car thanks to its low price, reliability and the fact that it was darn cute. But it wouldn’t be long before America’s love for the Beetle would also wane.
New VW chairman Rudolf Leiding had spent time at Audi-NSU and also had a front-row seat to the 411/412 debacle, which was Volkswagen’s failed attempt at a high-end (for Volkswagen) sedan with the same air-cooled, rear-engine, rear-drive layout as the Beetle. He knew that the replacement for the Beetle – and the rest of the lineup – needed to be water-cooled, transverse-engined, and driven by the front wheels. The result was a phenomenal success to the extent there’s still a Volkswagen Golf that follows that same formula in the lineup 52 years after its European introduction.
Just two years before the U.S. introduction of the Rabbit, Honda released its thoroughly modern water-cooled, transverse-engined, front-wheel drive Civic after a few years of quirky air-cooled, two-cylinder cars. Honda had the good fortune to bring out the Civic just in time for the first gas crisis, likely resulting in exposing far more people to the novel little car than if it had been introduced earlier. Furthermore, both the “sedan” – like the original Mini, it looked like a hatchback but there was a rectangular lid under the rear window to access the trunk – and more expensive hatchback undercut the price of the cheapest Beetle. For the 1975 model year, the revolutionary CVCC engine, which allowed the Civic to meet emissions standards without a catalytic converter, a 5-speed manual transmission, and a larger station wagon became available.
At this point in time, according to Paul, “millions of VW owners and fans were ready for a…truly new Beetle, as in a modern car that had all the essential qualities that had made the VW so madly popular—cheap to buy, cheap to run, reliable, easy to fix and…just different.” I would throw small in there as well, as I flash back to the Beetle’s famous “Think Small” advertising campaign. On the surface, that description could describe both cars. The original Civic was very small, with a tiny 86.6-inch wheelbase and big-bumpered 147.8-inch overall length, 7.9- and 15.5-inches smaller than the 1974 Beetle. Yet, due to its mechanical layout, it had more usable interior space.
Surprisingly, the Rabbit was also smaller than the Beetle. Though it rode the same 94.5-inch wheelbase, it had a 155.3-inch overall length, which was about 8-inches shorter. However, it had substantially more interior space than either the Civic or the Beetle. The base model was also about 80-pounds lighter than the standard Beetle sedan. On size, I’d give the win to the Volkswagen: Small but not too small.
By 1975, the Civic sedan still undercut the standard Beetle by $350. To encourage buyers to choose the Rabbit over the Beetle sedan, which was kept in production through the 1977 model year, a VERY base-model trim was available for the same $2,999. Think Chevette Scooter with a back seat. Options on the base model included items that were standard on almost every other car: Electric windshield washers, a two-stage blower in the heating/ventilating system and chrome bumpers. However, it was still only $150 more than the Civic hatchback, and about $10 less than the CVCC hatchback. Of course, you were also getting a larger car in the Rabbit, so even though the Civic was technically less expensive, I would call this one a tie. Some may disagree.
Cheap to run is also a tie. Both the Civic and Rabbit attained remarkable gas mileage, especially for the time. While Ford was touting the 23 city/34 highway of the four-cylinder, four-speed Mustang II MPG, the Civic was rated at 28/41 while the larger Rabbit achieved 24/38 with the original 1.5-liter gas engine (about the same as the fuel-injected 1975 Beetle) and 40/53 with the later diesel engine, which was not available in the Civic (Note: These numbers are based on the older, less realistic EPA estimates). However, Rabbit and Civic owners were likely getting numbers far closer to those estimates than Mustang owners.
Though few cars would ever be as easy to fix as the classic Beetle, both the original Rabbit and Civic were based on the same basic concept originated by the 1959 Mini. The Volkswagen was not difficult to work on if you had the specific tools required, like 12-point internal “triple-square” bits. However, the We Make It Simple company went to extra lengths to make the Civic easy to work on, such as “color coding certain hoses, sensors, and key components, along with ‘thickening up’ the materials for endings”. The win clearly goes to the Civic.
Those Rabbit owners, however, got far more experience working on their cars than Civic owners. It’s this final criterion – reliability – that hands the overall title to the Honda. According to Volkswagen Chronicle by Graham Robson, to get the Golf/Rabbit and the rest of the new lineup (Passat/Dasher, Scirocco, Polo) into production as soon as possible, many corners were cut, “VW would normally have produced up to 80 percent of the tooling required for a new model, but in this case it could only tackle 30 percent of the workload. The rest was farmed out to suppliers and consultants around the world. VW was learning the modern way of developing new models.” And it’s no coincidence that quality and reliability took a nosedive while VW was learning this new way of building cars.
The Beetle in particular and VW in general was known for quality. It and the other reasons Paul mentioned were why the Beetle was the best-selling import AND small car for so long. Those people who did trade in their Beetles for Rabbits were likely overjoyed at first, as the Rabbit was faster, quieter and more fun to drive. Then reality set in. Water leaks, electrical issues, vapor lock, troublesome fuel injection systems, cracking dashboards, and, most commonly, rust plagued the Rabbit. Want to buy a classic Beetle? Pick any year and there are plenty available. Want to buy a 1975 or early 1976 swallowtail Rabbit? Good luck finding one, even though the Rabbit made up a considerable portion of the 904,005 cars Volkswagen sold in the U.S. in 1975 alone. Volkswagen’s reputation took a serious hit that it never recovered from. Personally, I like many of the vehicles in VW’s current lineup but have heard too many stories about indifferent quality and indifferent dealer service departments to take a chance.
Not that the Civic was perfect. The little Honda succumbed to rust worse than the Rabbit. Other than that, however, the Civic was much better screwed together and you’re likely to find more examples of the first generation Civic out there in non-salty areas than Rabbits. Effectively, it was reliable until it rusted away. Therefore, the original Civic meets all of Paul’s criteria as the true successor to the Beetle: Cheap to buy, cheap to run, reliable, easy to fix and different.
One thing to think about, however, is visual connection. The first and last Beetles off the production line looked like Beetles. Even the New Beetle and follow-up Beetle looked like Beetles. The Mark 8 Golf looks like a descendant of the Mark 1 although it’s much larger – the newest Polo, the Golf’s little brother not available in the U.S., is longer than a Mark 1 Golf. The 11th generation Civic looks absolutely nothing like 1st generation Civic and the shorter hatchback is nearly a foot longer than the Mark 8 Golf. It’s not that cheap to buy, particularly different, and, with the turbo engine, not as reliable as its predecessors. I’m not 100% sure what held true then holds true today.
On the flip side, that strategy has clearly backfired for Volkswagen in the U.S. The Golf, always limited to 2-door or 4-door hatchback body styles (and, for a while, a funky, basket-handled convertible; later, a short-lived wagon) is now only available in high-performance, low volume GTI and R guise. Americans had a very short love affair with the hatchback. This disdain was most apparent around the year 2000 when the Golf was the ONLY hatchback available in the U.S. Hatchbacks did make a small comeback, but it’s still one of the less-chosen body styles here.
Honda wisely decided the Civic could be whatever Americans desired in a small car: hatchback, sedan, coupe, wagon and even a sporty two-seater. In addition, some generations were revolutionary rather than evolutionary, which has resulted in a Civic completely unrelated to the original, though still a strong seller. It’s probably only a matter of time before Honda pulls a “Corolla Cross” with the Civic as Americans continue their turn towards crossovers just to keep the nameplate alive.
Is there a car sold today that meets Paul’s criteria? There isn’t one that I can think of. Assuming that’s the case, if there was a car like the Beetle today, have consumers’ taste changed to the extent that it would have much of an impact? Is there a place for a Beetle-like car in today’s market?
Aaron Severson’s extensive industry knowledge was very helpful and greatly appreciated in writing this post.
Related Reading:
Curbside Classic: 1973–1979 Honda Civic – The Second Little Revolutionary
Curbside Classic: 1975 VW Golf Mk1/Rabbit – The Most Influential Modern Global Compact Car
Curbside Find: MK1 Volkswagen Rabbit Diesel – When Alternative Energy Vehicles Were Oil Burners
1979 Volkswagen Rabbit: VW Jumps The Shark With A Baby Blue Rabbit Made In the USA
Curbside Classic: 1974 VW 412 – VW’s Deadly Sin #1
The Civic and Golf have priced themselves out of the cheap to buy criteria and the Golf is arguably not cheap to run when the warranty runs out. The closest modern car is the recently discontinued Mitsubishi Mirage, or maybe the Toyota Corolla or Hyundai Kona.
If one looks outside of the US, the Dacia Sandero/Logan definitely qualifies.
That Sandero’s the top seller in Europe for private buyers, and has been for a while. By all accounts, perfectly decent machine (though admittedly no paradigm-shifter like a Beetle or old Civic).
A Danish friend has a Sandero. He drove me to Billund Airport in it a few years ago. Nice car, but very basic. It has a 1.5 litre diesel and, believe it or not, he pulls a horse trailer with it. Denmark has insane new car taxes, 150% of the MSRP. When you buy a car, you expect to keep it until the wheels fall off.
Fact: last month, 96.3% of all new cars registered by private buyers in Denmark are fully electric.
Another fact: Denmark often gets 100% of its electrical needs via off shore wind power. Those EVs are charged by the biting wind coming off the North Sea!
Right, I forgot to mention their top 5 in April 2026:
1. Skoda Elroq
2. Skoda Enyaq
3. Toyota C-HR+
4. Volkswagen ID4
5. Audi Q4 e-tron
That is good news
About a year ago I picked up the last cheap car you could by here in the US, a Nissan Versa. As a leftover ’24, I got it for 19K including fees and taxes. I will run it until the wheels fall off.
The Versa was clearly superior to the Mirage and the Mirage was more expensive as in the end model year you had to take an automatic. The Versa kept the 5 speed until the end. The base price on mine was $17,341.
I like to pick on the Beetle, but the truth is that – in combination – it was excellent engineering. Better riding, highway-faster, and, in its own dodgy way, better-handling than any other small cars until the mid to late ’60’s. But most of all, it was beautifully made and very reliable, in ways that the wondrous and superior but never-developed Mini just wasn’t.
So the Honda is without question the successor, to me. Great engineering, great drive, high quality (rust aside), super-reliable, and cheap. I can’t overstate how much nicer a ’73 Civic is to drive than any cheap opposition. The Golf? Really sweet car, but utterly inferior to the Honda in build and reliability, and even in engineering, like the inferior gearchange or (in RHD) brakes. Quite rubbish, in fact. So much flimsy detailed engineering of clips and plastic and hoses and mountings that MIGHT have been ok on German billiard roads but which just fell apart (and off) anywhere else.
BYD sells a fairly cool and cheapo little electric car here for not much. I’d buy one (it’s very nicely made). There’s a role for such cars, no question. Sure isn’t a Golf or Civic here anymore – pricey buggers they are now!
I think the Beetle didn’t have a true successor, perhaps the New Beetle for a short time, but neither the Rabbit nor the Civic were its successors.
Even more so when both cars (the Rabbit by then known as the Golf) evolved into slightly larger vehicles than the originals from the 70s and 80s.
Taking a bigger viewpoint, the Civic was instrumental in cementing Japan taking over the economy car class reputation for being cheap and reliable. Sure, Datsun and Toyota started, but it was Honda that locked it in.
Germany and Volkswagen started losing the race with the Rabbit’s build quality issues, but they also lost their title due to currency fluctuations that made it difficult for Germans to sell truly cheap cars in the US.
I agree with the conclusion of the article. Two of my brothers owned an early variant of each. I liked riding in the Honda far better than the Rabbit, although in their cases, I think the Honda actually had more reliability issues, probably because it was well used when brother acquired it.
The New Beetle (having owned one, in addition to my ’64 Type I and ’13 Beetle), probably came closest to capturing the aura of the original, if only for a while (lots of quality issues with that one!). Its replacement, while matching the profile of the original more closely, felt like a rebadged Toyota, and had its own slew of quality issues.
Pertinent to the question, both vehicles were the subject of follow on books to John Muir’s “How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive,” AKA, the ‘idiot book.’
Although neither the Civic nor the Golf are true spiritual successors to the Beetle, the Civic comes closer.
Right now at my local VW dealer, the least expensive Golf lists for $37K and is being offered at $35.5K.
By contrast, at my local Honda dealer, the least expensive Civic lists for $26K and is being offered at under $25K.
I think the American success of the Beetle was kind of like the immense popularity of I LOVE LUCY on TV in the ’50s: a product of circumstances that weren’t likely to occur again. There have been other TV shows that were very successful and became cultural institutions for a while, but not that have had commanded such a massive share of the American audience. It’s not just that tastes have changed, although that was part of it, but that people’s relationship with TV has changed.
Also, the success of the Beetle in the U.S. was the product of a series of unlikely circumstances, where a lot of factors that would ordinarily have been commercially disastrous ended up working in its favor. It was completely against the current of the customary Detroit way of doing business, but VW got away with it and even thrived, for a while, because the Type 1 had enough undeniable virtues to represent a viable alternative. I don’t think they could have done that on purpose from scratch even if they tried, something that becomes very evident if you look at Detroit’s efforts to reverse-engineer the formula with cars like the Maverick and Pinto.
Neither the Golf/Rabbit nor the Civic was the same kind of product, and people didn’t have the same relationship with them. They didn’t (and don’t) exist outside the automotive mainstream in the ways that the Beetle did. At times, they’ve been a little ahead of the curve, but that isn’t the same thing.
Also, like TV shows since the days of LUCY, they’ve existed in a market that has had a much wider range of viable programming options, notably including the Toyota Corolla. The Corolla took a different route than either the Golf or the Civic: It largely avoided moving ahead of the pack in technology or configuration (Toyota resisted FWD for it until the ’80s) in favor of competent, conservative engineering — often dull, but well-polished and dependable, offered in a bunch of different flavors and configurations. The Corolla also became a massive global hit, often by appealing to people who liked the idea of VW Beetle quality and resale value, but wished it didn’t have to look so weird.
(Nissan had a big opportunity here that they essentially squandered in the ’70s with a combination of awkward styling, aggressive cheapness, and management who seemed determined not to preserve the lessons Yutaka Katayama had learned about the American market.)
I agree with you on some points, but there’s another very key element to VW’s very rapid rise starting in 1955. People tend to think that the cultural vibes of our current era due to social media is somehow a new phenomena; it’s not. Humans are very social and want to be part of the hot new thing, and that’s always been the case. Of course the Great American Import Boom started earlier, but prior to 1955, it was pretty small overall. But in about 1955 or so, an anti-big American car vibe really took root. It was a combination of the growing coolness of import cars along with a growing distaste for the ever larger, finned and chromed big American cars. The two converged, and found in the VW their little salvation, due to perhaps its anachronistic design as well as glowing reviews (it really had very exceptional qualities for the time).
We tend to think of the ’50s as a decade of conformity, because that’s what our popular media and our government wanted to project, but in reality there was a substantial non-conformity vibe, whose most visible elements were of course the beatniks. Just like the hippies had a huge impact in the ’60s, so did the beats in the ’50s, if not quite as large.
Thanks to the GI Bill, a huge number of younger Americans went to college on an unprecedented basis. This very much fed this anti-conformity vibe (as higher education so typically does), and imports became their car of choice, especially the VW. But it went wider than that, in that the VW was simply seen as a more economical car (or truck) by the wider population, and had a decided Model T vibe in that regard. meanwhile, American cars and trucks were getting bigger and bigger and less efficient.
The VW quickly became the car of choice for this rapidly growing cohort; VW owners in the ’50s were known to wave to each other They were part of an in-group vanguard, not unlike Tesla owners in the first few years of that brand.
And then this anti-big-car vibe exploded in 1957-1958, exacerbated by the recession that year; or was the recession actually triggered by the sudden drop in American car sales by the vibe shift?
The period from 1957-1961 was perhaps the most pivotal one in the modern history of the American car industry; more so than the two energy crisis, in my opinion. It made imports a valid and common choice for a wide spectrum of Americans, not just lefty university-types. And it forced the Big Three to build compacts. The whole fragmentation of the American car industry, with numerous sizes and types of cars, all had their beginning in the 1957-1961 period. Americans were fed up with what Detroit was feeding them. And the VW became the focal point of their distaste.
I know a number of young families (including Stephanie’s and a former GF and many others) that had VWs as family cars in this period, although the purchase enforced serious hardships in terms of interior space (Stephanie was one of four kids). And inevitably, these young(ish) families bought bigger cars (American ones in these two examples) within a few years. This corresponded with improved sales of big American cars in 1962, as well as compacts and mod-size cars and such.
Starting around 1962 or so, the Beetle increasingly became less a family car and instead either a first new car or a second car. This is what propelled the VW to its greatest heights in the mid-late ’60s: the first boomers getting jobs and higher family incomes allowing ever more second cars, for dad to drive to the office. The VW was cheap and utterly proven in its reliability and extremely high resale value. And popular/social acceptance. It just made sense as the first new car.
And the Civic picked up much of that momentum.
Postacript: Hippies were never responsible for the success of the Beetle or bus. No genuine hippie could ever afford a new VW. The whole hippie lifestyle was all about not having car payments and being tied down; it was about being free and enjoying life for as little money as possible. The VW was their used car of choice, because they were cheap, there were huge numbers of them, they were durable and easy to fix, and they had the right social vibe.
This is what I was alluding to when I said it was outside the mainstream (in which it was not altogether unique), and yet had enough virtues to make it viable as an alternative. The Type 1 was an un-Detroit car: Even by ’50s standards, it was archaic-looking, which kept it from being judged by the standards of other contemporary cars, so it repudiated the typical Detroit planned obsolescence in a way that obviously struck a chord with people who nodded grimly through Vance Packard’s THE HIDDEN PERSUADERS. However, that wouldn’t have had legs in the same way if it the Type 1 weren’t also a quality product as well as cheap to buy and own, which made it a good value whether or not someone saw it as a symbol of nonconformity or a rejection of Detroit values. (There were various other late ’50s imports that would have served for the latter, but fell down pretty hard as a practical ownership proposition in an American context.) A critical point, I think, is that the Type 1 was something people could embrace on practical terms *whether or not* they felt part of the emerging cult of VW or saw it as a nonconformist statement. If they did, the quality of the product made them feel validated, but if they were more concerned with cost than with symbolism or even felt somewhat annoyed by the VW image, the Beetle was still worth considering on its own merits.
Nice job on this, Adam!
It’s not an easy question to answer. By “spiritual successor” I was particularly focusing on the cultural/vibe element that both the Beetle and Civic generated in their early years. Buyers of both were known to wave to each other when passing. They inspired an almost cultish devotion to the brand, which resulted in a meteoric rise and success for their makers in the US. I don’t have stats ready at hand, but I doubt any other new brand grew so rapidly in their early years, except likely for Tesla more recently. And that brand also inspired a cultist devotion.
The Rabbit was actually something of a failure in the US, as it did not sell as well as the Beetle, and it directly led to the decline of the VW brand in the US, something the brand has struggled with mightily ever since. Meanwhile, the Civic led to an incredible growth trajectory for Honda; let’s not forget that Honda outsold Toyota with passenger cars here for a number of years. Unfortunately, Honda is currently in a crisis also.
But clearly Honda’s startling ascendancy in the US despite its late start, starting with the Civic thanks to its particular qualities was the closest thing we have seen since VW’s amazing rise starting in 1955, and not to be seen again until Tesla.
This is what I mean about the Civic being the spiritual successor: igniting the “spiritual” (emotional) vibes in the population to create a phenomena of very rapid rise in sales and market share.
As to the New Beetle, I find that to be a very contrived attempt to recreate those vibes, and although it did that to a very limited extent, it has essentially zero impact on VW’s ongoing problems in the US.
It is sad to see Honda lose its way. Up to around 2015, a Honda was a sure bet to get a nice, economical car with decent build quality and great engines. Fast forward to today and Honda’s 1.5 turbo is a complete dud, eating their cheapo two layer head gaskets. I have no idea why they would debase their brand so badly.
Let’s not forget management’s hair-brained decision to have GM build the Prologue of their Ultium platform. I know they needed an electric car, but when you’re a brand known for quality, you do NOT ask GM to build your car.
Honda has gotten cars from GM before, sort of. The Honda Passport and Acura SLX were from Isuzu, which at the time GM had an ownership share in.
Thank you, Paul! That’s one aspect I (obviously) didn’t consider – how the Civic, then Accord, led to the explosive growth of Honda in the United States to the extent that it blew past Toyota for a time.
My family had both, first a late-60’s Beetle (which alas, was sold after suffering an electrical fire), and later two Civics after gas prices skyrocketed. The latter were replaced with US models after the Crises faded. But here’s the thing: Honda left a lasting impression on my sister and me: she got a Prelude, then an Odyssey, and I got an Accord, and now have a G8 Civic. It’s a barge compared to early Civics, but at least it has adult-friendlier backseat room, and handles very well.
Honda and VWhave come a long way since back then what 50 years ago
My personal opinion is that the Civic comes the closest. Also based on what I saw in the car’s very early years in San Diego County, Contra Costa County, and Alameda County. When at Cal 77-81, which is in Berkeley, Beetles were still all over the place along with Civics (I had one) while Rabbits not very much. The Civics shortfall, being rust, not an issue.
Today I feel a little Crocodile Dundee (he still is with us) every time I see a newer one as I go “that’s not a Civic, that’s a…
It is interesting to see all eight Golf models displayed. I have always thought that the basic shape of the cars has always been the same and each generation is a clear evolution from the past.
VW shot itself in both feet with the early Rabbits. To get that $2900 price tag the car was cheapened to the point of offering drum brakes in the front. The door panels were cardboard. The entire car was half baked and should not have been released in 1975. The 1977 cars were much modified and were actually pretty reliable and featured fuel injection.
My sister in law had a 1975 Civic and she just loved it. Unfortunately for her, my brother insisted that she must have GM car and it was duly traded for, get this, a Chevette. The Civic was nice car but even on Vancouver Island, a place where road salt was rarity, they rusted to nothing in a few years.
I owned an ’82 Rabbit and and ’85 Jetta and the current Golf is the only VW product I would consider, because it’s the closest to the way I remember them. I wouldn’t give a plug nickel for anything else they make.
Small, reliable, close to the original…the MX-5 Miata. It’s a different type of car to be sure but has the customer loyalty and respect that the Beetle carried.
If the Renault 5 aka the R5 aka “Le Car” arrived in North America more earlier than 1976 (it was sold in Europe since 1972). We could wonder if the R5 could have been a true spiritual successor to the Beetle as well?
The now discontinued in US market Honda Fit became what the Civic had lost. Having a VW Type 1 as my first car, this Fit may be my last. I just feels right as well built, simple as is possible today, and fun.
I came to much the same conclusion when I bought my 3rd-gen Fit: “We owned a pair of Honda Civics back when we first married (’89 DX three-door and a ’90 base three-door) – they were both excellent cars, and when I slipped behind the wheel of the Fit for the first time, it felt like ‘coming home.’”
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/cars-of-a-lifetime/curbside-replacement-decisions-decisions/
Honda definitely let all of their early cars become bigger and heavier. The Civic today is certainly a fine car but I think they would have been better off renaming the cars as they became larger. The Fit is the true successor to the original Civic and should have been named as such.
I almost bought a used Fit but the car had a few issues and the dealer’s explanations seemed shady. Like an airbag light that “has been reset, you just need to put some miles on the car and it will go out”. I liked the car and was disappointed not to find another in that price range.
I can’t answer the question because I’m unclear regarding what a spiritual successor is. All three cars are so completely different to me. They’re iconic, but I don’t believe that either the Rabbit or Civic picked up the Beetle’s legacy. The Civic was revolutionary, but so was the Rabbit. Sorry.
Neither. The Beetle was never a mainstream car in the USA. The Civic is utterly mainstream, the Rabbit/Golf is only slightly less so. The Beetle was a countercultural and lifestyle kind of car with basically a cult following. Nothing like that exists today, especially considering that the type of younger people who would have chosen a Beetle in the 1960s and 1970s mostly don’t even drive anymore.
I would say that the closest spiritual successor to the Beetle was the Prius. Not mechanically or design-wise, but spiritually. Also the Subaru Forester in the 1990s – early 2000s, to a lesser extent, more of a successor to the VW hippie bus, capturing some of that demographic. Nothing since then.
I feel obliged to point out that in 1970, its peak year in the U.S., Volkswagen was No. 4 in U.S. sales, behind Chevrolet, Ford, and Plymouth, but ahead of Pontiac, Dodge, Oldsmobile, and Buick, with 570,000 new car registrations, most of them Beetles. That’s pretty mainstream.
Don’t waste time with facts .
I certainly don’t ~ I’d rather drive my old battered 1959 VW Beetle than any of my newer vehicles, obviously I’m stupid or crazy but there it is =8-) .
-Nate
It’s not a matter of numbers. This is like 1990s “alternative” music, which was actually the most popular at the time, but was all about being positioned as non-mainstream. Volkswagen advertising positioned the Beetle as an alternative to the mainstream of the day, which was one of the things that ironically made it very popular.