Volkswagen picked Beijing Auto Show to unveil their new E-Bugster Speedster, previewing the new Beetle Cabrio. This car is a follow-up to the Bugster hardtop, unveiled in Detroit earlier this year, and just as electric. The Speedster is powered by an 85 kW electric motor, which stores its output in a lithium-ion battery. That will eventually use the power to propel the E-Bug from 0 to 100 km/h in 10.8 seconds.

The performance is pretty shabby, but the 28.3 kWh battery enables a zero-emission range of at least 180 km. Using a quick charger, it takes 35 minutes at suitable charging stations to recharge the Speedster, while at home and using normal outlets, it’d take a couple of hours. The car also features braking energy recovery system.

As for the looks, the E-Bugster speedster is quite a charmer with its small windscreen, flared wheelarches and big wheels – it has 20-icnh wheels with 235/35 R 20 tyres. The car has a height of less than 1,400 mm, which is about 90 mm less than that of the hard top Beetle. The E-Bugster’s width (1,838 mm) grew by 30 mm, while its length (4,278) remained the same as that of the production car. But if you think the production Beetle Cabrio will ever look like this, you’re wrong.

VW E-Bug Speedster also has a special starting procedure. When you press the starter button, first you get showered with a white light, then a blue light. It begins as a light pulse in the instrument cluster; from there the light emanates as a thin line of light, just one millimetre wide, coursing into the door window sills and around the air nozzles. It’s a bit of a faff.