Volkswagen has already started the marketing campaign for the next generation Beetle which will launched sometime next year. Even though they can’t show the car to the public yet, they unveiled a design silhouette of it at the The Oprah Winfrey Show. Then to make an even bigger fuss they announced that all 275 audience of the show will be getting one for free when the car came out!

“Oprah Winfrey and the Volkswagen Beetle are two American icons, so when the “Oprah” show approached us with this incredible opportunity  to share her Beetle experience with deserving viewers, we instantly wanted to be a part of it,” said Jonathan Browning, President and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America. “Our all-new 2012 Beetle exemplifies power, styling and sophistication, and is an automotive icon reinvented to create the new shape of performance.”

Oprah had done such publicities before, for Pontiac if I remember rightly, and gave away a free car to each one of the audience in the studio. That trick not only helped Oprah’s image as a very generous celebrity, even though it was GM’s money given away, also increased the sales of the particular car. VW hopes the same for the new Beetle.

As for the car itself, VW says it’s completely redesigned vehicle has been dramatically revolutionized and is based on the same design language that create the gorgeous new Golf and Passat CC.

The new Beetle will feature a sportier, more aggressive stance, and features sleeker styling and a wealth of new technologies that provide a heightened driving experience. It is also customizable, with options that will offer the performance, styling, accessories and features that will appeal to everyone from the driving enthusiast to the driver motivated by value, excellent fuel economy and nostalgia.

The new design lines draw upon the vehicle’s legacy, but the 2012 Beetle will be a true, performance driving machine perfected by German engineering, offering a wealth of technologies that will provide a heightened driving experience over the previous generation. The 2012 vehicle is sporty, aggressive and comes with Volkswagen’s carefree maintenance and known safety standards. The vehicle will offer dual exhaust, 19-inch wheels, sport seats and new, sleeker styling. New technologies, like Bluetooth, touch screen radio, branded audio speaker systems, navigation and unique ambient lighting provide a heightened driving experience.

But Beetle has always been a car for girls and punks! And the new one will be no different. In fact this Oprah thing already marks it as a very very uncool car.