Love her or hate her, Oprah is one of the most influential women in the USA, and a mere mention of a product on her show can send masses running to buy it. Volkswagen took advantage of Oprah’s ability to sway viewers by choosing her show to reveal the design silhouette of its all-new 2012 Beetle. And if that wasn’t enough, the TV persona surprised her audience by giving each and every one of them a 2012 Volkswagen Beetle. Well, not now, but when the car comes out in May of 2011.

“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,” he added.

In addition to the styling tease, VW released a statement saying that 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 German company added that the New Beetle’s successor, spy pictures of which you can check out below, will offer dual exhaust, 19-inch wheels, sport seats and new, sleeker styling, as well as numerous available features such as touch screen radio, high-grade audio speaker systems, navigation and unique ambient lighting .

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