Autoblog: Oprah gives away a 2012 New Beetle to her audience

rickhamilton620

has a fetish for terrible cars
Joined
Nov 28, 2009
Messages
16,962
Location
Mount Wolf, PA
Car(s)
2023 Mazda CX-5 Premium
Autoblog said:
After dominating the afternoon talk show circuit for 25 years, Oprah Winfrey is going out in style by giving each member of her studio audience keys to the as-yet-unseen 2012 Volkswagen Beetle. The promotion is part of Oprah's Ultimate Favorite Things giveaway, in which audience members are lavished with pricey surprise gifts of all descriptions.

Jonathan Browning, President and CEO of Volkswagen of America, confirmed that Winfrey reached out to the German automaker about the giveaway, saying that as an owner of the current VW New Beetle, the icon has long been one of her Favorite Things. The show, which aired moments ago on ABC, saw Oprah making the surprise announcement in front of a silhouette of the forthcoming model, and a current model New Beetle was featured on stage. While Browning admits that Oprah has been given a sneak peek at the completed car, her 275 lucky audience members will be in the dark about their new rides look until VW reveals it at a date to be determined this Spring (read: it won't be shown at the Detroit Auto Show in January). Audience members will receive their cars next Fall when VW's Puebla, Mexico plant begins production.

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/11/22/oprah-reveals-2012-vw-beetle-silhouette-gives-cars-to-entire-au/

Guess it makes sense that a New Beetle is one of Oprah's favorite things, considering the fact that she has enough money to fix the damm thing each time it breaks! :lol::p
 
Actually most of the repairs made to my car discounting the ones from a major accident have cost less than 100$. :dunno:
 
More like, the VW Beetle is the perfect car for menopausal, fickle, impressionable harpies fueled by booze and antidepressants and desperate to recapture the faintest glimmer of their long-lost youth.

And kat. :mrgreen:
 
IIRC the last time oprah tried this the IRS registered the Pontiac G6's she gave away as taxable and some people had to pay somewhere around 3-6k
 
IIRC the last time oprah tried this the IRS registered the Pontiac G6's she gave away as taxable and some people had to pay somewhere around 3-6k

I remember that, a lot of the people who won them couldn't afford it.
 
IIRC the last time oprah tried this the IRS registered the Pontiac G6's she gave away as taxable and some people had to pay somewhere around 3-6k

I'd love to read that somewhere. I heard about that but wasn't able to find a news story on it. :)
 
More like, the VW Beetle is the perfect car for menopausal, fickle, impressionable harpies fueled by booze and antidepressants and desperate to recapture the faintest glimmer of their long-lost youth.

And kat. :mrgreen:

Where's my social security bitch.
 
I hate when she gets credit for this. the only reason VW is giving these away on her show is because the car appeals to her markets segment. End of story. VW is giving these cars away not Oprah.
 
Last edited:
you know when her audience get this thing, are they able to sell them? or is there a certain period they have to keep the car?
 
I hate whaen she gets credit for this. the only reason VW is giving these away on her show is because the car appeals to her markets segment. End of story. VW is giving these cars away not Oprah.

"VW gives away cars on Oprah" is less/worse publicity for both VW and America's most powerful woman than "Oprah gives away VWs". So (over)simplifying things is good marketing.

By the way, all non-money prizes on game shows, phone-in competitions etc on TV are (at least partly) sponsored - so are all "Oprah's favourite things".
 
Last edited:
I saw this and all I could imagine was Oprah being run over by hundreds upon hundreds of screaming, slightly fat, can't-pick-out-their-own-reading-material, pink ribbon boasting, Doctor Oz listening, hair-dying, Lane Bryant wearing, organic food eating, bitches, in shitty, poorly-built, boring Volkswagens.

Brings a smile to my face.
 

Yep. I almost won a Jag XF once. I figured out that I'd have to pay about 25k in taxes. Obviously I couldn't afford that.

Still, a new Jag for 25k is a steal.

There is a loophole that allows you to receive credit as your winnings - as long as the credit is enough to pay the taxes you can get something for free then. EG, the Skip Barber shootout I'm going to next month has a 50k prize - but it's in credit, so there are no taxes to pay on the winnings.
 
On the other hand, the silhouette DOES look much nicer than the current one. And I like the sound of this:

More importantly, Browning insists that the new model will have a decidedly sportier bent than previous iterations. The 2012 Beetle will feature available performance-minded items like a stiffer suspension, sport seats, 19-inch wheels and dual exhausts.
 
They're making them more fun? I take back my previous judgment from the other thread if that's true. :blink:
It's a shame the current ones are so crappy because it's absurdly easy to get attached to the damn things.
 
how can it be Oprah's Ultimate Favorite Thing?

She's a current VW New Beetle owner and got to see the 2012 model already.

you know when her audience get this thing, are they able to sell them? or is there a certain period they have to keep the car?

IIRC, when people got the Pontiac G6's, the cars were delivered to local dealers. People prob signed a zillion papers and got the cars. From there many people sold the cars right away to avoid tax liability. I'm pretty sure that the same will occur with the 2012 Beetle's, and it should be fairly easy being a new version of an iconic car...with a somewhat interesting back story behind the seller getting it.
 
Top