The engine in the Volkswagen New Beetle is located at the front.
That placement marked a major mechanical departure from the original Beetle, whose air-cooled engine sat at the rear. The New Beetle was built on Volkswagen’s front-engine, front-wheel-drive platform, with the engine driving the front wheels through the transmission.
Volkswagen introduced the New Beetle in 1997, using styling cues from the classic car while basing its engineering on more modern compact-car architecture. Its front-mounted engine left the rear of the hatchback available for luggage, reversing the original Beetle’s familiar storage arrangement.
The name can cause confusion because the New Beetle looked deliberately retro. It was not simply the old car with updated bodywork: it used modern water-cooled engines, front-wheel drive, contemporary safety equipment and a platform related to models such as the Volkswagen Golf. A high-performance RSi version even offered all-wheel drive, but its engine was still mounted at the front.